Dear Mr. Bogossian and other revisionist historians. The original Wrights did NOT need catapults to get off the ground and in fact none of them did. the original Wright 1903 flights did not have a catapult and the catapult was only instituted later. What you will claim is a catapult is a launching rail because if you noticed the Wright Flyer had no wheels. All of the Wright planes could eschew the catapult, but they would have had to make longer rails to get into the air. The existant movies of the original Santos Dumobnt 1906 machine (which was made by Santos-Dumont based on imperfect descriptions of the Wright machine by the way) show it "flew" but only barely and he had no control whatsoever. The demoiselle was his first really successful plane. In addition the idea that the Wrights flew "downhill" is absolutely false. In fact, before Dec 17th ( on the 14th) they did make a flight that landed at a lower altitude than they started at and they, very properly and ethically, did not claim this as a flight. They would only claim it a flight if they took off and landed at at least the same height.

Santos Dumont was a brilliant designer (Demoiselle case in point) and deserves all the recognition he deserves and those who denigrate the Wrights to further the great Brazilian's cause end up diminishing Santos Dumont because their claims are baseless

History has recorded numerous first flights pre-dating both the Wrights and Santos-Dumont. The first Wright machine had an engine built by their company. It wasn't very light or very powerful, and the machine needed help off the ground. Santos- Dumont bought an engine with three times the power and lighter weight. He was also lighter than the Wrights. He gave away plans of the Demoiselle for free and many found they weighed too much and the aircraft wasn't adaptable for a bigger engine to carry a heavier pilot. History, not the media, has decided long ago, who was the first a controllable ( not just stable ) Heavier-than-air machine. Chacun a son gout.

This article unfairly doesnt mention that Santos Dumont was the first man , from the grond to take-off, flew and landed with his plane without impulse of any kind only the engine of his plane, so he should be considered the father of aviation, the Wright Brothers used a catapult in a down hill to impulse their flight wich was shorter in time and distance and the midia supported him as the father of modern aviation .

Demoiselle and Antoinette were feature in the film, amazing Men in their flying machines. Wonder who got to keep the planes. The Demoiselle was quite restrictive regards both pilot weight and size, so if you're not a jockey, look elsewhere.

There is a patent for a modern version of it: US2007272793

http://v3.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?adjacent=true&KC=A1&date=20071130&NR=2901539A1&DB=EPODOC&locale=en_V3&CC=FR&FT=D

It might seem odd, and it is indeed, but the most viewed Brazilian TV news show is presenting a story of a Demoiselle replica being flown in the capital Brasília as I type this. It was built by two mechanics from São Paulo, but no names were giving.

I remember seeing something about working replicas being built here in Brazil to celebrate the centennial of the plane. The original design was kept to detail, using only slightly different materials -- such as fiberglass rods on the wings instead of the original bamboo.

are there any modern flyable versions of the demoiselle?