First heavier than air flight in Europe

The American Heritage History of Flight, Simon and Shuster 1962

Three years passed after the Wright brothers made their historic flight but incredibly, the news was not in the public eye. When Brazilian Alberto Santos-Dumont built a heaver-than-air craft and made his first flight on October 23 1906 in Paris he (and all of Europe) believed he had been the first. The flight was of 50 meters distance at an altitude of about 5 meters compared to the Wright brothers 120 feet and 12 seconds duration.