MIAMI, United States. — On May 7, 1910, on land belonging to the Havana Hippodrome —located in the current municipality of Playa— the French pilot André Bellot flew the first plane in Cuba.
The event was recorded by history as the beginning of aeronautical activity in the Caribbean country and established Bellot as a pioneer of world aviation.
Reviews of the event indicate that some 60 people, including journalists, politicians, bankers and veterans of the War of Independence, witnessed the flight of that device, which everyone called an airplane.
The plane in which the maneuver was carried out was a Voisin, of the French manufacturer Avions Voisinwhich since 1905 launched airplanes and automobiles on the market.
The Voisin that flew over Havana on May 7, 1907 was a single-seater biplane with a Buchet brand rear engine, 20 HP of power. The aircraft had the rudder-elevator in front and the steering in back; It also had a wooden structure, reinforced with metal parts, especially the part that held the engine.
After the exhibition began, the plane driven by André Bellot quickly rose to a height of just 30 meters and headed north-northwest until it descended in the vicinity of Monte Barreto.
The flight lasted just 2 minutes and 29 seconds. The landing, which was more like a crash, practically disabled the biplane.
History records that André Bellot, protagonist of the feat, arrived in Cuba hired by habanero enthusiasts of aeronautics. Previously, Bellot had already made flights in other Latin American countries, such as Mexico —also with a Voisin plane— and Argentina, both before May, although all in the same year 1910.
