Pilots are, indeed, rare...

"Dudley Henriques" wrote in message
...

Might want to check your facts. Tennis shoes were not yet introduced in
South America by 1688...

I believe Iron Eaglebutt's adventure simply SHOWED THE NEED for better
airfoils and as well, the NEED for tennis shoes. Naturally, if the Indians
had tennis shoes in 1688, when the conquerers came to kill them take over
their land, at least they could have outrun them.

True. If there had been much left of his shoes they might have copied the
pattern by then.

Actually I was sort of waiting to hear somebody say that this I. E.
Henriques guy was an anti-American urban legend, and that the first
unassisted sustained flight was of course off a very tall sand dune near
Kitty Hawk in 1689. I saw the back of an Ohio quarter, though, and it
clearly states that the birthplace of aviation pioneers was there. (A
two-bit claim there ever was one!)

-c