Unpublished photos of Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral on the Cape Verdean island of São Vicente, taken more than a hundred years ago by the director of a local newspaper and owned by their daughter who lives in Portugal, will be offered to the archipelago.
Helena Neto, better known as Milena, is 87 years old and has been living in Portugal since she was 10 years old. He grew up watching a “very special” album made by his father, Raul Ribeiro, who was the last director of the newspaper Notícias de Cabo Verde (1931-1962) and was passionate about photography.
The album that Milena Neto has kept to this day is made of cardboard and on each page there are three to four photos of the adventure of the two Portuguese who successfully completed the first aerial crossing of the South Atlantic in 1922 made.
The island of São Vicente, where Milena Neto was born, was the second stop on the journey of Gago Coutinho (cartographer/navigator) and Sacadura Cabral (pilot), who left Lisbon on March 30, 1922 for the Canary Islands, with Brazil as the final destination.
They flew 800 miles from the Canary Islands to São Vicente (Cape Verde), where an honorary committee awaited them, including Milena Neto’s father.
“My father was the first to open the plane door,” said the daughter of Raul Ribeiro, the photo report’s author, duly captioning the images.
The photos show the passage and stay of the two pilots in Mindelo, where they repaired the “Lusitânia” seaplane, showing images of the device, with the naval adventurers and sailors guarding the plane.
One of the photos shows Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral returning from a formal session at City Hall and entering the Government Palace, where they were staying.
Other images show the couple leaving the palace for tea at the home of the English consul, as well as Sacadura Cabral talking to a mechanic and maritime aviation personnel.
Helena Neto would have liked the album to have been delivered earlier, namely last year, which marked a hundred years after the achievement much celebrated in Cape Verde, but that goal has only now been achieved.
He remembers that he found it funny to study this crossing at school, because he had a very special report of the journey at home, which he will deliver next week to the mayor of Mindelo, with the aim of showing it in the Municipal Library. .
Source: DN
