Heralded by Brazilians as the 'Father of Flight', Alberto Santos-Dumont made the first of several spectacular flights in his lighter-than-air dirigible in France in 1901, two years before the Wright brothers' first fixed-wing flight in North Carolina. Though they are often overlooked, Santos-Dumont and others in Latin America played a key role in the development of aviation. This generously illustrated book tells their story. Written to complement the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum's new permanent exhibit, America by Air, ""Conquistadors of the Sky"" celebrates the aviation achievements of twenty-one Latin American nations over the last 100 years - making this chronicle of heroic ventures and epic flights the best reference available on the subject.