(after the race, he asked Louis cartier for a timepiece that would keep his hands free – the first wristwatch.) Turning to heavier-than-air machines, Santos-Dumont built his 14-bis in 1906,three years after the Wright brothers’ initial flight. His flight was the first in Europe, and his plane was the first anywhere to lift off the ground under its own power. In 1909 Santos-Dumont, designed the Demoiselle monoplane, the forerunner of modern lightplanes. In 1910 Santos-Dumont fell ill with multiple sclerosis and retired from flying.