Heroes of the Air

As aviation begins to develop at the start of the 20th century, Artur Rebelo, a young man born in Marinha Grande, falls in love with aviation. He joins the Military Aviation School and meets Fernando Lara Reis from Leiria. Among other Portuguese pilots, they are called to fight in the skies of France. The war brought bitterness, but also technological progress, loves, passions, encounters, and partings.

Seeking to paint a faithful picture of the camaraderie and bond shared by fighter pilots, the reader is taken on a journey from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day, in a plot where they encounter characters such as Machado Santos and Afonso Lopes Vieira, among others. A journey in which the intrigues of yesteryear are revealed in fascinating discoveries in an attic.

Implicitly, there is an invitation to reflect on the role of the Carbonária, Freemasonry, and the Church in such a turbulent period of our history. There are no shortage of descriptions of a Carbonária ceremony, a Masonic ceremony, and a critical look at the events in Fátima.

A century after the Battle of La Lys, this work presents itself as a tribute to all the Portuguese who fell in the Great War, a tribute to the pioneers of Portuguese military aviation, and a tribute to the only Portuguese soldier shot by firing squad in France, whose memory was timidly rehabilitated in September 2017.