Santos-Dumont towed his aircraft to the lawns of Bagatelle for a record attempt on October 23, 1906
to take off a "heavier than air" over a distance of 25m. He flew this to make the first powered heavier-than-air flight to be certified by the Aéro Club de France and the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI).
This was the first airplane with a motor powered take off and safe landing. The Wright brothers had used a catapult method 3 years earlier, and though they had used a glider method, they hadn't powered along to get their aircraft aloft with speed and aerodynamics, nor landed with a dignified powered touchdown instead of a fortuitous glider controlled crash.
Remember, these were the 1st airplanes to ever take off and land. They had very little understanding of how to build or design an airplane to cope with the stress of wings, fuselage, weight, and landing that aircraft without all the joints breaking. Every success or failure was a lesson in what they did right, or failed to design for.
Alberto Santos-Dumont was a Brazilian aviation pioneer. The heir of a wealthy family of coffee producers, Santos Dumont dedicated himself to aeronautical study and experimentation in Paris, France, where he spent most of his adult life.
It is gray in Paris and Alberto started off and after just 100 meters from the start he flew about 3 meters high for 60 meters before resting on the lawn of the park.
The feat is so amazing that the Commissioners fail to measure the distance traveled by the airplane. They finally agree a distance of 25 meters so that Santos-Dumont could get the prize.
In 1904, while celebrating his winning of the Deutsch Prize at Maxim's Restaurant in Paris, Santos-Dumont complained to his friend Louis Cartier about the difficulty of checking his pocket watch to time his performance during flight. Santos-Dumont then asked Cartier to come up with an alternative that would allow him to keep both hands on the controls. Cartier went to work on the problem and the result was a watch with a leather band and a small buckle, to be worn on the wrist. Previously, only royalty had wristwatches.
Santos-Dumont, a lifelong bachelor, did seem to have a particular affection for a married Cuban-American woman named Aída de Acosta. She is the only other person that he ever permitted to fly one of his airships. By allowing her to fly his No. 9 airship she most likely became the first woman to pilot a powered aircraft.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Santos-Dumont
https://www.facebook.com/johndorbigny/
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.493313740755107.1073741940.242455849174232&type=1&l=0b950920e2
Hi Jesse,
ReplyDeleteSantos-Dumont was always convinced that he built the world's first successful aircraft, and although it's now pretty universally accepted that the Wrights beat him to it, in fairness to him, his was a completely independent design before Wilbur & Orville were famous. Before then, he definitely created the first practical airship (at least in light winds) and for a while the skies were his alone. He is recorded stopping at fashionable cafés or his apartment in Paris for a meal, leaving his craft floating above, tethered to a lamp post (https://noonobservation.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/santos_ny-herlad-24-jun-1903.jpg).
Regards,
Tony
thanks! I'd never heard of him until yesterday! I learned a lot about him I didn't post, because I figure I ought to keep it brief on words, and mostly relevant to the photos chosen to get my idea across why I posted about something. I was surprised about the watch, and the only woman to ever fly his plane, and likely, the first woman to ever fly a plane. I loved that notion of him ballooning about Paris, as they had ZERO laws about airspace restrictions. Which ties into my post about the WW1 ace landing on the Paris dept store to win a bet
DeleteFascinating chap. He also designed the world's first successful homebuilt for other people to build - the beautiful little Demoiselle. If you've ever seen the film "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines" that's the aircraft the philandering Frenchman flies.
ReplyDeleteDesperately sad that S-D eventually killed himself, partly in horror at the way the aeroplane he pioneered became a weapon of war.
After his death Aida de Acosta was told that he always kept her photo on his desk. "But I hardly knew the man" was her response.
I understand your feelings about what to include and what to leave out. I can only say that I have learned loads of stuff about loads of things reading your blog and it's often led me to look up a subject in greater detail. Thanks for all your efforts.
Regards,
Tony
I read about the Demoiselle, but tried to pare down all the info on Santos-Dumont, to focus on just the flight on the 14. It's news to me about the plane in the movie, that is cool!
DeleteYeah, he really went sideways about how things turned out. That has to be a mental whallop to have something you did and took great joy from turn to something so deadly and horrible. I read that about Aida, but I wasn't surprised. Guys take a moment with a beautiful woman to heart forever and never get over her, and those women forget about him the next day. The way the world works.
Well, then I'm doing a good job! I don't try to inspire people to dig farther, but I do leave the links so they can. If they get a notion to explore, than I'm happy to help similar car nuts to discover cool stuff new to them. Believe me, most stuff I post is NEW to me! You're sure welcome!