Alberto Santos-Dumont had to fly!
He had become an expert balloonist. The Brazilian thrilled many Parisians with his ballooning exhibitions. Some of the the balloons he had designed and manufactured himself. Like the one he carried in a briefcase.
But this did not fulfill his desire to fly.
You see, Santos-Dumont realized the limitations of balloon flight. He could only control the vertical, up and down movement of the balloon. The wind controlled the other directions of flight! The diminutive son of a Brazilian coffee magnate needed to do what the wind did…control the balloon’s flight in any direction! Or build a powered aircraft that could be controlled in all directions.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries France had become the epicenter of men trying to fly, that is, to take to the sky in a heavier than air machine controlled by a pilot. This aircraft would later be known as the airplane.
Santos-Dumont was a tireless experimenter. He referred to his airships only by number. The balloons he designed had a different shape. The balloon or gas envelope was shaped lake a sausage with pointed ends. And the basket for the pilot was placed inside a wooden framework which also housed a small gasoline engine. Should this engine stop running during flight, it could be restarted via a bicycle pedal mechanism. The Brazilian was the first to place a gasoline engine in an airship. That engine turned a large propeller mounted tractor style on the front of the gondola. That engine and propeller supplied forward motion for the craft. The addition of a rudder gave Santos-Dumont the ability to steer the airship. Alberto Santos-Dumont designed, constructed, and flew this powered aircraft. This type of craft became known as a dirigible. One of these dirigibles was so small that Santos-Dumont used it as his personal vehicle for transportation around Paris. Can you imagine the excitement of seeing the diminutive aeronaut land his craft on the lawn of a palatial country estate or in front of his favorite restaurant?
Ever the competitor, Santos-Dumont entered the
competition for the prestigious Deutsch Prize. Henri Deutsch, “the King of Oil” in Europe, posted a prize of 100,000 fr. to be awarded to the aeronaut who could fly from Parc St Cloud to the Eiffel Tower. These were the regulations:
The aircraft must be able to fly to the Eiffel Tower, round the monument, and return to the place of ascent in no more than 30 minutes, without stops, a total of 11 kilometres, under the eyes of a commission from the Aeroclub de France convened at least one day in advance. This required an average speed of 22 km/h.
Upon the announcement of this contest, Santos-Dumont began frantically building an airship for this competition. It would be Number 4. Unfortunately, Number 4 crashed during testing. Construction began on another. Fortunately, at this time Santos-Dumont had a large hanger for construction and storage of his airships. Also, he had the ability to generate hydrogen gas on site. Hydrogen was the lighter than air gas used to lift the dirigibles. Needless to say, airship Number 5 did not include the
features that led to the demise of Number 4. This aircraft began the competition but started to lose gas before reaching the Eiffel Tower, it began to descend and was caught by the side of a large hotel. After being rescued by the local firemen, Santos-Dumont began work on airship Number 6 the next day. The closing date for the Deutsch Prize was approaching rapidly!
This airship was larger than Number 5 and, of course had improvements. The specifications were as follows:
108 ft long, ( the length of 2 semi trucks) and
20 ft in diameter. The envelope was of varnished silk and the craft was powered by a 12 hp engine amidships linked to a two bladed pusher propeller. The propeller was of the fabric covered variety. The pilots basket was on the bow. It is interesting that the pilot’s compartment was a basket—a holdover from the spherical ballooning days, no doubt.
The two previous attempts had resulted in crashes but Santos-Dunont was not discouraged. The flight of Number 6 was almost uneventful. Except the engine surprisingly stopped in mid-flight. The intrepid aeronaut left his position at the bow of the craft, threw caution to the wind, and crawled back to the engine and restarted it. It is debatable whether he finished in the time allotted or not (He was over the starting point but had not actually touched down.) Henri Deutsch, the millionaire who had posted the prize, agreed that he had won the prize. Pandemonium reined in the streets of Paris and “ la petit aeronaut” was the hero of the day! October 19, 1901.
The Brazilian aeronaut realized that the dream of true fight would only become reality with a heavier than air flying machine. He set to work on such a craft and in 1906 he achieved that goal.
The 14bis was an interesting appearing aircraft. It was ungainly in appearance and was nicknamed the bird of prey. It was a canard design. (Perhaps more like a goose!) The aircraft looked like a collection of box kites and had a 38 foot wing span. It was powered by a 50 hp. V-8 engine. The 6 foot propeller pushed it through the air. Ungainly though it was, it flew! It was the first flight of a heavier than air flying machine witnessed by a crowd, photographed, and recorded as a motion picture. At this time the Wright Brothers had flown their Wright Flyer but few people had seen it and many people in Europe didn’t believe they had flown. To many, Alberto Santos-Dumont was the first to fly. But when Wilbur Wright gave a demonstration flight in France in 1908, Santos-Dumont acknowledged the superior aircraft.
He began to design an build an aircraft unlike any other and like some that exist today. He would build and fly his personal aircraft. And fulfill his dreams of flight. That was Number 19. It became known as the Demoiselle. The name can mean either a young girl or a damselfly. It was the ultimate in personal transportation in 1907.
The aircraft frame was made of strong, light, bamboo with the 17 foot wing and cruciform tail covered with brilliant yellow Japanese silk. A tractor mounted propeller turned by a small gasoline engine mounted in the center of the leading edge of the wing supplied forward motion. The pilot sat below the wing in a seat fashioned between two bicycle wheels. The tiny craft weighed only 242lbs. With a top speed of 55 mph. Which, by the way, was much faster than the Wright Flyer of the day. One of the many unique features of the aircraft was that it could be partially disassembled for transport on a small truck. It did have some misgivings though. According to some, it was difficult to fly. Santos-Dumont himself complained that he could not check the time on his pocket watch while flying. However, the famous jeweler Louis Cartier solved that problem by designing the wrist watch for him. The Cartier Santos watch is still available today. On his visit to America Santos-Dumont allowed plans of the Demoiselle to be published in Popular Mechanics Magazine. The Brazilian did not patent any of his discoveries or inventions. Several reproductions have been built for museums. One of the most pristine is in Musée de l'Air et de l’Espace, in Paris. A reproduction was made for the movie: Those Magnificent Men and Their Flying Machines. Stunt men were unable to get the craft to fly until they discovered that the inventor of the aircraft weighed only one hundred ten pounds! They found a young woman to fly the plane.
The creation of the ultralight aircraft was the peak Alberto Santos-Dumont’s life as a aviation pioneer. The ultralight Demoiselle is the model for the ultralight aircraft of today. A personal flying machine easily maintained and flown and within the reach of the average personWith the advent of WWI, he witnessed the horror of some of his contributions the aviation being used for the destruction of mankind. He returned to his native Brazil and lived out the rest of his life in semi-recluse.
Here is the link for the YouTube video about the Demoiselle: https://youtu.be/20HEN7Crl-M?si=q2nGUu_tDcALtOzm
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