The Santos-Dumont No.6 dirigible dating from 1901 was one of the most succesfull Dumont designed and built. With this No.6 dirigible he won the prize of Deutsch de la Meurthe when he circled the Eiffel tower around the top on 19 October 1901.
Some time later he packed his dirigible to Monaco to continue flying in the winter season. He did a few succesfull flights in Monaco in the beginning of February 1902 but eventually he plunged into the sea before Monaco. As lots of photographers were present for this event, the ditching of the No.6 dirigible was extensively photographed.
This picture shows the No.6 on its way out still going straight. Some time after this moment the dirigible lost height and fell in the water. Notice the small rowing boat which follows the dirigible for safety I thinkl. This boat and several others were handy at the moment to get the wet millionaire Santos-Dumont out of the water.

Tags:   1902 Monaco No.6 Petit Parisien Santos-Dumont accident dirigible

© All Rights Reserved

One of the last dirigible designs designed and built by Santos-Dumont. As he had the habit to number his designs it is possible to define this model as No.10 sometimes called the Omnibus. This 48 meter long dirigible was built ca. 1904. It was driven by a four-cylinder Clément water-cooled engine rated at 46 hp. This engine drives a big twin-bladed propeller in the front by a long shaft. There is also a propeller at the back, but I cannot define how it is driven by the engine. In this card of a test flight in 1904 the fearless Santos-Dumont is seen standing in a basket in the open nacelle. The idea was to carry up to twelve passengers in gaskets (not fitted here), hence the name Omnibus. It was probably never flown with passengers.
After this dirigible Santos-Dumont turned his attented to heavier-than-air designs. Having almost unlimited means he could afford to experiment further and finally was succesfull in flying with the No.14 canard type aeroplane.

Tags:   1904 No.10 Santos-Dumont dirigible

© All Rights Reserved

A picture taken by professional photographer Louis Branger on 18 March 1908. It shows the 16th design of aviation pioneer Santos-Dumont. After some disappointment with the misrepresentation of his designs in the press Santos-Dumont started to show the design number large of the machine.
This 16th design was his last lighter-than-air construction, after this one he solely concertrated on heavier-than-air designs.

This design looks like a conventional dirigible, but as designed the gas balloon was only 110 m3, making it insufficient to lift the machine and pilot as the total was 20 to 30 kg too heavy. Cleverly he used lift on the wing to get the additional lifting power. Hence the term used in the text Ballon mixte.

The two propellors on the side of the nacelle were powered by seperate engines delivering ca. 6 till 8 hp and weighing each 7 kilogram. A twin-engined twin-propeller construction !

The '16' was destroyed on the ground and never flew. The destruction might have come from a stormy wind or hurricane, but till now I have found no verification of this.

Tags:   16 1908 Branger Santos-Dumont dirigeable dirigible

© All Rights Reserved

A colour impression of one of the flights Albertp Santos-Dumont performed in September 1906 to win the Archdeacon cup for a flight of at least 25 meter. On 23 October 1906 he flew a distance of (at least) 60 meter at a height of ca. 3 meter and won the Archdeacon cup.
The design was a tail first (Canard) type with the engine - a 50 hp Antoinette - at the back. The pilot (Santos-Dumont) was standing up during the flight. Although the impression of the machine on this card is quite good he has 'imagined' and sort of aileron between the wing. Contemporary photographs do not support this.
The identity of the machine (14bis) owes it that the Santos-Dumont 14 was a dirigible which was used later to get the machine in the air for tests. Actual flights were done without this dirigible hence the identity 14bis.

Tags:   14bis Canard Santos-Dumont tail first design

© All Rights Reserved

In 1909 the 1re Exposition Internationale de Locomotion Aérienne was held in the Grand Palais at Paris from 25 September till 17 October 1909. In earlier years,starting from ca. 1902, aeronautics were exhibited as a special extra to the Salon de l'Automobile. As the aeronautical industry grew so large it was decided to organize an exhibition specially dedicated to aviation.
The exhibition was certainly crowded and only part of it can be seen on this picture. From the ceiling are hanging balloons and dirigibles. At the back is one of the dirigible models of the Comte de la Vaulx.
At left nearest to the camera is the monoplane designed by Raoul Vendôme, which characteristic landing gear.The next stand at left is by Clément-Bayard, which shows the (1909) pusher biplane recently seen in a seperate card in my collection. Just visible in front of this biplane is the Clément-Bayard licence built copy of the Santos-Dumont Demoiselle.
At right is first the Grégoire-Gyp monoplane in its version of 1909, followed by the multiplane of de Dion-Bouton, which merits a serperate enlarged scan and a seperate text.

Tags:   1909 Clément Bayard Exposition Internationale de locomotion aérienne Grégoire-Gyp Paris Salon Vendôme de Dion Bouton de la Vaulx 445

© All Rights Reserved