Homebuilt hot-air airships

Some time ago I read a book about Alberto Santos Dumont and his "Personal
Balloons" which he used to commute about Paris. It was altogether
fascinating.

http://www.earlyaviators.com/edumona.htm

Rich S.

"Rich S." wrote:
Some time ago I read a book about Alberto Santos Dumont and his
"Personal Balloons" which he used to commute about Paris. It was
altogether fascinating.

http://www.earlyaviators.com/edumona.htm

In "The Giant Airships" by Douglas Botting, 1981 (ISBN 0-8094-3272-2) some
of Santos-Dumont exploits are also mentioned. But it appears he eventually
changed his interest from lighter-than-air, which he became disenchanted
with, to heavier-than-air. From that book:

"Santos continued to build airships over the next few years. The most
successful of them was No. 9, a small, tubby and splendly maneuverable
craft. In this runabout he performed all manner of wonderful - and impudent
- things. In 1903 a correspondent for the Paris weekly L'Illustration wrote
of one such incident: "I had sat down at the terrace of a cafe on the
Avenue du Bois de Boulogne and was enjoying an iced orangeade. All of a
sudden I was shaken with surprise on seeing an airship come right down in
front of me. The guide rope coiled round the legs of my chair. The airship
was just above my knees, and Monsieur Santos-Dumont got out. Whole crowds
of people rushed forward and acclaimed the great Brazilian aviator. He
asked me to excuse him for having startled me. He then called for an
aperitif, drank it down, got on board airship again and went gliding off
into space."

Such displays only faintly disguised Santos' growing inner disenchantment.
"To propel a dirigible balloon through the air," he was heard to remark,
"is like pushing a candle through a brick wall." He had developed his
airships as far as his talents and vision allowed, but they never evolved
beyond their role as personal vehicles for their inventor."