"Rich S." <capn27kill@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> 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 Air****ps" 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 air****ps 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 air****p come right down in
front of me. The guide rope coiled round the legs of my chair. The air****p
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 air****p 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 pu****ng a candle through a brick wall." He had developed his
air****ps as far as his talents and vision allowed, but they never evolved
beyond their role as personal vehicles for their inventor."
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