This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

Brazilian born, French educated, Alberto Santos-Dumont was probably one of only a few aviation pioneers who could claim significant accomplishments in both lighter-than-air and heavier-than-air flying machines. He was the first man to succeed, not once but time after time, in leaving the ground, flying through the air to a place of his own choosing, and landing safely. Around the turn of the century he was the most prominent of all the early aviators, and his balloons, dirigibles and (later in his career) heavier-than-air craft were frequently to be seen in the air around his beloved city of Paris. His early experiments were in dirigible airships of his own design. After many failures, he built a dirigible that in 1901 won the Deutsch Prize, as well as a prize from the Brazilian government, for being the first to fly in a given time from Saint-Cloud to the Eiffel Tower and return.He wrote My Airships when he was 30 years old, in 1904. In it he tells of his childhood in Brazil, his early fascination with machinery and passion for the novels of Jules Verne, his early success in France as an enthusiastic automobilist, his first balloon ascent in 1893, his famous balloon Brazil, and the joys and trials of his first ten dirigibles (1898-1904). Referring to himself as "inventor, patron, manufacturer, amateur, mechanician and airship captain all united, " he describes numerous hair-raising scrapes with death while navigating the air.Santos' reputation as an airplane designer was solidified by a machine he produced in 1909. The famous "Demoiselle" or "Grasshopper" monoplane, was the forerunner of the modern light plane. Santos eventually returned to Brazil where, depressed over the use ofaircraft in war, he committed suicide.

MY AIRSHIPS The Story of My Life ILLUSTRATED -1904 - CHAPTER CONTENTS v. THE REAL AND THE IMAGINARY DANGERS OF BAL- LOONING . . 51 vr. I YIELD TO THE STEERABLE BALLOON IDEA . . 63 VIII. How IT FEELS TO NAVIOATE THE AIR XV. WlNNING THE DEUTSCH PRIZE CHAPTER CONTENTS XVIII. FLIGHTS IS MEDITERRANEAN WINDS . . xrx. SPEED xx. AN ACCIDENT AND ITS LESSONS XXI. THE FIRST OF THE WORLDS AIR-SHIP STATIONS xxrr. MY NO. 9, THE LITTLE RUNABOUT XXIII. THE AIR-SHIP IN WAR xxrv. PARIS AS A CENTRE OF AIR-SHIP EXPERIMETS CONCLUDING FABLE . LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Alberto Santos-Dumont - .- . Frontispiece Santos-Dumont Coffee Plantation-Railway . . 11 Santos-Dumont Coffee Plantation-The Works . . 15 Henriques Santos-Dumont . . 25 The Brazil -Smallest of Spherical Balloons . . 43 Motor of No. 1 . . 62 The Santos-Dumont No. l -First Start . . 75 No. 4 -Free Diagonal Movement up . . 83 No. 6 --Free Diagonal Movement down . . 86 c The Housetops look so Dangerous . 94 Over the Bois de Boulogne. An Ocean of Greenery soft and safe . 97 The Question of Physical Danger . . 101 cc No. 9 catches Fire over the Ile de Puteaux . 111 Accident to No. 2, May 11, 1899 First Phase . . 115 Accident to No. 2, May l l, 1899 Second Phase., 119 Accident to No. 2, May 11, 1899 Third Phase . . 123 Accident to No. 2, May l l, 1899 Finale . 127 Start of c No. 3, November 13, 1899 . 131 No. 4 . 155 Motor of M No. 4 . . 139 Visit of Professor Langley . . 143 No. 4 -Flight before Professor Langley . . 147 Santos-Dumont No. 5 . 152 No. 5 leaving Aero Club Grounds, July 12, 1901 . 158 No. 5 returning from the Eiffel Tower . . 161 No. 5 -Accident in the Park of M. Edmond de Rothschild 165 vii . LIFT OF ILLUSTRATIONS An Accident . Phaseof an Accident No. 6 -First Trip . An Accident to NO. 6 . Scientific Commission of Aero Club at the Winning of the Deutsch Prize . No. 6 making for Eiffel Tower-Altitude 1000 feet . Round Eiffel Tower . Rounding Eiffel Tower Returning to Aero Club Grounds above Aqueduct . Medal awarded by the Brazilian Government No. 9 -Showing Captain leaving Basket for Motor . In the Bay of Monaco From the Balloon House of La Condamine at Monaco, February 12, 1902 . Wind A. Wind B . Santos-Dumont No. 7 My present Aids understand my present Airships - Motor of No. 6 . M Santos-Dumont No. 5 -Showing were cut up how Aero Club Grounds First of the Worlds Airship Stations Neuilly St James, No. 7 No. 10 -without Passenger Keel . Santos-Dumont No. 9 No. 9 -Showing relative Size, No. 9 -Jumping my Wall No 9 -Guide-roping on a Level with the Housetops No. 9-M. Santos-Dumont lands at his own Door CS NO. 9 over Bois de Boulogne . No. 9 at Military Review, July 14, l903 . No. 9 seen from Captive Balloon, J ne l l, 1908 . viii . MY AIRSHIPS INTRODUCTORY FABLE THE REASONING OF CHILDREN - Two young Brazilian boys strolled in the shade, conversing. They were simple youths of the interior, knowing only the plenty of the primi- tive plantation where, undisturbed by labour- saving devices, Nature yielded man her fruits at the price of the sweat of his brow. They were ignorant of machines to the extent that they had never seen a waggon or a wheel- barrow. Horses and oxen bore the burdens of plantation life on their backs, and placid .Indian labourers wielded the spade and the hoe. Yet they were thoughtful boys. At this moment they discussed things beyond all that they had seen or heard. Why not devise a better means oftransport than the backs of horses and of oxen Luis argued. Last summer I hitched horses to a barn door, loaded it with sacks of maize, and hauled in one load what ten horses could not have brought on their backs. True, it required seven horses to drag it, while five men had to sit around its edges and hold the load from falling OK S What would you have answered Pedro. Nature demands compensations...

Brazilian born, French educated, Alberto Santos-Dumont was probably one of only a few aviation pioneers who could claim significant accomplishments in both lighter-than-air and heavier-than-air flying machines. He was the first man to succeed, not once but time after time, in leaving the ground, flying through the air to a place of his own choosing, and landing safely. Around the turn of the century he was the most prominent of all the early aviators, and his balloons, dirigibles and (later in his career) heavier-than-air craft were frequently to be seen in the air around his beloved city of Paris. His early experiments were in dirigible airships of his own design. After many failures, he built a dirigible that in 1901 won the Deutsch Prize, as well as a prize from the Brazilian government, for being the first to fly in a given time from Saint-Cloud to the Eiffel Tower and return.He wrote My Airships when he was 30 years old, in 1904. In it he tells of his childhood in Brazil, his early fascination with machinery and passion for the novels of Jules Verne, his early success in France as an enthusiastic automobilist, his first balloon ascent in 1893, his famous balloon Brazil, and the joys and trials of his first ten dirigibles (1898-1904). Referring to himself as "inventor, patron, manufacturer, amateur, mechanician and airship captain all united, " he describes numerous hair-raising scrapes with death while navigating the air.Santos' reputation as an airplane designer was solidified by a machine he produced in 1909. The famous "Demoiselle" or "Grasshopper" monoplane, was the forerunner of the modern light plane. Santos eventually returned to Brazil where, depressed over the use ofaircraft in war, he committed suicide.

Brazilian born, French educated, Alberto Santos-Dumont was probably one of only a few aviation pioneers who could claim significant accomplishments in both lighter-than-air and heavier-than-air flying machines. He was the first man to succeed, not once but time after time, in leaving the ground, flying through the air to a place of his own choosing, and landing safely. Around the turn of the century he was the most prominent of all the early aviators, and his balloons, dirigibles and (later in his career) heavier-than-air craft were frequently to be seen in the air around his beloved city of Paris. His early experiments were in dirigible airships of his own design. After many failures, he built a dirigible that in 1901 won the Deutsch Prize, as well as a prize from the Brazilian government, for being the first to fly in a given time from Saint-Cloud to the Eiffel Tower and return. He wrote My Airships when he was 30 years old, in 1904. In it he tells of his childhood in Brazil, his early fascination with machinery and passion for the novels of Jules Verne, his early success in France as an enthusiastic automobilist, his first balloon ascent in 1893, his famous balloon Brazil, and the joys and trials of his first ten dirigibles (1898-1904). Referring to himself as "inventor, patron, manufacturer, amateur, mechanician and airship captain all united," he describes numerous hair-raising scrapes with death while navigating the air. Santos' reputation as an airplane designer was solidified by a machine he produced in 1909. The famous "Demoiselle" or "Grasshopper" monoplane, was the forerunner of the modern light plane. Santos eventually returned to Brazil where, depressed over the use of aircraft in war, he committed suicide.