| The Demoiselle, a small, frail monoplane seemingly | | | | mechanism-devoid aircraft, inherently unable to be |
| incapable of supporting a single pilot, not only reflects | | | | controlled about its lateral axis, made three short |
| the equally short man who designed it, but the long | | | | hops in late-1907, the longest of which had been 200 |
| lineage of lighter-than-air craft which had preceded it. | | | | meters, before being damaged and withdrawn from |
| That designer, five-foot, four-inch, 110-pound Alberto | | | | further testing. Nevertheless, it provided the |
| Santos-Dumont, who had hailed from Brazil, had | | | | foundation for the definitive aircraft, the No. 20, |
| spent most of his life in France, site of the world's | | | | which also proved to be Santos-Dumont's last. |
| first successful aerial balloon ascent by the | | | | Retaining the minimal-size design simplicity of the No. |
| Montgolfier Brothers in 1783 and an event which may | | | | 19, but eliminating its deficiencies, the aircraft |
| have subconsciously sparked his own related | | | | featured a three-boom, bamboo frame, its first one |
| experimentation. | | | | extending from the wing to the tail, its second |
| Unlike fixed- or rotary-wing aircraft, which employ the | | | | extending below the wing to the wheel axle, and its |
| science of aerodynamics for lift, these balloons attain | | | | third extending from this point to the tail, all fastened |
| lift by means of the buoyancy principle. | | | | with steel joints. |
| Air is compressible-that is, its own weight | | | | The rectangular-shaped, significantly-cambered, high |
| compresses it. The lower its location in the | | | | wings, with an 18-foot span, a 6.35-foot width, a 2.7:1 |
| atmosphere, the more air-and therefore weight-is | | | | aspect ratio, and a 113-square-foot area, were |
| above it, rendering it densest at or near the ground. | | | | covered with a double layer of silk tightly stretched |
| Conversely, as it rises, it becomes thinner. | | | | over their bamboo ribs and mounted, as characteristic |
| Hot air balloons utilize these varying conditions to | | | | of his previous airframes, at a pronounced dihedral |
| attain lift. Heated air, or lighter-than-air gas, within a | | | | angle. A cutout along the leading edge, equaling |
| balloon's envelope, causes the balloon itself to rise, | | | | one-third of the span, facilitated propeller installation |
| because its internal air is less dense than the | | | | and rotation, but reduced chord and area along this |
| surrounding air. When it reaches the altitude where | | | | stretch. |
| the density of its internal air equals that of the | | | | One vertical and one horizontal, fan-shaped surface, |
| surrounding air, it ceases to rise and attains a state | | | | swung on a universal joint at the frame's |
| of internal and external equilibrium-that is, its internal | | | | triangular-apex meeting point, served to form its |
| gas density equals the external gas density. | | | | tailplane and respectively provided yaw and |
| At this point, the downward pressure exerted on the | | | | longitudinal axis control, the rudder itself covering a |
| balloon equals the upward pressure on the balloon. | | | | 21-square-foot area. |
| Balloons are designated "aerostats" because their lift | | | | A 30-hp, two-cylinder, horizontally-opposed, |
| is attained in a static air mass-that is, an air mass | | | | water-cooled Darracq engine, mounted, like that of |
| which does not move. An aerostat moves vertically, | | | | the No. 19, above the pilot, drove a |
| but relies on existing wind direction and speed for its | | | | 6.9-foot-diameter, six-foot pitch, two-bladed |
| horizontal motion. As a result, it cannot be relied on | | | | Chauviere wooden propeller at 1,400 |
| for specific-direction transportation. | | | | revolutions-per-minute. Its two cylinder valves were |
| Aerostats with controlled movement employ one or | | | | operated by rocker arms and pushrods activated by |
| more propellers for velocity and direction, and are | | | | two eccentrics. Its magneto was mounted at an |
| designated "airships," but these propellers do not | | | | angle on top of the crankcase, while its carburetor |
| provide or augment lift. | | | | and oil tank were suspended below it, a |
| Santos-Dumont had, even at an early age, resolved | | | | tank-immersed pump distributing the lubricating liquid. |
| to exert a profound impact on people with his life, | | | | The aircraft had alternatively been powered by |
| but had yet to determine the means. Nevertheless, a | | | | Clement-Bayard and Panhard engines. |
| fascination with flight, in general, and balloons, in | | | | Ground maneuvering was accomplished by means of |
| particular, only continued to increase, causing him to | | | | two rigidly attached pneumatic tires and a single, small |
| focus on their steering deficiencies and leading him to | | | | skid at the rear. |
| believe that their aimless, wind-determined direction | | | | The pilot, cradled by a strip of canvas slung across |
| could be substituted with pilot control. | | | | the frame below the powerplant, was, like that of |
| It was only after his own first aerial ascent in a | | | | the Curtiss Model D, a virtual extension of the |
| 40-foot-diameter balloon in the fall of 1897 that he | | | | airframe and the seat was restricted to small, |
| concluded that aeronautics had been his life's calling. | | | | 120-pound operators. Longitudinal control was |
| Seeking to tame the uncontrollability factor, he | | | | maintained by a right-hand, elevator-actuating stick |
| designed an airship designated "Santos-Dumont No. 1." | | | | atop which was a blip switch for engine cut-offs to |
| Featuring an elongated, cigar-shaped balloon envelope, | | | | induce descents. Vertical control was augmented by |
| whose 6,454 cubic feet of gas had a 450-pound | | | | means of the left-side, rudder-deflecting wheel, while |
| lifting capacity, it was powered by an internal | | | | lateral control was attained by a lever located behind |
| combustion engine which drove a 6.6-foot-diameter | | | | the pilot and inserted into a narrow, vertical pocket |
| propeller, to provide forward speed, while a rudder | | | | sewn into the back of a special flight jacket, |
| augmented direction and two heavy | | | | effectively rendering the body attachment point a |
| balloon-suspended ballast bags, positioned fore and | | | | "third hand." Its wire, activating, like that of many |
| aft, substituted for the later, heavier-than-air craft's | | | | pioneer aircraft designs, the wing-warping mechanism |
| elevators, producing pitch control. The pilot was | | | | by means of torso-leaning, modified the |
| housed in a basket and guard ropes enabled ground | | | | angle-of-incidence to effectuate aerial banking. A |
| crews to maneuver the dirigible to and from its | | | | toe-clip on the pilot's left foot released a |
| mooring position. | | | | spring-loaded cable to change the propeller's |
| First flying on September 18, 1898 in Paris, it gently | | | | revolutions-per-minute. |
| collided with trees on the other side of the field from | | | | First unveiled in France in March of 1909, a location |
| which it had been cast off because of inadequate | | | | and year which bred the similar, but larger Bleriot XI |
| distance in which to rise above them, but, after a | | | | monoplane, the elegant, diminutive aircraft, with a |
| two-day repair, proved successful, demonstrating | | | | 330- to 370-pound gross weight, resembled a |
| Santos-Dumont's envisioned, rudder-provided | | | | dragonfly or a young lady because of its translucent, |
| controllability. Tracing circles and figure-eights in the | | | | silk-covered wings and was therefore dubbed the |
| sky, the No. 1 incorporated all the necessary | | | | "Demoiselle" in French. It was the world's first sport |
| elements to triumph over gravity: the balloon for lift, | | | | plane. |
| the engine and propeller for forward motion, the | | | | Sharing the extreme wing dihedral and low, pendulum |
| rudder for directional steering, and the ballast bags | | | | emulating center-of-gravity with its No.14-bis and No. |
| for pitch. | | | | 19 predecessors, it could only benefit from such |
| The succeeding, Santos-Dumont No. 2 sported a | | | | design features in static, still-air conditions. These, |
| wider envelope whose ten-percent increase in gas | | | | however, failed to exist, the aircraft thus prone to |
| volume resulted in a 44-pound greater lifting | | | | ever-increasing, destabilizing oscillations which resulted |
| capability. | | | | in excessive, in-flight pitching and rocking. |
| In order to house its No. 3 successor, which achieved | | | | Nevertheless, as the first light aircraft, it successfully |
| an aerial longevity record of 23 uninterrupted hours, | | | | married Santos-Dumont's lighter-than-air experience |
| Santos-Dumont erected a hangar with 36-foot-high | | | | with an internal combustion engine in a very low |
| doors at Saint Cloud outside of Paris. | | | | eight, fixed-wing structure. With an average |
| On October 19, 1901, he won the 100,000 French | | | | maximum, level-flight speed of 52 mph, it produced |
| franc prize offered by Henry Deutsch de la Meurthe, | | | | 12 pounds per horsepower and 3.1 pounds per wing |
| founding member of the Paris Aero Club, by circling | | | | square foot of lift, although it had once attained a |
| the Eiffel Tower and returning to the point of lift-off | | | | top speed of 55.8 mph and in September of 1909 |
| 30 minutes later in his No. 6 design, a 108-foot-long | | | | had flown a maximum 11-mile distance in 16 minutes. |
| dirigible with a stern-mounted propeller. | | | | Emulating the success of the concurrent Bleriot XI, |
| Despite these successes, however, he soon turned | | | | the Demoiselle became Santos-Dumont's first, and |
| to heavier-than-air flight. Fulfilling a promise to Samuel | | | | only, aircraft to be duplicated-and in significant |
| Pierpont Langley, the Smithsonian curator who had | | | | numbers. Clement-Bayard, for instance-a Paris |
| unsuccessfully launched his own "Aerodrome" design | | | | automobile manufacturer-built some 300 with 30-hp |
| from a catapult on the Potomac River, to commence | | | | car engines and sold them to $1,250 each, while the |
| experimentation with this lifting realm, and attempting | | | | aircraft could be purchased for $1,000 in Chicago and |
| to regain his reputation after suspected sabotage | | | | for $250 without a powerplant from the Hamilton |
| had resulted in slashes in his No. 7 balloon and had | | | | Aero Manufacturing Company. In France, a Demoiselle |
| precluded him from entering the St. Louis Aero Club | | | | Flight School was established and occasionally boasted |
| competition for a $100,000 prize, he designed a | | | | of Santos-Dumont himself as one of its instructors, |
| powerless, pontoon-equipped monoplane glider in | | | | and in 1911, the Popular Mechanics magazine published |
| Paris. Designated the No. 11, it had been | | | | its blueprints and assembly instructions. Also like the |
| speedboat-tugged, causing it to skim the top of the | | | | Bleriot XI of its day, it was privately assembled in |
| water, while the subsequent No. 12, a dual-propeller, | | | | copious quantities. |
| rotary-wing aircraft, failed to become airborne | | | | During a January 4, 1910 flight, the Demoiselle |
| because vertical flight technology had been | | | | crashed, according to one account, because of a |
| insufficiently developed at the turn of the century. | | | | "snapped bracing wire." Although Santos-Dumont had |
| The No. 14-bis, however--although offering little | | | | sustained non-life-threatening injuries, his emotional |
| contribution to aerodynamic advancement--achieved | | | | state had been the more precariously affected. |
| both continental notoriety and technological success | | | | Because of it, the Demoiselle became his last design |
| because of the sheer lack of existing competition. | | | | and the January 4 flight served as his last as a pilot, |
| Jointly designed by Santos-Dumont and Voisin, a | | | | the 36-year-old pioneer claiming that he had alas |
| 25-year-old engineer who had set his sights on | | | | achieved his life's goals with it. |
| heavier-than-air craft and had shared his knowledge | | | | Always intent on developing and advancing aviation |
| about them with Santos-Dumont during the winter of | | | | for the purposes of transportation and social and |
| 1905-1906, it was a 40-foot-long aircraft with 33-foot | | | | economic development, he had been emotionally |
| cellular, box kite wings attached by piano wires and | | | | shattered by the destructive role it had played during |
| pine struts and featuring extreme dihedral; a long, | | | | World War I and which he had vehemently opposed. |
| covered fuselage; a single, moveable, box kit cell | | | | Tormented by the multitude of lives prematurely lost |
| providing combined longitudinal and pitch, | | | | as a result of his own invention, he ultimately ended |
| forward-canard control; and a 24-hp, lower wing | | | | his own life 22 years later, on July 23, 1932, in Brazil, |
| plane-attached Antoinette engine which drove a | | | | having paradoxically attained his life's self-stated goal |
| crude, paddle-bladed, pusher-propeller. It was later | | | | of profoundly affecting mankind with his inventions in |
| retrofitted with a 50-hp engine and octagonal ailerons. | | | | both positive and negative ways. |
| Control could only be provided by a standing pilot. | | | | The Demoiselle in the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome |
| Because it had first been flight-tested suspended | | | | collection is a reproduction which had been built by |
| from the No. 14 airship, it had adopted the "14-bis" | | | | Cole Palen in the 1950s at his parent's Red Oaks Mills |
| designation, but its canard configuration had earned it | | | | home, the idea for which had come from the |
| the title of "Bird of Prey" by the press. | | | | simultaneously- and similarly-constructed Curtiss Model |
| It won the Archdeacon Prize on October 23, 1906 | | | | D. |
| for a flight of 25 meters and the 1,500 French franc | | | | The Rhinebeck example's last restoration had |
| Aero Club Prize for a 100-meter coverage on | | | | occurred in the mid-1990s when Dan Taylor, a |
| November 12, the latter considered Europe's first | | | | Rhinebeck pioneer aircraft pilot, had attempted to |
| recognized, sustained, heavier-than-air triumph and, | | | | render it more representative of the original No. 20 |
| for a time, believed to have been the world's, | | | | Demoiselle and for which he had secured a 30-hp, |
| because of the Wright Brothers' own secretive, | | | | two-cylinder, air-cooled Detroit Aero engine from |
| undocumented experiments. | | | | 1909, the type which had powered the US-built |
| After four intermediate, but unsuccessful, | | | | airframes. Paul Savastino, a professional machinist and |
| heavier-than-air evolutions, Santos-Dumont applied | | | | welder, designed an aircraft-appropriate mount able |
| what had consistently constituted his signature, | | | | to support the powerplant without overstressing its |
| airship-related design philosophy to his next | | | | bamboo construction. |
| fixed-wing development-namely, employ the smallest | | | | Suspended from the high ceiling of New York's Jacob |
| possible airframe which could accommodate him to | | | | Javits Center during the July, 2002, New York |
| produce a sport plane, akin to a personalized aerial | | | | Jewelry, Watch, and Clock Show, the monoplane |
| car. | | | | represented both Old Rhinebeck and Alberto |
| The resultant design, the No. 19, was a small, tractor | | | | Santos-Dumont, whose Louis Cartier connection had |
| monoplane whose "fuselage" had been comprised of | | | | been forged almost 100 years earlier when he had |
| bamboo poles and whose fabric-covered wings, | | | | designed a hands-free wristwatch for him after |
| spanning 16.5 feet, retained the very pronounced | | | | learning that the dirigible pilot had been unable to |
| dihedral introduced by the No. 14-bis. A two-cylinder, | | | | control his airship and simultaneously monitor the time |
| 20-hp Dutheil-Chalmers engine, mounted above the | | | | with his hunter pocket watch during his famous Eiffel |
| pilot at the wing half-mating point, provided power, | | | | Tower circumnavigation in pursuit of the Deutsch |
| while the combined rudder and elevator was | | | | prize. |
| augmented by two side, under-wing rudder surfaces | | | | Today, the aircraft is displayed in Old Rhinebeck |
| and a forward, canard elevator, which extended well | | | | Aerodrome's Pioneer Aircraft Hangar, one of four |
| ahead of the structure. The aileron- and wing-warping | | | | buildings located across the airfield on a hill. |