My airships: the story of my life

by Alberto Santos Dumont

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 overthe use of aircraft in war, he committed suicide.

Genres: History, Aviation

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1904

Reviews

[Fábio · Rating 4 out of 5]

O livro reúne dois textos de Alberto Santos-Dumont, publicados originalmente em 1918. “O que eu vi” descreve o processo de criação e testes de seus aeróstatos e aeroplanos. É um relato bastante autobiográfico, na qual o inventor discorre sobre a sua formação, revela seus ideais, fala de sua inspiração (Julio Verne) e comenta sobre a disputa com os irmãos Wright (e sua visão de ciência). É, também, um testemunho de época — da transição do século XIX para o XX e que viu mudanças sociais drásticas em virtude das inovações tecnológicas — no Brasil e na Europa.

Em “O que nós veremos”, Santos-Dumont realiza uma série de previsões assombrosas sobre o futuro da aviação — aplicações comerciais e usos militares — e as suas consequências sociais. Mais que tudo, é a exposição de sua convicção na comunicação, na redução das distâncias, na união dos povos.

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally published in 1904 (one year after the Wright brothers' first heavier-than-air powered flights at Kitty Hawk), this memoir of one of the early pioneers of powered lighter-than-air flight is an interesting account of the development of airships in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The opening chapters about the author's earlier experiences with balloons and his early airship designs are fascinating and full of a spirit of adventure, but the later chapters start to bog down a bit in technical detail.

[Caio Leonardo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cresci com a lenda de que Santos Dumont havia cometido suicídio por causa do uso de sua invenção na guerra. Nesta autobiografia, ele comenta ter aceitado convite de militares franceses para discutir o uso bélico do seu nº 9, o pequeno dirigível com que ele famosamente atravessou a Champs Elysées e o estacionou em sua casa, na esquina da rua Washington, para tomar um café e depois levantar voo novamente.

Narrativa saborosa de um ícone de quem The Times, de Londres, em edição contemporânea, disse que, dali a 100 anos, de todos os vivos, talvez apenas Santos Dumont ainda seria lembrado.

[Gregory Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fascinating character! Alberto Santos-Dumont was an eccentric, courageous and independent thinker and innovator who, at the beginning of the 20th century developed flying air ships that were self-propelled. Born and raised in Brazil (where he is a national hero), he moved to Paris and was welcomed with open arms during the period of that wonderful city's heyday. When art and creativity and whimsy and eccentricity was openly and warmly embraced by its citizens. This diminutive Brazilian with his increasingly complex hydrogen-fueled air ships would be trotted out every so often and Parisians would surround it as he took to the skies, often with disastrous results, which he blew off as just part of the creative process (imagine, dangling high in a tree after your craft collapsed and making notes to yourself about what went wrong instead of merely sitting there screaming "Aaaah!")

The age is fascinating as it is - filled with colorful characters who believed in a future where humankind lived and moved about in the sky much as they did on the open sea. Believing in the possibility that we've limited ourselves and literally the sky's the limit. Santos-Dumont is such an interesting, colorful character that I'm working on my next novel of historical fiction built around this fascinating historical figure. Heads up!

[Fábio Ferreira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Esta pequena obra divide-se em duas partes. Na primeira ("o que vi") ele basicamente resume o seu primeiro livro (Meus Balões), porém traz mais detalhes relacionados ao 14 Bis. Na segunda parte ("o que nós veremos") é bem interessante ver os prognósticos que ele fez sobre o futuro da aviação no pós-guerra. Mas é triste ver com os seus compatriotas não eram interessados em seus conselhos sobre a aviação brasileira, que na época estava atrás do Chile e da Argentina. Ao contrário do que fazia o EUA com os irmãos Wright, por exemplo.

[Legens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly entertaining account of the adventures of one of the foremost pioneers of flight, Alberto Santos-Dumont, which covers almost all of his years flying balloons and dirigibles (airships). The technical descriptions are accessible, the flight stories often wild, and Santos-Dumont's attitude a perfect example of the buoyant spirit of progress of the times.

[Naty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interessante!

[Lindolfo Lorn Rodrigues · Rating 4 out of 5]

Não sabia que Santos Dumont tinha escrito livros, curto e direto ao ponto.
Parece que foi tirado do diário dele pela forma como foi escrito.

[Laura]

Free download available at Project Gutenberg.