HOW I BECAME AN AËRONAUT
AND MY EXPERIENCE WITH AIR-SHIPS
Part II
BY ALBERTO SANTOS-DUMONT
THE next year I built a new air-ship, which Paris at once christened the ‘‘Santos-Dumont No. 2.’’ It had the same length as the first and about the same form; but its radius was greater—1 meter .90 (6 feet, 4 inches) instead of 1 meter .75 (6 feet)—which brought the volume up to 200 cubic meters (7,062 cubic feet) and gave me 44 pounds more ascensional force. I had taken account of the insufficiency of the air-pump which had all but killed me; and I added a little aluminium ventilator, to make surer of stability in the form of the balloon.
The first trial was fixed for Thursday, May 11, 1899, the Feast of the Ascension. Unfortunately a steady rain came on, making the balloon of the air-ship heavy, and depriving me of the ascensional force requisite for undertaking the journey in sufficient security. I, therefore, contented myself with going through evolutions at the end of a cord. The trial, nevertheless, ended in the neighboring trees.
The balloon had doubled up under the combined action of the contraction of the hydrogen and the force of the wind.
My friends began again at me now, saying: ‘‘You must understand that it is impossible to keep the shape of your cylindrical balloon rigid. You must not risk your life again by taking a petroleum motor into the air.’’
I said to myself: ‘‘Errors do not count. Little by little I shall correct the defects that have been revealed by my accidents; and I shall end in complete success.’’
The First Flight Around the Eiffel Tower
Accordingly, during the same year, I built a new balloon, the ‘‘Santos-Dumont No. 3.’’ Its principal measurements were: Capacity, 500 cubic meters (17,655 cubic feet); length, 20 meters (66 feet); middle diameter, 7 meters. 50 (25 feet). The basket and machine remained the same; but I suppressed the little air-balloon that had worked so badly in my previous experiment. As will be noted from the dimensions, this balloon differed greatly from the others in shape; and its increased capacity permitted me to employ illuminating gas instead of hydrogen. When inflated thus, it lifted 231 pounds of ballast together with myself and the machine, basket, rigging, and utensils.
I started for the first time in the ‘‘Santos-Dumont No. 3’’ from the Parc d’ Aërostation, at Vaugirard, on November 13, 1899, at 3.30 P.M. The Eiffel Tower made the center for my evolutions. Around that wonderful landmark, for twenty minutes, I had the immense satisfaction of describing circles, figure eights, and whatever other manœuvers it pleased me to undertake, and in all directions, diagonally up and down as well as laterally. I had at last realized my fullest expectations. Very faithfully the air-ship obeyed the impulse of propeller and steering-rudder, fixed to the rear suspension-cord which served it as a hinge.
From the Eiffel Tower I took my course to the Parc des Princes, and then, making a great loop, passed over the training-fields at Bagatelle, near Longchamps. I had, indeed, decided to come down there again, where I had landed so unwillingly before; and this landing I effected under the best conditions—at the exact spot where ‘‘Santos-Dumont No.1’’ had fallen.
Had the air been calm, my speed on this trip might have reached 25 kilometers (154 miles) an hour. That day, however, the wind was so strong that a return to the starting-place appeared to me to present great difficulties, considering the small size of the Pare d’ Aërostation at Vaugirard, surrounded on all sides by the houses of the quartier. Landing in Paris, in general, is something next to impossible for any kind of balloon.
Considerations of this order made it desirable for me to have a plant of my own. The Aëro Club had acquired some land on the newly opened Côteaux de Longchamps, at Saint-Cloud; and I decided to become my own master by building on it a great shed, high enough to contain my air-ship with the balloon fully inflated, and furnished with a hydrogen generator. This Aërodrome, which I built at my own expense, was 30 meters (99 feet) long, 7 meters (23 feet) wide, and 11
