A contract that stripped Santos=Dumont of all of his merits - The Wright & Smithsonian Brothers Agreement

 

Above, joint work by Langley and Santos=Dumont to unravel the mysteries of flight - Below, a tiny space reserved for Santos=Dumont. A lifetime of aerial accomplishments ignored by the Smithsonian.

To explain why Santos=Dumont was practically obliterated from aviation history by the Smithsonian an article titled "Smithsonian releases Wright brothers agreement detailing 'first in flight' claims" explains the case.

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Published by Fox News on October 20, 2015 by Jeremy Kaplan, the article says that the Smithsonian has publicly disclosed the 1948 contract between the Orville Wright estate and the institution, which states that the Smithsonian must recognize the Wright brothers as the first in flight. The agreement prevents the Smithsonian from claiming that any aircraft prior to the Wrights' plane in 1903 was capable of carrying a man under its own power in controlled flight.

Disclaimer

Before moving forward with this matter, it is very important to say that we must respect all aeronautics pioneers for their wonderful deeds, the Wright brothers did incredible things, as much as other pioneers. I do not intend to diminish the image of the Brothers, however, I want the space reserved for great achievements of Santos=Dumont to be ensured within a scientific context, not a political one, even more so within an institution as grand as the Smithsonian Museum.

With that said, we continue with the article.

The article suggests that an aviation historian argues that the contract is wrong and forces the museum to ignore the truth. The Smithsonian decided to release the contract publicly to allow the world to make its own decisions.

According to Peter Jakab, associate director of curatorial affairs at the Smithsonian Museum, before heavier-than-air flying apparatus existed, the Smithsonian Institution sponsored the experiments of Samuel Langley, an astronomer and physicist who had been doing flight experiments. At this point it is important to say that Santos=Dumont and Langley knew the work that both were doing, unlike the Wrights who worked in secret.

In the 1920s, there was a falling out between Langley and the Wright brothers, as both claimed to have invented the airplane. The Wrights claimed to have performed successful flights in their aircraft, the Flyer, while Langley, who carried out his experiments in the eyes of the scientific commission, did not obtain satisfactory flight results.

Samuel Langley, visiting Santos=Dumont's hangar in Saint-Cloud to follow the experiments with Airship Number 4, on August 8, 1900. Both scientists collaborated with each other to bring flight to humanity. How many important scientific reports have been deliberately hidden from the eyes of science because of the policy of a contract?

In protest against the museum's unwillingness to acknowledge that the Flyer flew, Orville Wright in 1928 sent the Flyer to London with the help of the important pilot Charles Lindbergh, who joined Orville Wright to oppose the Smithsonian Institution, which had always credited Langley with for carrying out experiments within the scientific framework accepted at the time, hurting the inventors' egos.

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The Flyer remained on display at the Science Museum in London until 1942, after which it was sent into storage during World War II alongside the Magna Carta and Crown Jewels.

Shortly after World War II, the US government understood that it was very important to follow the narrative that the Flyer would have been the first to fly and contacted the executors of Orville Wright's will. They struck a deal to bring the Flyer back to America, stating that the Flyer would always be displayed with a tag acknowledging its status as the first true airplane, in response to the Langley controversy, and dismissing the pioneering spirit of any other great inventor. involved in I fly from heavier than air, whoever he is, an American or a foreigner.

I wonder how many other important scientific reports have been deliberately hidden from the eyes of science because of the policy of a contract?

For reasons of alignment with American ideals, the director of the museum felt obliged to accept the terms of the contract for the Flyer to return to the United States, even if this was contrary to the scientific purposes of the serious institution.

THE AGREEMENT

THIS AGREEMENT made by and between HAROLD S. MILLER and HAROLD W. STEEPER as Executors of the Last Will and Testament of Orville Wright, deceased, hereinafter called the Vendors, Parties of the First Part, and THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, hereinafter called the Vendee, Party of the Second Part, WITNESSETH:

WHEREAS there is included in the residuary estate of Orville Wright the Wright Aeroplane of 1903, invented and built by Wilbur and Orville Wright and flown by them at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on December 17, 1903, and

WHEREAS it is in the public interest that said plane be pre- served for all time and made available as a public exhibit in an appropriate place and under proper auspices, and

WHEREAS the Probate Court of Montgomery County, Ohio, having jurisdiction over the administration of said estate, after full hearing in a proceeding to which all persons and institutions having any interest under the will of Orville Wright were parties and had submitted themselves to the jurisdiction of the Court, has officially found that the known wishes of Orville Wright will be carried out and the highest and best interest of the estate will be served by recognizing the public in- terest and has accordingly authorized and directed the Vendors to enter into this Agreement,

Santos Dumont's N9 airship is on display at the Museu Nacional do Ar e Sapce alongside the Flyer by the Wright brothers - from a time when science was not silenced by politics.

NOW, THEREFORE, THIS AGREEMENT WITNESSETH:

1. For the consideration hereinafter set forth the Vendors agree to sell and do hereby sell to the United States of America, and agree to deliver to the United States National Museum, Washington, D.C., within the current fiscal year ending June 30, 1949, and subject to the terms of this Agreement, the original Wright Aeroplane of 1903.

2. In consideration thereof the Vendee agrees to pay to the Vendors the sum of One ($1.00) Dollar in cash and to comply with the following requirements:

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(a) Said airplane in to be displayed as a public museum exhibit in the Metropolitan Area of the United States National Capital only, and except as hereinafter pro- vided in paragraph (b) is to be housed directly facing the Main Entrance in the fore part of the North Hall of the Arts and Industries Building of the United States National Museum. It shall never be removed from such public exhibition except as may be required temporarily for maintenance or protection.

(b) If the proper authorities of the Smithsonian Institution or its successors (acting for the United States of America) at any time in the future desire to remove sold airplane to any other building in the Metropolitan Area of the national capital, such removal shall be permitted on the following conditions:

1. That the substituted building shall have equal or better facilities for the protection, maintenance and exhibition of the airplane.

2. That the Wright Airplane of 1903 be given a place of special honor and not intermingled with other airplanes of later design.

3. That such building be not a military museum but be devoted to memorializing the development of aviation,

Langley, Aimé, Santos=Dumont entre outros pioneiros da aviação - competição nos ares, com muito respeito cortesia e amizade em solo.

(c) There shall at all times be prominently displayed with said airplane a label in the following form and language:

The Original Wright Brothers Airplane

The World's First Power-Driven Heavier-than-Air Machine

in Which Man Made Free, Controlled, and sustained Flight

Invented and Built by Wilbur and Orville Wright

Flown by Them at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina

December 17, 1903

By Original Scientific Research the Wright Brothers Discovered

The Principles of Human Flight

As Inventors, Builders and Flyers They Further Developed the Airplane

Taught Man to Fly and Opened the Era of Aviation

Deposited by the Estate of Orville Wright.

"The first flight lasted only twelve seconds, a flight very modest compared with that of birds, but it was nevertheless the first in the history of the world in which a machine carrying a man bud raised itself by its own power into the air in free flight, had sailed forward on a level course without reduction of speed, and had finally landed without being wrecked. The second and third flights were little linger, and the fourth last d 59 seconds covering a distance of 852 feet over the ground against a 20 mile wind." 

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Wilbur and Orville Wright

(From Century Magazine, Vol. 76, September 1908, p. 649.)

(d), Neither the Smithsonian Institution or its successors nor any museum or other agency, bureau or facilities, ad- ministered for the United States of America by the Smithsonian Institution or its successors, shall publish or permit to be displayed a statement or label in connection with or in respect of any aircraft model or design of earlier date than the Wright Aeroplane of 1903, claiming in effect that such aircraft was capable of carrying a man under its own power in con- trolled flight.

3. The title and right of possession to be transferred by the Vendors hereunder shall remain vested in the United States of America only so long as there shall be no deviation by the Vendee from the requirements in the foregoing paragraph, and only so long as neither the Estate of Orville Wright nor any person having an interest therein is required to pay and does bear without indemnity an estate or inheritance tax, assessed by the State of Ohio, the United States or any other taxing authority, based upon a valuation of property of the Estate which includes said aeroplane at a value in excess of Gae ($1.00) Dollar.

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4. Upon the failure of the Vendee to remedy any deviation from the requirements set forth in paragraph 2, within twelve months after written specification thereof shall have been given to the Smithsonian Institution on behalf of the United States or upon (e) the final assessment of any state or federal inheritance, succession or estate tax whereby the Estate of Orville Wright or any person or persons having an interest therein shall be required to pay a higher tax by reason of a valuation of said aeroplane for tax purposes in excess of One ($1.00) Dollar, and (b) the omission of the United States or others on behalf of the United States within twelve months of written notice of the final assessment by the person assessed to provide for the payment thereof by appropriations or otherwise, title to and right of possession of said aeroplane shall automatically revert to the Vendors, their successors and assigns. 

5. In the event of a termination of title in the United States by reason of an omission on the part of the United States to provide for the payment of a tax assessment a store said, the ted States shall have an option to repurchase the plane at any time a live years of the tax payment by reimbursing the taxpayer in the mount paid with interest thereon at six per cent from the date yment. Upon the exercise of such option, this Agreement, in ballet the term, shell automatically again become of full force and fort WITNESS the due execution hereof in date this 23-4 day November 1948.

Harold & miller (SEAL)

Executors of the Estate of Orville Wright, deceased! (SEAL)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution 

Conclusion

I would very much like to see Santos=Dumont portrayed in the Smithsonian, if the Institute wants to review its position, I am sure that we can create a great exhibition on the achievements of Santos=Dumont, and for this purpose, I am at your entire disposal.

The Guardians of the Museums of Santos=Dumont and Museum of Aeronautics - OCA Ibirapuera

 

Luiz Pagano, Tizuka Yamasaki e Ricardo Magalhães - Where is the Santos=Dumont Museum?

Why does the world believe that the Wright brothers invented the airplane with so much scientific documentation giving the precedence to Santos=Dumont?

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The answer to this question is simple – we Brazilians are not capable to producing mythology about ourselves. Therefore, the second question to ask yourself is 'where is Our Jack London?

The movement called 'the Bandeiras of São Paulo' began their search for gold and precious gems 250 years before the North Americans, generating the first major gold rush in the world, we had another enormous adventure in that sense, in Serra Pelada and nobody/or very little was reported. However, in 1903, the brilliant Jack London enchanted the world with North American audacity and daring in the book The Call of the Wild, reporting myths of an adventure with the same purposes, which does not even compare to Brazilian ones.

Ever since the term mouseion, the temple of the inspiring muses, was used for the first time in Alexandria in the 2nd century BC, a space designed to excite the minds of young people with encyclopedic knowledge, in order to consume and generate science, the whole world has known the importance of such an institution, to encourage the culture of a people, except for us here in Brazil.

In 1506, the Vatican Museums opened their doors praising popes and Christianity and here in Brazil, the sad history of museology appears with the National Museum, our first, on June 6, 1818, which exactly 200 years after its foundation, demonstrates our ineptitude in dealing with such institutions, when a mega-proportion fire destroyed part of our legacy in 2018.

Legacy and Mythification

This photo that appears at the beginning of this article, with me Professor Ricardo and film director Tizuka Yamasaki carries a very important symbology, that of 'near execution'. 

As I said, in this photo we see myself, Luiz Pagano, who writes this blog, my friend Tizuka Yamazaki, director of the classic film from the 80s, Gaijin, who since that time has wanted to make a film about Santos=Dumont and never succeeded, and Professor Ricardo Magalhães, disguised as Santos=Dumont, who strugles tirelessly for the preservation and dissemination of the Father of Aviation.

The three of us form a group of “potential Jack London” with the power to mythologize Santos=Dumont, but there seems to be a strange mystical, anti-Brazilian force that prevents us from moving forward.

When I was 16, I met one of the most special women in my life, Dona Ada Rogato (pictured, I sit in front of the Cesna 140 she used to circumnavigate the Americas). In 1983, I wanted to work, do something interesting and I volunteered to clean planes at the old Aeronautics Museum, in Oca do Ibirapuera.

In this other photo, by coincidence, the other most important woman in my life, my wife (the one in the middle) at the last party that took place at the Museum of Aeronautics, at the Flash Power Energy Drik in the late 1990s.

If there is a man who loves and fights for Santos=Dumont, that man is my big brother, Professor Ricardo Magalhães, who, along with me, Marcos Villares, great-grandnephew of the aviator and a select group of friends, does not think twice about to dedicate time and money to the effort to keep the memory of Santos=Dumont alive and intact.

In the middle 1930s, the Museum of Ipiranga was experiencing difficulties, three years after the death of Santos=Dumont, Arnaldo Villares, Jorge Dumont Villares and his brother-in-law Ricardo Severo, donated a good sum to the museum for the creation of the Santos Dumont Room, with thousands of items that belonged to the aviator.

The collection consisted of a set of 1,670 pieces of various types, such as three-dimensional, iconographic and textual documents that belonged to the inventor or were produced in his honor. The following year, under the management of Affonso de d'Escragnole Taunay, the "Sala Santos Dumont" was created. The museum's renovation works were also carried out and financed by the Dumont family.

Photo of my visit to the former IV COMAR on October 19, 2016, with objects that belonged to Santos=Dumont

The making of the exhibition furniture was custom-made at the Lyceum of Arts and Crafts of São Paulo (my great-grandmother, Giulia Maiello, says that my grandfather, Nicola Maiello, came from the Province of Caserta, in Florence, to sculpt furniture for this undertaking).

Anyway, the inauguration took place on October 23, 1936 and since then it has been very difficult to maintain the room and the aviator's memory.

At that time there was also the idea of creating a space to honor Santos Dumont in the new Ibirapuera Park, which was being conceived. Political instability in Brazil during the Vargas era postponed the project by 20 years, and it was only inaugurated on October 16, 1960, (at that time the Santos=Dumont foundation already existed, created in the 1950s) on the floors of the Pavilhão Lucas Nogueira Garcez, better known such as Oca, designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer in Ibirapuera Park.

Photo of my visit to the former IV COMAR on October 19, 2016, with objects that belonged to Santos=Dumont

Maintained by the Secretary of Culture of the State of São Paulo, the Museum of Aeronautics also had the support of the Ministry of Aeronautics and private companies.

The museum had its doors closed to the public in 1996 and started to host only a few private events, such as the two-year Flash Power Energy Drink party promoted by Paulinho Machline, Udo Holler and Arnaldo Waligora, which took place on March 30, 1999, the company my wife worked for at the time.

Internal map of the Museu da Aeronautica / Oca - The P47 Thunderbolt was at the TAM Museum (today they are in the Company's collection), the replica of the 14 Bis and Demoiselle, also at the TAM Museum, the IPT Glider and the Ypiranga at the Revoar Project

The museum was definitively closed in the year 2000, allegedly due to the mega exhibition "Brasil+500 - Mostra do Reescobrimento", which also included the Bienal Foundation building and the Manoel da Nóbrega Pavilion and brought together works from the pre-Cabraline period to the 20th century. The OCA at Ibirapuera began to be used on a large scale for exhibitions by "maecenas" Edemar Cid Ferreira, from the "controversial" Banco Santos.

Internal map of the Museu da Aeronautica / Oca - The Gloster Meteor MK-8,  Jahú was duly recovered and is safe in the TAM Museum collection, the PT- 19 and Muniz are in Project Revoar

With the revocation of the concession for the space occupied by the Aeronautics Museum in the park, the Santos Dumont Foundation and the City of São Paulo transferred the entire collection to a reserved area in CEMUCAM Park, in Cotia, which was renamed Parque Santos Dumont.

Interior map of Museu da Aeronautica / Oca - P-47 Thunderbolt, Curtiss-Wright Corporation, “Brasil”, a 90 HP Cessna 140-A that belonged to Dona Ada Rogato, North-American T-6 Esquadrilha da Fumaça and a Waco Aircraft Company C.S.O.

In 2002 a new museum opened in Guarulhos, and part of the collection was taken there, as seen in this year's ASAS magazine.

Transcription of the Article

The commander of BASP cel. Lima de Andrade, and the mayor of Guarulhos, Eloi Pietà, inaugurate the new museum.

Inauguration of the Guarulhos Aeronautical Museum

In one of the most popular events, the newest Brazilian aviation museum, the Aeronautical Museum of Guarulhos, was inaugurated on the morning of December 5, 2002, the result of an agreement between the São Paulo Air Base (BASP), the Santos-Dumont Foundation and the Municipality of Guarulhos (see ASAS n°10). The new museum is located in BASP itself and, in this first phase of implementation, has a hangar where a Fairchild PT-19, a Muniz M-7 biplane and the North American T-6D Texan piloted by Col. Braga na Esquadrilha da Fumaça) and a large air-conditioned exhibition hall with a snack bar and magazine shop. In this hall, in excellent exhibition conditions, protected in glass showcases, there are several pieces of great historical importance referring to Alberto Santos-Dumont, such as the nacelle of 14-Bis, the basket of the balloon Brazil (also used in the dingivels N° 1.2 and 3). parts of his clothing and used by him on the flights, original documents and other items In addition, suspended, an original Demoiselle is on display.

With the inauguration of the museum, the population of Greater São Paulo (metropolitan area) once again has a genuine historical space dedicated to aviation, something that it had been deprived of since the regrettable closure of the museum in Ibirapuera Park.

The new museum is completely open to the public, open from Wednesday to Sunday from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, with access through Gate G-3 of the São Paulo Air Force Base (BASP). The path is along Avenida Hélio Smidt, which goes to São Paulo International Airport (Cumbica), where signs inform the exit to BASP and the museum.

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Another great preserver of aircrafts is Commander Cesar Pulschen, from Projeto Revoar.

He who has already flown for Varig, Vasp, Gol, ABSA and currently operates in executive aviation. A fan of vintage aircraft, Pulschen has a PT-19 from 1942, a PA11 from 1949, a Cessna 170 from 1954 and a N3N biplane from 1940. "My pleasure is restoring and maintaining the planes in their original form. All they are in flight condition. I travel a lot to go to meetings with old planes", says the captain, who has had a house with a hangar in the Eldorado Valley since 2000.

After that, most of the collection that was at the São Paulo Air Base in 2007, in terrible conditions, as well as the part that was in CEMUCAM, library and smaller materials, which belonged to the Santos Dumont Foundation, with Brigadier Major José Vicente Cabral Checchia headed the Santos-Dumont Foundation at the time.

Professor Ricardo Magalhães, Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the Santos Dumont Foundation, was responsible for transferring everything to Santos, with his own resources, which received several relics that were added to the collection of the Museu de Aeronáutica de Santos, the so-called 'Museu Aéreo da Baixada Santista ', curated by Ricardo himself, managed at the time by Lieutenant Colonel Jorge Tebicheranede, from 2007 to 2008.

Changes in aeronautics, which transformed the Santos Air Base into the Air Base Nucleus, with a consequent reduction in personnel, caused the museum to be deactivated and the collection taken back near the Ipiranga museum, the initial destination of the 1930s, in the 4th COMAR, under the administration of Lieutenant-Brigadier Marcelo Kanitz Damasceno.

There, a report by the Santos=Dumont Foundation was made with pieces from the collection, accompanied by Ricardo Magalhães, who, with the help of a team from USP, carried out the transfer.

Created on March 27, 1942, the Fourth Regional Air Command (IV COMAR), headquartered in São Paulo (SP), ended its activities in August 2017 becoming COMGAP, and with that the collection was taken to the Yatch Club of Saints.

With the arrival of the pandemic in 2020, under the administration of Brigadier Major Paulo Roberto Pertusi, part was transferred back to the São Paulo Air Base (this blog did not have access to where the other part was taken).

Some of the items from the former Aeronautics Museum, such as the Jahu seaplane, used by Commander João Ribeiro de Barros to cross the South Atlantic, guaranteed restoration promoted by the Foundation to be exhibited at the then TAM Museum, in São Carlos (city in the estate of São Paulo).

Luiz Pagano and Movie director Tizuka Yamasaki 

The great dream of Commander Rolim Adolfo Amaro, founder and president of TAM Linhas Aéreas, and of his brother João Francisco Amaro, the TAM Museum, inaugurated experimentally on November 11, 2006, in the district of Água Vermelha, in São Carlos, Attached to São Carlos Airport and LATAM MRO, it operated for 10 years, growing from 32 aircraft to 100 of them. Continuing the endless back-and-forth of museum closures, this one was also deactivated in January 2016 with the transfer of the TAM Museum collection to new facilities, May 12, 2018, to be built in the place where the Memorial is located Aeroespacial Brasileiro, in the city of São José dos Campos.

Today the collection is at the headquarters of Embraer and the Department of Aerospace Science and Technology (DCTA), attached to São José dos Campos Airport. The agreement was reached in the presence of the president of the Tam Museum, João Amaro, the mayor of São José dos Campos, Colonel Ozires Silva and other museum and city authorities.

Irreparable losses

It is evident that in each of these displacements, regardless of the endeavor of Ricardo, mine and the effort of our friends, much is lost. As everything is done with own resources and sometimes, without the consent and prior knowledge issued by the Brazilian Air force, the difficulty multiplies.

I hope with all my heart that one day we can have the security and pleasure of having a worthy museology system, as well as the exaltation of our myths in a way comparable to those of the north-Americans, so that we can finally tell our history with more respect, increasing the love and dedication of the Brazilian people to science and culture.

References

AERO Magazine, Inner Editora

BUENO, Eduardo - Presentismo e Presentificação do Passado: a Narrativa Jornalística da Historia na Coleção Terra Brasilis – 2010; 

FAB, Força Aérea Brasileira | CPDOC». cpdoc.fgv.br.- Fundação Santos Dummont». www.santosdumont.org.br; 

Folha de S.Paulo - Descobrimento: Brasil 500 Anos vai expor carta de Caminha - 03/06/1999». www1.folha.uol.com.br;

GALANTE, Alexandre (15 de maio de 2018). «Museu Asas de um Sonho será instalado em São José dos Campos (SP)». Poder Aéreo - Forças Aéreas, Indústria Aeronáutica e de Defesa;

MEMORIAL  0122A - Lucas Nogueira Garcez ZH 2014;

MUNDO Educação.  - Como surgiu o avião? - Mundo Educação»;

Revista Turismo - Parque do Ibirapuera. www.revistaturismo.com.br:

Santos Dumont and Apple at 114 Champs-Élysées, home to the world's greatest innovations

  

Santos=Dumont's office in his apartment on the Champs-Élysées rendered from photos of the time, superimposed on current ones

It was at number 114 on the Champs-Élysées that Santos=Dumont invented the greatest number of aerial machines - innovation continues at this address with the Apple store (a full plate for those who credit him as a creative egregore).

Much can be said when analyzing the photos of Santos=Dumont's apartment at the time.

Dining Room in the Sky circa 2020 - Apple store

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Santos=Dumont's life could have been better documented, were it not for the episode in which Santos sets fire to several documents, in the backyard of his house in Benérville, in August 1914, when gendarmerrie agents suspected that he might be a spy of war (learn more)

Luiz Pagano at Avenida Champs Elysées, 114, on the corner of Rue Washington, Santos Dumont's address in Paris

You that are reading this article may have already noticed that much of the information we see in biographies seems to be repeated from book to book, with a lot of data about some events and, on the other hand, huge gaps, of up to decades, with lost events.

I myself wrote an article about Santos+Dumont's apartment in 2012 (learn more)

Description of the environments at the time when Santos=Dumont lived in the apartment, we can see the "roundabout" oval room, the office next to the facades of Rue Washington and Champs Élysees and, in the background, the staff and guest room, kitchen and bathrooms.

One can compensate for some of these losses simply by analyzing the various photographs, especially those taken in his apartment on Rue Washington.

In the photos of the time, we see basically four environments:

1 - Rotunda or Oval Room: This is a central and prominent space in the apartment. The oval shape provides a sense of fluidity and elegance to the environment. Possibly the oval hall was used to receive guests and hold meetings. With its unique shape, it sings with sophisticated furniture carefully to suit the room's aesthetic and purpose;

2- The Office of Santos=Dumont, photo overlooking the shelf, detail for the large amount of paper on the table, among them journalistic articles, flight photos, envelope cutting templates and models of nacelles for his airships, etc.

Santos=Dumont's office front photo - S=D evaluates a metal piece, details to be observed: wallpaper with an owl motif, the radica table, lamp and art nouveau frame

S=D analyzing a project in the office next to a model, moments before going to engineering.

2 - Office: In the office, Santos=Dumont dedicated most of his time to reflection and planning. The bookcase suggests that this was a space where he studied and did research. It may have contained books on aviation, science and technology, reflecting Santos=Dumont's intellectual and creative interests;

3 - Engineering: The engineering room was a place of action and experimentation. It was where he began to turn his ideas and projects into reality.

Santos=Dumont's third room would be the equivalent of engineering. Place where he designs the technical part of his aircraft, maintains ropes, cables and fuel, spare parts, as well as builds and makes his models.

Gym equipment, including the rowing machine and weights, suggest that he also valued physical health.

The presence of an engine and battery above the fireplace indicates Dumont's continued focus on innovation and technology;

4 - Dining Room in the Heights: This unique space is where Dumont enjoyed his meals, the billiard table adds a touch of entertainment and relaxation to the room;

4 - Dining Room in the Heights, circa 1904

These four environments combined offered Santos=Dumont a versatile environment that reflected his multifaceted interests, his creativity and his quest for innovation both in aviation and in other aspects of his life.

Santos=Dumont's office in his apartment on the Champs-Élysées

On the wall of one of the rooms, there is a picture behind a table, for example, with stars nailed to the frame that showed one of the pyramids of Egypt and a people riding camels.

Santos=Dumont & o enigma da pirâmide de Gizé, no Egito

Who would those be?

To try to solve this charade, I analyze another photo of Santos=Dumont in Egypt, from a trip we know almost nothing about. In it seem to be Santos=Dumont, someone who looks a lot like Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe, Mr Henrique Dumont (except that the dates don't match as he died in 1891) or even the tutor/protector Garcia.

On page 230 of the biography Santos=Dumont e a conquista do ar (Santos=Dumont and the conquest of the air) by Aluizio Napoleão (1941) appears one of the few references to him in North Africa “Santos Dumont was beginning to get tired of life, Paris betrayed him. 

In vain he crossed the Mediterranean, traveled through North Africa and had his portrait in Tunis, dressed as a sheikh, by Albert, Rue Diazira "photographe de Son Altesse, le Bey". In vain he played in car racing, in engine handling. Interviews with journalists were becoming rare. He was undoubtedly "a character en vedette. But he was not "the" character en vedette.

19th century photograph: Egypt circa 1880 - Pyramid of Cheops, Giza, Egypt, 1890 photo by Lekegian studio.

As for the photo of the pyramid in the background, behind Dumont, there was no one known from S=D there, it is a photograph from the 19th century: Egypt around 1880 - Pyramid of Cheops, Giza, Egypt, photo from 1890 by the Lekegian studio.

Whose picture is on the desk?

In 1917, the New York Journal's European correspondent sent a note about Santos=Dumont's engagement to Miss Edna Powers. Edna was an American who lived in Paris with her parents. The text is in the Aerospace Museum of Rio de Janerio.

Aida d'Acosta, Edna Powers or another woman? - According to the newspaper República, it was Edna Power - but in the close-up photo you can read the dedication in English "To Santos = Dumont", something illegible, and the signature, which can be either Edna or Lurline (depending on how you analyze it the graphology of the "E" or "L").

Or it could also be Aida d'Acosta, the first woman to fly a blimp through the French skies (in the world)

But according to S=D, he was already married to his aircraft family.

Edna or Lurline

Who else should have had the photo on Santos=Dumont's desk was the American millionaire Lurline Spreckels, according to biographer Cosme Degenar.

Santos=dumont and Lurline Spreckels

Dumont was engaged to her until her mother forbade the engagement, believing Dumont to be a dowries hunter.

Other photos that belonged to Santos=Dumont with Lurline Spreckels

On December 21, the Republic newspaper, from Saint Louis, in the United States, informs that “the king of the air is going to marry a beautiful Yankee”. it was not Lurline Spreckels, but another American, Edna Power. The article says that Santos=Dumont's fiancée belonged to the American colony in Paris and “lost her heart” for him when she heard him recount the adventures of his escapes. “And he, in his loneliness away from his Brazilian home, lost his heart to her because she was brilliant, understanding and ingratiating.”

On December 21, the Saint Louis newspaper Republic reported that Santos=Dumont was going to marry Edna Power.

Coincidence or not, Santos=Dumont writes two days later, on December 23, 1901, a letter to his Brazilian friend Pedro Guimarães in which he mentions being in a dilemma – loving and selfish, financially speaking. He does not mention Edna Powers by her name, but refers to "darling".

 A short distance away, on a black plinth more than a meter long, was a white marble bust of Victor Hugo, the aeronaut is known to have had great admiration for the poet of the Chansons des rues et des bois. In fact, the two had many affinities: they were dreamers, visionaries and possessed of a fertile and powerful imagination.

In October 1901, the Brazilian colony in France, presented S=D with a replica of the statue of Jean-Antoine Injalbert (1845–1933), "La Renommée" (the fame), replicated by the talented artist Thiebaud, leaning against the mirror.

In this photo we see the large windows with balconies overlooking the Champs-Élysées, one of which has a well-known photo in which S=D explains the operation of the balloon with guide rope to his brother-in-law, Mr. Carlos de andrade Villares, married to Gabriela.

The Various Environments of the Noble Address

On the corner of Champs-Élysées and Rue Washington lived Santos=Dumont, who made the feat of parking the Dirigeable #9 to have a coffee, Luiz Pagano had dinner with fans of this blog at Le Mood in 2014 and is currently the Apple Store in Paris

The noble address on the corner of Champs-Élysées and Rue Washington, has already had several opportunities to be visited, whether by the 2010 ballad 'Le Mood'.

These are the various tenants of the famous property, Le Mood from 1913, the Apple store and in the days of Dumont

But nothing makes more sense than Santos=Dumont's great expression of genius in giving way to the also innovative Apple store.

For those who believe in creative egregore, perhaps this is the most iconic place in the world! - It was on this table that in 1910 Santos Dumont created his wonderful inventions of air navigation, taking great steps to bring flight to humanity, opening up perspectives of integration and entertainment never seen before. In 2018, Steve Jobs' Apple brings the coolest and most fun innovations the world has ever seen to the same place. There's no denying that big innovations seem to haunt the iconic apartment 114 Champs-Élysées

Elegance that comes in generations - the Apple Watch is inspired by Cartier Santos

Perhaps the choice of Santos=Dumont's apartment in Paris to be the location of the Apple store was not coincidental, Johnny Ive, Apple's head of design, said that when details of the Apple Watch development process were emerging, Marc Newson, who had recently joined Ive's team at Apple, was greatly inspired by the vintage Cartier Santos wristwatch. 

Apple Watch inspired by Cartier Santos

Like the Apple Watch, the IkePod also adopted Cartier's classic square dial Santos, Ive also revealed that the Apple Watch was positioned as a premium smartwatch that would compete with a Rolex, Cartier or Omega.

The Apple Watch uses extremely premium materials, similar to Rolex watches, but has been positioned at a lower price point than these high-end luxury items.

Ive, like Santos=Dumont is a car enthusiast, owned a Bentley Mulsanne and an Aston Martin DB4.

Watches

João Villares, great-nephew of Santos Dumont, holds a watch that belonged to his relative Alberto Santos=Dumont. An interesting curiosity is that João keeps on the dial 16:45, the time when the aviator took off on November 12, 1906, at Campo de Bagatelle, in Paris - picture Rubens Cavallari

Room 4 - Engineering

Santos=Dumont's fourth room would be the equivalent of engineering. Place where he designs the technical part of his aircraft, maintains ropes, cables and fuel, spare parts, as well as builds and makes his models.

Sources and Bibliographies

- GRAHAL, Étude historique et documentaire, 2015.

- Pascal Payen-Appenzeller et Brice Payen, Champs-Élysées: Dictionnaire historique, architectural et culturel, Paris, Ledico éditions, 2013.

The plenary session of the Old Paris Commission met on June 24, 2016 at the Hôtel de Ville under the chairmanship of Mr. Bernard Gaudillère, Councilor of Paris.

The resolutions taken by the Commission were published in BMO No. 58 of July 22, 2016.

Santos Dumont and his wearable aircrafts

 When observing birds, Santos=Dumont developed systems of controls that involve his entire body, in which, instinctively, he can, in coordinated and reflexive acts, dominate the dynamics of flight – in that sense, we may say that “Santos=Dumont created wearable aircrafts”, paraphrasing Professor Miguel Nicolelis' grandmother Lygia - his handlings were body centric, all controls were mere extensions of Santos=Dumont's body.

leia este artigo em Português

In other articles on this blog I described how Santos=Dumont was not only the father of aviation but also the father of biomimetics and the Wiki philosophy, in this article I tell how he may well have been the father of ergonomics, since it is the scientific study of the relationship between man and machine, aiming at safety and efficiency, as well as bionics, as it is the technique of applying knowledge of biology in the solution of engineering and design problems.

Santos=Dumont, sewed a wooden "T" device in his jacket from which thin rings connected to the control cables that acted on the "ailerons". Tilting his shoulder to the right, he could command the left aileron, and vice versa, reacting both surfaces, in a coordinated manner, according to the inclination of the aviator's body.

As different bird species adapted over millions of years through evolution to specific environments, prey, predators and other needs, they developed specializations in their wings and tails in order to acquire different forms of flight.

By observing the flight of birds, one of the most complex forms of locomotion in the animal kingdom, Santos=Dumont created intuitive ways to make the necessary movements, including taking off and landing, tasks that involve many complex movements.

Controls attached to the 14-Bis jacket

Santos=Dumont, still not knowing a good part of how to control a heavier-than-air aircraft, made his first flight with the 14-Bis on September 7,  around 5 pm: It reached a height of about 2 m and realized that it should place ailerons in the outer cells of the wing, to control the rotational movements.

The only problem is that all his limbs were occupied with other controls, it was then that he decided to put a piece of wood sewn to the back of his jacket and started to control the screw movement by tilting his body to the left or to the right, as we see in Santos Dumont Book - Helio Paes de Barros – 1973 Ed. Federal University of Pernambuco.

“...Therefore, SANTOS DUMONT had solved the problem of flight in a heavier-than-air device: the "14-Bis... As he had both hands occupied in the various controls of the plane, Santos=Dumont, sewed a wooden "T" device in his jacket from which thin rings connected to the control cables that acted on the "ailerons". Tilting his shoulder to the right, he could command the left aileron, and vice versa, reacting both surfaces, in a coordinated manner, according to the inclination of the aviator's body.

Santos=Dumont had the objective of flying like Icarus, individually, and he evolved the wicker basket in order to fulfill this dream – he did it several times to perfection, mainly with the Balladeuse N.9.

Nowadays it is not uncommon to see such adaptations as expensive American military helmets. One example is the helmet or head-mounted display (HMD) developed by Rockwell Collins Enhanced Vision Systems, a joint venture between Rockwell Collins and Elbit Systems, which costs $400,000, a price that is significantly higher than that of a Ferrari.

* Article published on the G1 News Portal on November 04, 2006 - The man who dressed himself as an airplane, giving wings to the mind

October has arrived and with it the chance to once again celebrate two of the most important achievements in the history of Brazilian science.

In fact, I would say more.

If we could choose a single month that represented the daring and creativity of Brazilian national science, it wouldn't be for anyone. October won by rout!

All because this month we celebrate two of the most famous feats of Alberto Santos-Dumont, the greatest of all our scientists. The one that amazed the French people live, with the precision of his daily flights through the skies of Paris, and fascinated the whole world with the realization of humanity's collective dream of flying.

On the afternoon of dubious weather and treacherous winds on October 19, 1901, Santos-Dumont took off from the Saint-Cloud countryside towards the most imposing symbol of French modernism at the time: the Eiffel Tower. After circling it with elegant and precise maneuvers, Santos-Dumont returned to the take-off point to the delirious applause of the crowd that took to the streets of Paris.

The first great aeronaut demonstrated to anyone who wanted to see that the mixture of daring, tenacity and passion makes us fly.

Literally.

And that is precisely what Santos-Dumont did.

He promised he would fly and he did.

Like no one had ever done.

In just over 30 minutes, there he was. Momentarily back on the ground, a hostile environment for this birdman, he listened to the crowd demanding that he be awarded the first grand prize in aviation: the Deutsch de La Meurthe Prize.

But it was not easy to make history. It never is.

Due to a controversy regarding the precise moment of the race's conclusion, Santos-Dumont and the Parisians had to wait until the beginning of November to celebrate the official decision of the Air Club of France.

And how Paris celebrated! As promised, Santos-Dumont divided the 100,000 francs (plus interest) earned from the prize, half among his mechanics and the rest among 3,950 poor people in Paris.

Five years later, on October 23, 1906, Santos-Dumont once again amazed Parisians by flying 60 meters aboard his legendary 14bis plane.

When I was a boy, and the 23rd of October arrived, the greatest neuroscientist I've ever met, my dear grandmother Lygia, always said to me:

“Today we celebrate the day when man dressed up as an airplane.”

Lygia said this because she knew that, since his first airships, Santos-Dumont had created a complex and efficient system of ropes, pulleys and levers that allowed him to feel and control, as no one had done before, all the main components of each one. of your aircraft. There were so many control instruments that many who inspected these aircraft thought it was impossible for a single man to handle them.

One hundred Octobers later, neuroscience may be able to explain this phenomenon.

Today we know that through a process called neural plasticity (or neuronal, for good measure), multiple areas of the brain that contain complete representations of our body continually change these representations (or maps) throughout our lives. Such alterations occur due to changes that can be commonplace (changes in weight) or more dramatic and rare (amputation of a limb) in the spatial configuration of the body. Most of the time, however, these brain maps change due to constant practice of specialized motor tasks, or as a result of changing habits of tactile exploration of the environment. For example, throughout their lives, pianists and violinists develop brain representations of their fingers that are much larger and more elaborate than most of the population.

Recent results suggest that these brain representations of the body also undergo changes correlated with the type of tool used on a daily basis. For example, due to constant practice, professional tennis players are likely to incorporate their rackets as simple extensions of the brain representations of their arms and hands.

In other words, creation becomes part of the creator.

According to this theory, the more efficient the incorporation of the tool by the brain, the better the dexterity and precision with which the operator would use it.

Thus, it is plausible to postulate that, throughout his aviator career, with the practice of constant flights, Santos-Dumont's brain probably developed the ability to incorporate all the components of his aircraft; stabilizers, wings, tires, as if they were nothing more than part of your own body.

From left to right Professor Ricardo Magalhaães, the great-grandnephew of S=D, Professor Miguel Nicolelis. creator of the exoskeleton that allows Juliano Pinto (sitting) to walk after spinal cord injury and Luiz Pagano, writer of this blog. Both professor Nicolelis and patient Juliano sign the handkerchief that belonged to Santos=Dumont - this handkerchief, whichsymbolizes the milestones of Brazilian technological achievements, it already has the signature of Marcos Pontes, the 1st Brazilian astronaut who took it into space aboard the ISS, along with an S=D hat, and the illustration of the 'ALADO HEART OF SANTOS=DUMONT' ' by Romero Brito, an artist who well represents Brazil abroad.

In this way, through brain plasticity, when climbing on his pegasi made of Japanese silk and piano strings, the slender fellow countryman suddenly became a pioneering giant.

Humanity aeronaut.

Brazilian scientist.

Airplane body.

Brain with wings.

Dona Lygia, who would have thought, was once again right.

Unmissable readings for this more than historic October:

"O que eu vi, o que nós veremos." Alberto Santos-Dumont (French. Ce que j’ai vu, ce que nous verrons) Published by Hedra, São Paulo, 2002.

"Santos-Dumont and the invention of flight". Henrique Lins de Barros. Jorge Zahar Editor, Rio de Janeiro, 2003.

"Wings of Madness". Paul Hoffman. Editora Objetiva, Rio de Janeiro, 2004.

 

Miguel Nicolelis, for the G1.