This medal is a part of my French medals offer
Visit my
page with the offers, please.
You will find many interesting items related to this subject.
If you
wish to see more medals, click here, please;
This medal has
been minted in 1981 in
This medal is a creation of C. LESOT, famous for his excellent quality of medals.
Alberto Santos-Dumont (July 20, 1873 –
July 23, 1932) was a Brazilian early pioneer of aviation. Heir of a
prosperous coffee producer family, Santos Dumont dedicated himself to science
studies in Paris,
Santos-Dumont designed, built and flew the one of the
first practical dirigibles. In doing
so he demonstrated that routine, controlled flight was possible. Though
occasionally credited with being the first to do so, in actuality Solomon
Andrews had demonstrated controlled flight some years earlier. This
"conquest of the air", in particular winning the Deutsch de la Meurthe prize on October
19, 1901 on a flight that rounded the Eiffel
Tower, made him
one of the most famous people in the world during the early 20th century.
In addition to his pioneering work in airships,
Santos-Dumont made the first European public flight of an airplane on October 23, 1906. Designated 14-bis or Oiseau
de proie (French for "bird of prey"), the flying machine was the
first fixed-wing aircraft witnessed by the European press and French aviation
authorities to take off and successfully fly. Santos-Dumont is considered the
"Father of Aviation" in
Santos-Dumont
also occupied the 38th chair of the Brazilian Academy of Letters, from 1931
until his death in 1932.
av. Alberto
Santos
rv. The airplanes and airships invented by Santos
Dumont
diameter – 77 mm, (3⅛“)
weight – 197.10 gr (6.95 oz)
metal – bronze, original patina
An airship or dirigible is a type of aerostat or
"lighter-than-air aircraft" that can be steered and propelled through
the air using rudders and propellers or other thrust
mechanisms. Unlike aerodynamic aircraft
such as fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, which
produce lift by moving
a wing through the air, aerostatic aircraft stay aloft by
having a large "envelope" filled with a gas which
is less dense than the surrounding atmosphere. In the past hydrogen was
generally used, but nowadays helium is
preferred because of its lack of flammability.
The main types of airship are non-rigid
(or blimps), semi-rigid and rigid. Blimps are small airships without
internal skeletons. Semi-rigid airships are slightly larger and have some form
of internal support such as a fixed keel. Rigid airships with full skeletons,
such as the huge Zeppelin
transoceanic models, have nearly disappeared after several high-profile
catastrophic accidents during the mid-20th century.
Airships were the first aircraft to enable controlled,
powered flight, and were widely used before the 1940s, but their use decreased
over time as their capabilities were surpassed by those of airplanes. Their
decline continued with a series of high-profile accidents, including the 1937
burning of the hydrogen-filled Hindenburg near Lakehurst, New Jersey, and the
destruction of the USS Akron. Airships
are still used today in certain niche applications, such as advertising, freight
transportation, tourism, camera platforms
for sporting events, and aerial observation and interdiction platforms, where
the ability to hover in one place for an extended period outweighs the need for
speed and maneuverability.