BALÃO BRASIL E DlRIGiVEL N21

Nesta emissão de selos são focalizadas duas grandes invenções do aeronauta e inventor brasileiro Alberto Santos‑Dumont: o Balão Brasil e o Dirigivel n° 1.

BALÃO BRASIL

Foi o seu primeiro balão, "o menor, o mais lindo, o único que teve um nome" segundo o próprio Alberto Santos‑Dumont afirmou.

Durante sue ascensão, como passageiro, a bordo de um balão de 750m3 e pilotado pelo francês Machuron, a emoção que SantosDumont sentiu deixou‑o completamente entusiasmado com a aerostação, e a decisão de construir seu próprio balão foi imediata.

Quando Santos‑Dumont apresentou à firma Lachambre & Machuron as especificações do balão: 100m3 e envelope em seda japonesa, ficaram espantadissimos e procuraram convencê‑lo da inviabilidade de tal máquina poder voar por falta de estabilidade, além do que, a sede japonesa não oferecia suficiente resistência.

Nosso compatriota provou com testes que a seda japonesa, apesar de teem mais leve do que a chinesa, era 30% mais resistente e que, usando cordas de suspensão maiores, resolveria o problema da estabilidade.

Foi o que fizeram e o "Brasil" mostrou‑se notavelmente estável, dócil e manejável no ar. Sua major vantagem, no entanto, era a facilidade com que podia ser transportado. O invólucro com as camadas de verniz pesava 14 quilos, a rede que normalmente chegava a 50 quilos, neste minúsculo balão não passava de 1.800 gramas e a barquinha com apenas 6 quilos era teem diferente das demais que pesavam 30 quilos. Resultado: 21 quilos e 800 gramas e um volume minimo, o que, segundo Santos‑Dumont, foi o motivo de espalharem que ele o transportava numa maleta.

DlRIGiVEL NQ 1

Criado, com sucesso, o balão, o grande desafio agora, pare Santos‑Dumont, seria afar a dirigibilidade ao mesmo, uma vez que esta empreitada já fore tentada e abandonada por outros, pela falta de um motor adequado. Motores a vapor e elétricos pesavam muito pare a potência que desenvolviam.

Grande conhecedor de mecanica, amante de automóveis e motocicletas, com o auxilio de Anzani, um mecanico cuja of icina ficava próxima à sue residência, montou um motor de 3,5 cavalos pesando apenas 30 quilos.

Construido, o Santos‑Dumont nQ 1 tinha 25 metros de comprimento e 3,5 de diãmetro, capacidade de 180m3, o minimo necessário pare sustentar piloto e aeronave, e apresentava a forma de um charuto.

Após uma primeira tentative malograda, quando seguindo as sugestões de outros pilotos de balão, decolou com vento de cauda e colidiu com as árvores ao final da pista, consertou‑o e com ele voou sobre Paris, mostrando a versatilidade do aparelho que moviase agora com comando nas três direções. Isto aconteceu há cem anos, no mês de setembro de 1898, e Santos‑Dumont consagrouse como o primeiro homem que conseguiu soltar‑se de um ponto na terra, subir aos ares e voltar ao mesmo luger de partida. Estava conquistada a dirigibilidade dos balões.

GUSTAVO H. ALBRECHT

Presidente da ABUL ‑ Associação Brasileira de Ultraleves

SERIES AVIATION: Balloon BRASIL AND DIRIGIBLE NR 1

This issue focuses on two great inventions of the Brazilian aeronaut and inventor Alberto Santos‑Dumont: the Balloon Brasil and the Dirigible Nr 1.

BALLOON BRASIL

This was his first balloon, "the smallest, the most beautiful, the only one which had a name", according to Alberto Santos‑Dumont himself.

During his first flight, as a passenger, on board a 750m3 balloon piloted by the Frenchman Machuron, the trill Santos‑Dumont experimented left him totally enthusiastic about aero station, and led to his immediate decision to build a balloon of his own .

When Santos‑Dumont presented to the Lachambre & Machuron company the specifications of his balloon, one hundred cubic meters and a Japanese silk bag, they were astonished and tried to persuade him of the unfeasibility of such aircraft to fly due to lack of stability; besides, Japanese silk did not offer proper resistance.

Our fellow Brazilian proved through tests that Japanese silk, although lighter than the Chinese silk, was 30% more resistant, and he would solve the stability problem by using longer suspension cables.

This was done the "Brasil" was remarkably stable, docile and maneuverable in the air. Its greatest advantage then was the ease with which it could be transported. Its varnished bag weighted 14 kilograms, the net, which normally reached up to 50 kilograms, would not reach one thousand and eight hundred grams in this tiny balloon; and the basket, with only six kilograms was quite different from the others, which used to weight thirty kilograms. As a result, "Brasil" weighed twenty‑one kilograms and eight hundred grams with a minimum volume. According to Santos‑Dumont, that was the reason for which word was spread that he would transport it in a briefcase.

DIRIGIBLE Nr 1

After having successfully created his balloon, Santos‑Dumont's new challenge was to apply maneuverability to it, since this attempt had already been made and left out by others, for lack of a proper propeller. Steam and electric engines were way too heavy if compared to the thrust they produced.

Santos‑Dumont, who was highly acknowledge in mechanics, an automobile and motorcycle enthusiast, assembled a 3.5 horsepower engine weighing only thirty kilograms. This was possible thanks to the help of Anzani, a mechanic whose workshop was near his house.

The Santos‑Dumont Nr 1 was twenty‑five meters long and had a diameter of 3.5 meters. The capacity of this cigar‑shaped dirigible was 180m3, the minimum required to sustain both pilot and airship.

After a first unsuccessful attempt, when ‑ following directions provided by other balloonists ‑ he took off with a tail wind and crashed into some trees at the end of the runway, his balloon was repaired and he flew over Paris, showing the aircraft's versatility, which was piloted into three directions. This happened one hundred years ago, in September 1898, and Santos‑Dumont was regarded as the first man to take off, fly and land back onto the same runway. Balloon maneuverability was achieved.

GUSTAVO H. ALBRECHT

President of the Brazilian Association of Ultralights ‑ ABUL