This commemorative issue marks the birth of the aeronautics pioneer who, at the dawn of the 20th century, to widespread curiosity and amazement, took the first steps in air locomotion in public events registered and approved by specialised entities in Paris.
Sharing Bartolomeu Lourenço de Gusmão's convictions regarding the military use of his inventions, Santos Dumont accurately anticipat- ed the implications of flight for the evolution of armed conflict, fore- seeing the fundamental role of air navigation for interconnecting and bringing continents and people closer together.
A true visionary, he made the "flying dream" a reality and inspired generations of enthusiasts for the Air Cause, first with airships, balloons and dirigibles, and later with aeroplanes. Among his most historically significant air references in the field of Aerostation, the balloon Brasil and the airship Dumont no. 6, and the Dumont no. 14- bis and no. 20 Demoiselle were precursors in Aviation.
After a first ascent in a free balloon in early 1898 with Henri Lachambre, Dumont designed his own spherical balloon, small and constructed in Japanese silk, which he named Brasil.
In September of that same year, he began the first tests of a dirigible balloon equipped with a petrol engine. On 19 October 1901, he won the Prix Deutsch de La Meurthe by completing the circuit between Saint Cloud and the Eiffel Tower in 29 minutes and 30 seconds, flying the No. 6 airship.
In July 1906, after a period of withdrawal and reflection, Dumont presented the 14-bis, a complex biplane "machine" with a 24 hp engine. It would take three months of testing and improvement, including the installation of a new 50 hp engine, to make the first official public mechanical flight on 23 October, proving that "man could fly."
Dumont came to prefer small aircraft, creating the No. 19 and No. 20, equipped with 35 hp engines he invented with two opposed cylinders. His flights in 1909 and the offer of construction plans for the dissemination and practice of aviation earned him redoubled attention. As he stated: "...it was a tiny and transparent aeroplane, they named it Libellule or Demoiselle. Of all my aircraft, this was the most popular." Santos Dumont's participation in the Conquest of the Air took place over a period of a decade, with sequentially defined objectives and amazing results that made an undeniable contribution to the evolution of aeronautical technology.
Immortalised, by “Dever de Memória”, Santos Dumont was an autodidact with a visionary, insightful, bold yet prudent spirit based on knowledge and experience. Competently innovative and tenacious, he was able to combine study, research and practice in the development of the basics of flight and flying, becoming the first crew member to obtain pilot certifications in free balloons, dirigibles and airplanes.
He was a well-known and peculiar figure, taking on the cultural transformations of the “Belle Époque” in a style that gave him a singular identity both on formal and informal occasions.
In a pioneering period of strong competition and euphoria for the Air Cause, he earned a place in history for the transversality of the tech- nical solutions he found for various modes of flight, first including the lighter than air and, later, for those heavier than air. He was an expert in flying "through skies never before sailed", indelibly marking the Future of Aeronautics and Mankind.
António Mimoso e Carvalho
