BALLOONS NO. 7 and NO. 9

 

The 1257 cubic meters section of Santos-Dumont No. 7 - the so-called RACER. The 40 m x 7m gasbag was sabotaged by knife cuts and did not compete at the St. Louis Meet in 1907. Powered by one Clement (Bayard) 60 h.p. motor with 4-57m propellors at both ends of the gondola, the airship was calculated to be capable of attaining a speed of 80.5 km/h. Although very streamlined, the air pressure on the balloon would have been enormous (4 times that of No. 6). The airship would have been very unstable and it was fortunate for Santos-Dumont that he never flew it at full speed. At the time a filling of gas would have cost 3ooo FF; and so, as he had no further use for it, No. 7 was scrapped. Collection of Jean-Pierre Lauwers

 

One of the better known Santos-Dumont airships, the No. 9 "Baladeuse". Built to demonstrate the possibilities of urban travel, Santos-Dumont often used it to "drop in" on unsuspecting friends. Powered by only a 3 h.p. motor and a gasbag capacity of a mere 220 cubic meters, on many occasions the airship was flown from his shed to one of the Paris boulevards to have a drink - landing in front of the pub. Collection of Jean-Pierre Lauwers

 

Santos-Dumont No. 9, Baladeuse Collection of Jean-Pierre Lauwers

 

Santos-Dumont No. 9, 1901 Collection of Jean-Pierre Lauwers

 

Santos-Dumont No. 9, 1901 Collection of Jean-Pierre Lauwers

 

Santos-Dumont No. 9 Shed, 1901 Collection of Jean-Pierre Lauwers

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