Vol. 71, No.1 Spring 2026 10


Writing to museums both in Paris and Brazil, I came up with well wishes for the project but no material for which to help with my understanding of the boat. Along the way, I found pictures of a model on an online museum dedicated to Santos Dumont http:// www.museuvirtualsantosdumont.com.br/n-18.html. (Figure 2)


2. Santos-Dumont Hydroplane model by François Durant. Museum Virtual Santos-Dumont.


Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe award (100,000 francs plus interest) for the fi rst fl ight from the Areo-Club de France airfi eld to the Eiff el Tower and back in thirty minutes—a course covering eleven kilometers.


Over the ensuing years, he continued to further enlarge and develop airships; however, in 1904 he was spurred on by several new aviation prizes, including the Deutsch-Archdeacon Prize for the fi rst heavier- than-air fl ight of one thousand meters. By 1906, Santos-Dumont had constructed the 14-bis airplane. Using this machine, he did capture the prize (among others) and became recognized as the fi rst person to successfully fl y a heavier-than-air craſt in public. In fact, for many years many individuals, and especially those in Brazil, labeled Alberto Santos-Dumont as the fi rst to fl y.


Late in 2023 a new Model Airways kit appeared; it was a 1:16 scale model of the Santos-Dumont 14-bis and it looked like a fun project, so I ordered it. Building the kit and doing some online research about the plane is what led me to eventually see pictures of the Santos-Dumont No. 18 Hydroplane. (Figure 1) T e whimsical yet somewhat scary design intrigued me, and I wondered if there were any models or details related to the boat he hoped to pilot at great speed along the Siene. Most importantly, I was hoping to fi nd construction plans for the vessel.


Additional searching led me to fi nd that the model had been part of a 2009 exhibit at Museu da Casa Brasileira in Sao Paulo, Brazil. I was able to contact the curator of the exhibit, a well-known Brazilian artist by the name of Guto Lacaz. When he learned about my desire to build a model of the Santos- Dumont No. 18 Hydroplane, he became an amazing supporter of the project. Mr. Lacaz provided me with introductions to the academic partners of the Sao Paulo exhibit, Professors Ferando Martini Catalano and Henrique Lins de Barros. Mr. Lacaz also informed me that the model had been made especially for the exhibit by François Durant; unfortunately, he died just a year aſt er making his model. T e model does still exist and Lacaz was able to have the custodian of the model take a series of pictures for me. T e Durant model appears to have been built via 3D printing technology.


Professor Catalano informed me that my search for plans was most certainly in vain because Santos- Dumont had destroyed all his project drawings (short of the 22-bis that had been donated to Popular Mechanics). As Santos-Dumont improved his airships, he grudgingly realized that similar technology would eventually be incorporated in war eff orts. He was a strong supporter of France and worked with its military to create new airship-based surveillance techniques. While there is no substantiated evidence to prove his support of France was wavering, in 1918 he was accused of spying on France for Germany— he had a German telescope. T is led Santos-Dumont to destroy his plans and notes as well as for Alberto Santos-Dumont to leave France and return to Brazil.


Professor de Barros is likely the preeminent Santos- Dumont researcher of all time. He is exceptionally


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