Photographs by Alberto Santos Dumont (1910)

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In 1910, the great aviator Alberto Santos Dumont fascinates two young French photographers during one of his last public appearances.

Two amateur photographs, pasted on the front and back of a single sheet. Pencil annotations. 19.7 cm x 14.8 cm. France, Niort airfield. March 1910. Excellent condition. Unique pieces.

He became known above all for being one of the first – if not the first – to take off aboard a plane with a gasoline engine. However, credit for inventing the airplane is usually given to the Wright brothers. France is an exception, where Clément Ader made the first flight on October 9, 1890, but in military secrecy. In 1906, at a public demonstration in Paris, he flew about 60 meters at a height of two to three meters.

In 1910, Santos Dumont began to suffer from multiple sclerosis, stopped competing and closed down his workshop... gradually withdrawing from the public.

These two amateur photographs, pasted on the front and back of a single sheet, show the aviator in one of his last appearances, during an aviation festival in Niort, a small town in western France.

The authors of these unpublished images are Emile and Henri. They were two Frenchmen, perhaps brothers or friends, impressed by Santos Dumont and his machines.

These two original photographs by Santos Dumont, in excellent condition, show the aviator with his machines, in one of his last public appearances.