Bronze L'Exposition de Paris 1900 Commemorative Medal;

Santos Dumont dirigible / airship, Obverse: relief of a robed female figure depicted, embossed text 'L'EXPOSTION DE PARIS 1900' Reverse: relief of electric power lines, Santos Dumont dirigible, and steel battleship depicted. Condition: very good Dimension: 55mm. Another example is Inventory Number A19640401000 part of the collection of the National Air and Space Museum, the Smithsonian. Santos Dumont's first airship was his No. 1 (airship) ? First flown on 18 September 1898. Had a cylindrical envelope with conical ends containing a ballonet connected to an air pump: 25 m (82 ft) long, 3.5 m (11 ft 6 in) diameter, 180 m3 (6,400 cu ft) capacity. A square basket was suspended from wooden battens contained in pockets in the envelope, and a silk-covered rudder fitted behind and above the basket. Powered by a De Dion-Bouton tricycle engine (modified to have tandem cylinders) of 3 hp which was mounted outside and in front of the basket driving a small two bladed propeller. Fore and aft trim was achieved by moving a pair of ballast bags. Manoeuvred well, but the ballonet was too small to retain the necessary rigidity of the envelope, and loss of pressure caused it to be wrecked on its second flight on 20 September, from then he made another 10 versions and improvements of it. He also made his first helicopter in 1905