Bartolomeu de Gusmão Airport was a Brazilian airport built to handle the operations with the

rigid airship A rigid airship is a type of airship (or dirigible) in which the envelope is supported by an internal framework rather than by being kept in shape by the pressure of the lifting gas within the envelope, as in blimps (also called pressure air ...

s '' Graf Zeppelin'' and '' Hindenburg''. The airport was named after

Bartolomeu Lourenço de Gusmão Bartolomeu is a given name of Portuguese, Galician or Romanian origin. It is a cognate of Bartholomew. Notable people with this name include: * Bartolomeu Anania – a Romanian Orthodox monk who was the Metropolitan of Cluj (1993–2011) * Bartol ...

(1685–1724), a Portuguese priest born in Brazil who did research about transportation with balloons.

History

Between 1931 and 1937,

Deutsche Luft Hansa ''Deutsche Luft Hansa A.G.'' (from 1933 styled as ''Deutsche Lufthansa'' and also known as ''Luft Hansa'', ''Lufthansa'', or DLH) was a German airline, serving as flag carrier of the country during the later years of the Weimar Republic and t ...

had regular flights between Germany and Brazil, which were operated by

Luftschiffbau Zeppelin Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH is a German aircraft manufacturing company. It is perhaps best known for its leading role in the design and manufacture of rigid airships, commonly referred to as ''Zeppelins'' due to the company's prominence. The name ...

using its

s '' Graf Zeppelin'' and '' Hindenburg''. Rio de Janeiro was the final stop, where passengers could connect with aircraft services to Southern Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and Bolivia operated by Syndicato Condor, the Brazilian subsidiary of

. During its five years of regular scheduled summer season intercontinental commercial airship service between Germany and South America, the hangar was used only nine times: four by the LZ-127 Graf Zeppelin and five by the LZ-129 Hindenburg. Assembled from parts brought from Germany, the construction was subsidized by the Brazilian government. Hangarzepelin

The airport was inaugurated on December 26, 1936 by President

Getúlio Vargas Getúlio Dornelles Vargas (; 19 April 1882 – 24 August 1954) was a Brazilian lawyer and politician who served as the 14th and 17th president of Brazil, from 1930 to 1945 and from 1951 to 1954. Due to his long and controversial tenure as Brazi ...

, in the presence of the German Ambassador Schmidt Elskop. Before this, rigid airships were docked at Campo dos Afonsos. Globo de Hidrogênio

The new airport consisted of an airfield, a hangar, a customs house, an office building, a radio-operations building, 5 bedrooms for workers, crew-lodgings, a work and storage house, a

hydrogen Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-to ...

factory, a plant to mix hydrogen with

butane Butane () or ''n''-butane is an alkane with the formula C4H10. Butane is a gas at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. Butane is a highly flammable, colorless, easily liquefied gas that quickly vaporizes at room temperature. The name but ...

, and a branch line connecting the complex to the main railway line to downtown Rio de Janeiro 54 km away. The whole complex was built by the

and are partially still in use by the Brazilian Air Force, which occupies the site. The hangar is an original surviving example of a structure built to accommodate rigid airships and the only

Zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp ...

airship hangar Airship hangars (also known as airship sheds) are large specialized buildings that are used for sheltering airships during construction, maintenance and storage. Rigid airships always needed to be based in airship hangars because weathering was a ...

which remains a hangar. Because of its historical importance, it was listed as a National Heritage Site on March 14, 1999. As a consequence of the

Hindenburg disaster The ''Hindenburg'' disaster was an airship accident that occurred on May 6, 1937, in Manchester Township, New Jersey, United States. The German passenger airship LZ 129 ''Hindenburg'' caught fire and was destroyed during its attemp ...

on May 6, 1937 at Lakehurst Air Naval Station in New Jersey, US, the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin requested to the Brazilian Government on June 17, 1937 the suspension of services. After that no more civil operations were handled at this facility. On February 12, 1942, six months before Brazil declared war against the

Axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis * Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...

, the airport was taken over by the Brazilian Air Force Ministry and became a base of the

Brazilian Air Force "Wings that protect the country" , colours = , colours_label = , march = Hino dos Aviadores , mascot = , anniversaries = 22 May (anniver ...

and therefore with exclusive military use. It is located in the neighborhood of Santa Cruz in the western region of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

. The name of the facility was changed to

Santa Cruz Air Force Base Santa Cruz Air Force Base – ALA12 is a base of the Brazilian Air Force, located in the district of Santa Cruz in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. History The base was originally called Bartolomeu de Gusmão Airport and it was constructed to handle ...

on January 16, 1943.

Access

The airport is located from Rio de Janeiro downtown.

References

External links

* * *
Historical informationFlying Down to Rio on the Graf Zeppelin, an original short film on YoutubeAssociation Nationale des Amis du Musée de l'Aéronautique Navaledernier Hangar à dirigeable
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bartolomeu de Gusmao Airport Defunct airports in Brazil Airports established in 1936 Airports disestablished in 1942 Transport in Rio de Janeiro (city) 1936 establishments in Brazil 1942 disestablishments in Brazil

History

Access

See also

References

External links