SOUTH AMERICA
 
 
Bartolomeo Cattaneo
 
 
Cattaneo in Argentina
Fig. 7 - Un atteraggio del monoplane Blériot No. 2 di Bartolomeo Cattaneo sal campo della
Societâ Sportiva Argentina (con questo stesso apparecchio l'aviator effettuera la prima trasvolata del Rio
La Plata).
Fig. 7 - A landing of the Blériot No. 2 monoplane of Bartolomeo Cattaneo on the field of the
Argentine Sport Society. (with this same apparatus, the aviator accomplished the first crossing of the La Plata River)

Collection of Franco Maccare
Submitted by Giovanni Giorgetti,
 

 
 
Bartolomeo Cattaneo
 
  "The Milanese aviator Bartolomeo Cattaneo, who had distinguished himself during the 'Milanese Aerial Days', went subsequently to South Smerica in order to carry out some aerial exhibitions. In those years the aviators were like the celebrated singers, they went here and there in the world to exhibit their performances and their abilities; and sometimes these their performances effectivley caught relief performances. The photo that we publish represents the culminating moment of a feat that was worth to our aviator not only a prize of one hundred thousand francs, (if we take ourselves back to 1911, this figure appears to be exceptional), but also the honor to have realized a "première". Indeed, taking off from Buenos Aires (in the photo appear some houses in a suburb), he crossed flying the Rio de La Plata, coming down in La Colonia on the opposite Uruguayan side. The flight was carried out in a Bleriot and lasted two hours and twenty minutes. It can be considered to be a remarkable repeat of the Channel crossing, carried out a year and half earlier."
(Photographic archives Italo Strazziglione)
Extracted from Ali nuove (new WINGS),
Bi-monthly Magazine of Aviation, Feb. 1-15, 1962
Courtesy of Umberto Saccenti
Submitted by Giovanni Giorgetti, 11-7-05
 

 
 
Bartolomeo Cattaneo
 
 
The crossing of the Rio de La Plata
from Buenos Aires (Argentina) to Colonia (Uruguay), 74 km
December 17, 1910
Collection of Giovanni Giorgetti, 11-8-05
 

 
 
ONLINE RESOURCES
     If you search for "Bartolomeo Cattaneo -catholic ", using the Google search engine, (4-22-06), you will find about 69 links.
 
 
Arthur L. Newman '23
Collection of Aeronautical Medals
     This page offers a description of the medal which was awarded to Bartolomeo Cattaneo for:

"On 12-17-10 he won a prize equivalent to $20,000 for flying 70 miles across the river La Plata from the Argentine side and back.".

     The descriptions of the words on both sides of the medal offer a few clues as to his activities in Argentina. You can access the site by clicking on the title above.
 

 
 
Revista: A Filatelia Portuguesa
Magazine, Portuguese Philatelia
     The text of this website is written in Portuguese. One of the relevant entries is as follows"
.º 16, Ano III, Ago/1987
Editorial (1)
Portugal na Primeira Guerra Mundial por A. Bordalo Sanches (3)
Aerofilatelia
Dois Serviços de 1936, duma vez. Janeiro . Lisboa/Madrid Abril. Lisboa/Madrid/Paris, pelo Cap. F. Lemos da Silveira (11)
Vuelo Proyectado de Bartolomeo Cattaneo de Colonia (Real de San Carlos) (Uruguay) a Buenos Aires (Rep. Argentina) el 18 diciembre 1910, por Jorge Ebbeler, César Jones e Juan Bosco Oberti 17. For the convenience of those who don't read Portuguese, I have produced the following version in English.

"Projected flight by Bartolomeo Cattaneo from Colonia, (Real of San Carlos), (Uruguay) to Buenos Aires, (Republic of Argentina) on December 18, 1910. Reported by Jorge Ebbeler, César Jones and Juan Bosco Oberti."

     If you can read articles in Portuguese, you can access the site by clicking on the title above.
 

 
 
RECOMMENDED READING
 

 
 
Before Amelia
SALTANDO EL CHARCO
Imágenes y crónicas del cruce aéreo del Río de la Plata entre 1907 y 1940
 
Diego M. Lascano
 
Product Details
Cloth: 175 pages; 22.5x30cm.
List Price: $25.00
Publisher:Librel Editores, 1999.
 
  Description:
Con el fin de descubrir en parte los orígenes históricos de nuestra espera en los aeropuertos, el libro en sus manos lo invita a remontarse a los inicios del viaje aéreo en este lugar tan particular del mundo que es el Río de la Plata. Atravesar un río por los aires nunca presentó dificultades considerables para los precursores
del vuelo, sin embargo, "saltar el charco" resultó un verdadero desafío para los pioneros vernáculos. En las páginas siguientes, las imágenes y las crónicas de muchos de aquellos que se animaron a volar sobre sus aguas con globos o frágiles aeroplanos de madera y tela le comunicarán la esencia del período de la historia de este siglo que denominamos de la "aviación heroica".
En aquella época, asociada a casquetes de vuelo y antiparras, pesadas vestimentas de cuero y rostros curtidos por vientos helados, se tendió por primera vez el puente entre ambas capitales del Plata, a fuerza de valor y tesón.
La elección de este tema ha sido ciertamente caprichosa. No sólo pude revivir mi primera experiencia de vuelo, el cruce del Río de la Plata en un "turbohélice" de ALA cuando niño, sino que logré conectarme con el espíritu aeronáutico que heredé de mi abuelo materno, a quien no llegué a conocer.
Aquellas postales de los hermanos Wright, Santos-Dumont y BIériot archivadas en un baúl fueron los tesoros de mi infancia que me permitieron descubrir el carácter de pionnier de la aeronáutica de mi antecesor, Félix Icasate-Larios, en el París de la Belle Epoque. Los planos, la patente de invención de L'0rnithoptére "Argentina", los recortes de los diarios franceses que anunciaban en 1909 la creación de este ingeniero argentino y, finalmente, el orgullo de mi abuela, que ponderaba los setenta metros volados por la extraña máquina de alas batientes de su esposo, antes de averiarse en el aterrizaje, conformaron por años una carga muy grande que hoy puedo depositar sobre el papel.
El Autor
Editor's Note: The author's description of the book, comes from the SHOPPING VIRTUAL DEL URUGUAY website. in addition to numerous books, including this one, it offers sections devoted to Discos, DVDs y Videos - Almacén - Cursos y Contenido Digital - Artesanías y Decoración - Arts. para Fiestas - Servicios - Otros. It is directed to those of us who can read Spanish. If you need an English version of the description of the book, you can click on:
English Version

     If you search the internet on the title, you will find many other links to websites which offer it for sale. I chose this one by chance, inasmuch as it was the easiest for me to use.
 

 
 
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