Ernesto Pugibet, a French businessman in Mexico, organized the first aerial advertising flight in Latin America using an airship in Mexico City in 1907. He imported a cigar-shaped dirigible equipped with a wooden gondola, silk envelope, 12 hp engine, and zinc propeller from likely the US. The airship was around 20 meters long and 6 meters wide. American pilot Lincoln Beachey flew promotional flights for Pugibet's tobacco brands, making the airship visible from the ground. This pioneering flight helped introduce new technologies like dirigibles and aviation to Mexico City and the country.

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International Airship Convention, Ashford, 2012 1
9th International Airship Conference, Ashford, 2012
History Paper 29
First aerial advertising airship flight in Latin America:
Mexico City 1907
Adrian Peña Cervantes1
, Jaime Navarro2
and Javier Merino Escamilla1
1
Impacto Aéreo, Mexico City, Mexico.
2
Mexican aviation historian, Mexico City, Mexico
Abstract
During the first decade of the XX century, México was probably the best economy of all
Center and South America and it reflected in the social ambience of the time. The rich
and powerful were enjoying themselves on par with those of other European cities. The
amenities included technical advancements, such as electricity, motor vehicles,
railroads, telephone and aviation. Mexico was no absent from the aviation world.
Although in small scale, there were some aviation enthusiasts that were following the
advancements in that field. During the XIX century there was some interest in the lighter
than air ships and some exploits became notorious, particularly that related to Mr.
Ernesto Pugibet, owner of a tobacco industrial empire at that time, who involved in the
promotion of his products, hit upon the idea of using airships as an advertisement and
promotional means. By the time, aviators like Mr. Alberto Santos Dumont and other
enthusiasts demonstrated that airships and dirigibles were a proven and safe technology
which, of course, encouraged Mr. Pugibet to employ them in Mexico City for advertising
purposes; even he faced diverse technological and logistics problems to take his airship
to a successful first flight. This paper describes in detail the technology, the key people
and professionals involved in the first aerial advertising airship flight in Latin America.

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Figure 1. Cigar-shape airship for advertising campaign of Tobacco company “El buen Tono”
1. INTRODUCTION
During the XIX century there was some
interest in the lighter than air vehicles in
Mexico and some exploits became
notorious, particularly those of the noted
balloonist Don Joaquín de la Cantolla Y
Rico, whose ascensions in hot air free
balloons were highly publicized and
attended. He became a legendary yet,
quixotesque figure being the scorn of
the populace, but to the air minded
community those were advancements
towards the flight of men in machines.
However the first aeronautical
achievements were not the result of a
scientific, dedicated effort toward
mechanical flight.
The operation of gas ballooning in the
form of airships took place for first time
in Mexico City for aerial advertising
purposes Fig. 1. These activities were
conducted by Don Ernesto Pugibet
(“Don” is not a name but a common
Spanish language of formal addressing
towards notable persons. The female
form being: “Doña”) who has been
largely forgotten in Mexican aviation as
well his cigarettes factory: “El Buen
Tono” (The Good Tone, probably a
reference to musical qualities).
Pugibet is only a passing figure in the
History of Mexican Aviation, as he was
probably seen as rich industrialist part of
an oppressive economic and political
regime got rid of by the Revolution. But
time is come to give him his due credit in
the annals of History. Ernesto Pugibet
was a French citizen who came to do
business in Mexico during the President
Porfirio Díaz regime.
The Pax Porfiriana brought about an
intense effort of industrialization and –in
order to make up for the lacking of
industrial know-how- the Mexican
government invited all sorts of industries
to establish themselves in Mexican
territory. They mainly came from Great
Britain, Germany and France as Mexico
had already close diplomatic relations
with these countries. However some
technical expertise also came from the
United States. By the early XX century
Mexico was enjoying what was probably
the best of times.
After almost 70 years of independence
plagued with civil war, economic and
political crisis, foreign invasions and civil
turmoil, the Díaz presidency had
managed to stabilize the country long

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enough to start recovering and build a
sound economic basis. Industrialization
was part of the recovery plan, and many
industries opened plants and factories.
One of the business people lured by the
Mexican boom was Ernesto Pugibet,
who at the end of the XIX century,
emigrated to Mexico and got involved in
the tobacco industry establishing several
plantations and factories, all dedicated
to the manufacture of both cigars and
cigarettes. Soon enough and with the
support of the Díaz regime he became
one of the wealthiest men in Mexico,
diversifying his operations to a wide
range of activities. By the early XIX
century Don Ernesto Pugibet was a
distinguishing feature in Mexico´s social,
economic and even political life, but
above all he was an entrepreneur.
2. MEXICO CITY in 1907
Mexico City was booming and was
perhaps the most important city in
Central and South America. It was
called the “City of palaces” mainly
because many new buildings in the
French style were being built next the
Old Colonial buildings. New Burroughs
for the new burgoise class –most of
them foreigners- were reshaping the
urban landscape that until now have had
a decidedly rural quality to it. Modernity
was being introduced in the form of
electricity, telephone and the ubiquitous
railway with locomotives of American
manufacture running the services to and
from the city and the major ports and
north to the mining areas and to the
USA. Automobiles were zooming along
newly paved streets along with horse
drawn trams and carriages.
Industrialization was being enforced by
the President Díaz regime, mainly by the
opening of the Mexican territory to
foreigner industries which established
themselves in the richest and more
profitable parts of the country. The
social scene was a mixture of the most
extravagant French influenced
fashionistas to the most humble street
vendor women, and it was being stirred
by the incoming centennial celebrations
of the Mexican war of Independence
with an expected score of events
including grand openings and
dedications of monuments and new
buildings such as the still standing
Independence Victory (Often mistaken
for an “Angel”) that nowadays adorn the
most scenic avenue in downtown
Mexico. The political scene was
approaching boiling point. The almost 30
years of virtual dictatorship headed by
President Díaz was coming to and as he
was becoming old and his hold of power
weakening. A new emerging middle
class was desperate for his own time
and everywhere around the country
popular discontent against the regime
was rising. To top this all, Halley´s
comet was expected in 1910. Mexico
City surely was the city to be in those
years. Amidst all of this, enter the
apparition of Ernesto Pugibet´s dirigible,
sporting huge banners advertising his
cigarette brands floating around the
Mexico City sky. It must have been an
awesome sight for the locals.
3. THE TEAM
By the early XX century Mr. Ernesto
Pugibet was heading a veritable
economic empire but still was involved
in the promotion of his products and he
hit upon the idea of using airships as an
advertisement and promotional means.
It isn´t clear whether -if he became at
all- he became a Mexican citizen, but we
might assume he had close ties and
relations whit his old Country and no
doubt his business kept him traveling to
and from France where He, surely was a
witness of the aerial activities taking
place in Europe but above all in France,
including the very highly publicized

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flights of the Brazilian Santos Du Mont
with airships of his own design [1]. The
exploits of Mr. Santos du Mont using
dirigibles were well known around the
world. He build a series of motorized
dirigibles which he used for some record
braking flights in France, including his
1901 winning of the Deutsch de la
Meurthe Grand Prix by circling the Eiffel
tower in one of his dirigibles,
demonstrating that airships and
dirigibles were a proven and safe
technology. Sometime during 1907
(Other sources give 1908 as the year)
Don Ernesto Pugibet bought and
imported at least one dirigible complete
with the services of pilot and mechanic.
It is not clear if he bought only one
(there are reports of two and even three)
and if he imported it directly from France
3.1 THE SPONSOR
As previously noted Don Ernesto
Pugibet, (Figure 2) was an entrepreneur
and as such hit upon the idea of using
dirigibles and airplanes to promote his
product. He was in the tobacco business
and made several popular, well known
cigarettes and cigars brands. It seems
that he first introduced the dirigible as
and promotional and advertising tool
sometime before 1909, probably 1908 or
even 1907. Being a French citizen with
many commercial ties with his country of
origin, he must have first taken contact
with aviation in France and no doubt
was well aware or even was a witness of
the progress made there by aviators
such as the Brazilian Alberto Santos Du
Mont, whose exploits with dirigibles
made him a notable aviation pioneer,
one of whose most memorable prize
winning flights was the circling of the
Eiffel Tower in 1901.
Figure 2. Don Ernesto Pugibet, at the
magazine “El mundo ilustrado” (The
enlightened world magazine) in 1907. Photo
taken from “Gaceta Racines Françaises au
Mexique, No. 5 año 2008” [2].
There is no reliable record of how and
when Ernesto Pugibet acquired his
flying equipment. It can easily be
assumed that given his business
contacts and means he could have
imported them from France. However it
seems that he could also bought
material from the United States. Being
the owner of several factories and
involved in a variety of enterprises it
seems that he had no problem with the
supporting means to importing,
operating and flying his machines.
Aside of being able to buy a flying
apparatus it must be understood that
there must be a technology to be dealt
with. And this led us to the first problem
on Mexico´s first dirigible. Although by
the first decade of the XX century there
were a small cadre of aviation
enthusiasts –manly economically
affluent young middle and upper class
men- interested in all things mechanical
and technical such as automobiles,
motorcycles and flying machines. There
were even an Aeronautical Club
intended to promote aviation and whose
members were involved in the
construction and operation of hot air and

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gas balloons and gliders. They closely
followed –as many other aviation
enthusiasts around the world- the latest
advancements in the aeronautical field,
from Otto Lillienthal to Octave Chanute,
to Alberto Santos Dumont. At that time
Mexico had strong ties with Europe
particularly with France and President
Porfirio Díaz regime had a strong
inclination towards French culture. So it
must be assumed that many Mexican
citizens visited France and therefore and
naturally brought back the latest news
on Europe´s aeronautical
advancements. Although Ernesto
Pugibet is not known to have been
involved in the aeronautical science or
interested in flying machines per se, it is
evident that he saw an opportunity.
3.2 THE PILOT
The existing pictures show that the
airship had some resemblance to
dirigibles built in the United States. One
source reports the pilot during the first
flights was the American adventurer
Lincoln Beachey (Figure 3) who became
later a pilot of some note. There is in
fact a newspaper article published in
March 7th
1909 in the New York Times
where Beachey reports activities taken
in Mexico city during an aerial show over
a bull fighting arena in Mexico city. This
provides some certainty on the fact that
Beachey was the El Buen Tono’s airship
pilot. Another more recent source states
that the pilot was Charles Keeny
Hamilton or the Captain Jack Dallas,
who by the time took several airship
flights across USA [3], but no record
confirms the veracity of these
assumptions.
Figure 3. Mr. Lincoln Beachey in 1909.
Photo taken from THE EARLY BIRDS
OF AVIATION, Inc
4. THE FLYING MACHINE
Few data is available of the particulars
of the machine (or machines) that
Ernesto Pugibet imported to México.
However, from the few available
photographs it seems that contrary to
what it could be believed, the origin of
those machines was probably not
European. The pictures show a machine
with more rounded appearance than
those being flown in France and Europe
that had more pointed or fishlike
appearance. There is however, a picture
of a dirigible being flown in the USA that
is more closely in appearance to the
Mexican machine. So it is possible that
Ernesto Pugibet imported his machine
from the USA. This is supported by the
fact that by the first decade of the XX
century, the nationalized Mexican
railway (1908) operated by then an
important network of transport and
communication reaching all the way to
New York City, and it seem easier to
have been able to import technology
from the USA, than from Europe. It is
well known that from 1910 on, most of
the flying equipment used by the
aviation pioneers in México were buying
from American shops and factories as
most of the European manufacturers
had licensed their designs to American
enterprises. The equipment -however
the source- could reach México City and
valley via railroad either from the

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merchant maritime port of Veracruz or
from the North. Another historical
problem whose details we are not aware
of at the present is the source and
manufacturing equipment or apparatus
of lifting gas. Then, again no data is
available of how the lifting gas was
procured or made available for the
dirigible operations during those years.
Once again we could only speculate and
guess that Ernesto Pugibet purchased
some form of gas producing apparatus
from a most likely American source. One
fact is known and accounted for in
Ernest Pugibet´s case: Money was no
problem. And he enjoyed the official
support and resources from the regime
as Ernesto Pugibet was close to
President Porfirio Díaz.
México was no strange to ballooning
and other aerial activities, but as stated
elsewhere, the aerial activities of most
aerial novelties were entrepreneurial
rather than scientific and carried on by
rich people intent on emulate the
exploits of the European sportsmen.
4.1 Technical details
The most important data to date about
the machine was taken from press
releases on the most influent newspaper
of that time named “El Imparcial” [4]. Not
other data was indicated elsewhere that
could provide more technical details.
The airship was equipped with a
suspended wooden made gondola or
keel and a non-rigid cigar-shaped
envelope body. The envelope was made
of waterproof silk fabrics which
dimensions were 20 meters long (65.16
ft) by 6 meters (19.68 ft) diameter.
(Figure 4)
Figure 4. Airship’s lateral view. Photo taken
from the Mexican aviation history website [5]
The airship obtained propulsion through
an aft propeller manufactured in Zinc
material that achieved a speed of 300 to
350 revolutions per minute and was
driven by a 12 hp four-cylinder petrol
engine. A wooden wheel provided
manual control through a direct cable
connection to the rudder (Figure 5).
Figure 5. Airship’s front view showing the
zinc propeller, image posted at the
newspaper “El Imparcial” in 1907
Like most of the gas ballooning airships
of that time, hydrogen was the lifting gas
employed into the gas bag. Current
investigations lead to the assumption
that hydrogen was imported from a
commercial hydrogen manufacturer in
USA and transported by railway to
Mexico City in steel cylinders for military
use. At that time there was a strong gas
industry in Mexico but USA could
provide a specialized contract for
supplying hydrogen gas cylinders in an
effective and industrial way to the aerial
airship advertising project.

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4.2 Operation details
On January 7, 1907, nearly a year after
numerous unsuccessful attempts due to
atmospheric pressure and Mexico’s City
geographical characteristics, located at
an altitude of 2,240 meters (7,350 ft)
above sea level, the advertising airship
could lift off in the metropolitan area of
San Cosme, a well-known neighborhood
in the city at that time. Reports let us
know that event organizers charged 5
cents to each one attendant to letting
watch the airship’s takeoff.
After getting elevation, the airship
headed to main avenues of the capital,
up to the Zocalo area and the Central
Alameda. Its flight caused great
anticipation and excitement among the
locals and gave great impetus to the “El
Buen Tono” products in all those days
the airship conducted flights over the
city. There were several flights some of
them undocumented and unsuccessful
than others but all of them caused the
peoples recognition for the organizers.
Additional to the aerial advertising
campaign the airship was used for aerial
photography, probably the first made in
Mexico City, however photographic
materials were lost in the time and there
is no record to be reviewed.
Records let us know the airship was
also used for scientific purposes
providing meteorological measurements
like wind currents, temperature and
atmospheric pressure ordered by the
National observatory of Mexico located
in Tacubaya an important suburb of the
capital with military and government
headquarters [6].
Nothing is known of what happened to
Pugibet´s dirigible (Or dirigibles if there
were more than one) They might have
been put in storage for possible military
use by the Army, but no known
operations were carried with them or
any other form of lighter than air
aircrafts. However, no dirigibles were
ever flown in Mexican airspace again
after Pugibet´s for a very long time. It is
a pity that there is no more research
available at this time about Don Ernesto
Pugibet and his dirigible(s), but we hope
to put an end to this state of affairs.
5. THE AERIAL ADVERTISING
CAMPAIGN
Don Ernesto Pugibet used the dirigible
as a promotional display during the
grand opening of new facilities of his
factory, named “EL BUEN TONO” in
México City. And the dirigible made a
number of flights with two large
promotional banners hanging from each
side, one bearing the legend “EL BUEN
TONO S.A. LOS MEJORES
CIGARROS. ALFONSO XIII. (“The
Good tone S.A. The best cigarettes”
Alfonso XIII being the king of Spain) and
on the other side a similar banner
except for the last line being substituted
with the name: “REINA VICTORIA”.
(“Queen Victoria” probably meaning:
Queen Victoria of England) advertising
both the factory and two of its brand
name cigarettes. The few known
pictures of the dirigible show this to
advantage.
There are no known records of how long
or how many flights were made by this
dirigible but it must have been an
awesome sight to see this large dirigible
slowly floating and circling above the
grand old City of México, emerging from
behind and above antique colonial
Spanish buildings with the pilot waving
to the crowds below and the engine
noisily puttering and puffing while driven

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the propeller during a sunny Sunday´s
morning. It also seems no major
mishaps or accidents ever took place.
Unlike other airship experiments and
ventures in the Spanish speaking world
(as in the case of those made by the
Spanish scientist and inventor Leonardo
Torres Quevedo who was building
dirigibles for dedicated scientific
purposes) [7] the dirigible in México was
apparently used for pure entrepreneur
and entertaining purposes with no
pretense of science whatsoever.
Whatever that case, Don Ernesto
Pugibet´s dirigible operated for what
seems only a short season (Most of the
history of those events is yet to be
properly researched by historians) and
his next venture took place in 1909
when for the same advertising and
promotional objectives, he imported the
first ever airplane brought to México
(and all of Latin America it seems) a
Blériot XI of the same type used by
Louis Blériot for his English channel
crossing flight. However, the aircraft
never got off the ground during the firsts
trials (Which was not good publicity by
the way) and the plane was set aside
until some improvements were made by
a Mexican aeronaut who by mid 1910
finally managed to fly it bearing the
“BUEN TONO” legend across its wings,
but by this time it was already beaten as
the first airplane ever to fly in Mexico by
the son of an Irish-American immigrant
who made a fortune as a railroad
engineer and with similar social standing
as that of Don Ernesto Pugibet, Thomas
Braniff, whose son Alberto, had visited
France learnt to fly and brought back a
Voisin biplane that made the first flight of
a heavier than air machine in Mexico in
early 1910 [8].
Shortly after this and with the political
scene getting hotter by the day, Mexico
was reaching a high point as the
incoming elections for president were
close and also, the Independence
centennial was to be celebrated that
year. To close the September
celebrations, an air show featuring many
aeronautical celebrities took place by
the end of the month. Roland Garros
and the American family of aviators of
French origin, the Moissants as well as
the Mexican aeronauts flew their aircraft
during the aerial exhibitions. And Don
Ernesto Pugibet was there too, no doubt
with both of his machines. However, by
November the same year President
Díaz was overthrown in the election and
soon the country was in the midst of a
civil turmoil that led to the war of
Revolution. All civil aeronautical
activities were canceled, the flying
equipment was requisitioned and the
aeronauts recruited for service with the
Federal Armed Forces.
It seems that Don Ernesto Pugibet
joined those foreigners fleeing the
country during the Revolution and he
died in France in 1915. His factory
however remained in business and later
it became the basis for the largest
tobacco company of Mexico. The
Church in the West side of the plaza
Ernesto Pugibet was funded by the
Buen Tono factory and it was built from
the ground up –the old XVII century one
being demolish- was finished about
1942 and dedicated to Our Lady of
Guadalupe (Who else?) and
affectionately called The Church of “El
Buen Tono”.
Years after the airship flights, the
company used repeatedly the airship
concept for the cigars packing artwork
as you can review in Figure 6 where the
Norge & Italian Polar flights in 1920’s
are the strong advertising message to
the consumers.

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Figure 6. Tobacco packs with airship
advertising campaign art.
6. ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF LTA
OPERATION IN MEXICO
There is no evidence or records of
airship flights in Mexico after 1907 at
least until the Second World War when it
is possible that North American made
airships could have been used for
patrolling the Mexican coastlines. And
even after that nothing is known until the
mid 70´s when hot air balloons were
being introduced as sport crafts for
pleasure and tourist attractions.
It was not until by mid 1970s than
something reassembling a dirigible was
seen floating in the Mexican Airspace in
the form of a promotional sausage
tethered semi rigid balloon. And by all
accounts it has been only until the late
2000 that serious thoughts were given to
the use of dirigibles, if not in some form
of transportation at least for use as
observation, monitoring and advertising
platforms.
In Mexico, back in 1973 the company
Sapacial of Mexico flew a man-carrying
saucer airship, a lenticular airship 24mts
in diameter with a gas volume of
2505m3 and matriculated MLA-24-A.
Later, after years of experimentation and
research in June 1989 there was a last
version matriculated MLA-32-B with a
lenticular configuration of LtA vehicle
that was operated by its designer and
moving spirit of the entire enterprise Mr.
Mario Sanchez Roldan. Sadly, because
of the tragic death of this Mexican LtA
researcher, there were no more R&D
projects in Mexico with LtA vehicles that
could bring further knowledge until
recent years [9] Figure 7.
Figure 7. Sketch of lenticular airship
manufactured in Mexico in 1989 by Manuel
Sanchez Roldan.
Another interesting entrepreneurial
airship aerial campaign took place in the
90’s when Goodyear decided to promote
a hot-air aerial advertising campaign
tour through the principal cities along
Mexico. The name of the campaign was
“Good Year # 1 en LLANTAS” The
airship was built by Lindstrand industries
and christened “Eagle Aztec” (Figure 8).
For reasons not well understood, the
project lasted only few months. To date,
Goodyear is evaluating the revival of the
campaign through the assistance of the
airship fleet of the company Impacto
Aéreo.

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Figure 8. Goodyear’s aerial advertising
campaign in the 90’s with the airship named
“Eagle Aztec”
One hundred years after Ernesto
Pugibet’s advertising campaign, a young
Mexican Company takes the challenge
to put airship aerial advertising on Latin
American skies. Impacto Aereo S.A. de
C.V. is a Mexican company specialized
in aerial advertising. The company owns
the one and only certified manned hot-
air airship in Mexico and Central
America.
Impacto Aereo operates three hot-air
airships, model AS 105 GD
manufactured by GEFA FLUG from
Germany. The airships are certified with
full compliance to the Air authority in
Mexico represented by the Directorate
General of Civil Aviation of Mexico -
DGAC – (Dirección General de Aviación
Civil in Spanish) The CEO and master
pilot of the company, Javier Merino
Escamilla has been approved and
certified by the DGAC for day and night
airship flight operation. As those pilots
back in 1907, Javier Merino has
experienced the challenging opportunity
to fly in high altitude geographic
conditions along Mexico obtaining a
rewarding and strong piloting experience
(Figure 9).
Figure 9. Impacto Aereo’s hot-air
airship during night operations.
The plans for the company are to
develop a business strategic approach
to Mexican and Latin American market
operating by now air-hot airships for
advertising and tourism purposes but
working and planning at the same time
with financing entities and air authorities
to bring in the near future helium
airships to fly in Latin American skies.
Many years have come along the
Mexican aviation history in airship
operation, but the same entrepreneurial
and adventurous spirit give dynamic
move to the Impacto Aereo’s projects
[10]. Possibly, as Pugibet’s case, in the
years for coming, airship technology in
Mexico will be increased by this young
company in order to write new historic
events for the next Mexican and Latin
American lighter than air aviators.
Figure 10. Impacto Aereo’s hot-air airship
for advertising campaigns in Mexico.

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7. CONCLUSIONS
Airship operation represents one of the
more puzzling questions of the early
years of the Mexican Aviation History,
and the most concerned with our subject
matter. Why did the use of dirigibles
come to a complete standstill in Mexico?
It might seem that given the huge part
played in the early history of aviation
both in Europe and in The USA, the
dirigible could have been developed as
a serious form of transportation, but all
facts point toward that Pugibet´s was the
only one in operation during the so
called pioneer years of Mexican
Aviation. Even more puzzling is the fact
that it seems that in spite of its proven
use by the military for war operations,
the Mexican armies engaged in the War
of Revolutions that broke out in
November 1910 did not use dirigibles or
even balloons for military purposes.
They were keener in the use of heavier-
than-air -machines and now it is
recognized by historians that the
Mexican Revolution brought about some
of the first military uses of airplanes.
One possible answer to this enigma
might lie in the fact that operating a
lighter-than-air machine required far
more logistics and manpower to operate
than airplanes, and airplanes so it
seems were more readily and easier to
acquire and deploy for use as
observation machines or artillery
spotters. Airplanes were bought –often
to ridiculous high prices- from dealers
across the border, frequently complete
with the services of mercenary pilots
and teams of mechanics to maintain and
repair them. They were smuggled
across the border and quickly put to use
by both, federal and rebel armies,
including the celebrated Francisco Villa,
AKA: “Pancho Villa” [11].
After 100 years of LTA airship operation
in Mexico and Latin America, new and
promising projects promote the use and
operation of airships in this region. Many
campaigns have passed away before
with few results and public impact, but
for the next decade the authors of this
paper foresee a bright future for the
promotion and operation of airships in
aerial advertising, tourism and
transportation.
8. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• The authors express their
deepest gratitude to the National
Council for Science and
Technology (CONACYT) of
Mexico [5] for its funding and
technical support to airships
programs in previous years.
Without the government policies
to support science, technology
and innovation, this research
project could not be possible.
• We express sincere appreciation
for the intense and dedicated
work performed by funders,
members and collaborators of
the International Airship
Association to promote the
airship technology. Their advice
and enthusiasm are invaluable
for Latin American airship
researchers.
• We express sincere appreciation
for the valuable engagement and
technical advice of aviation
colleagues and aviation historian
enthusiast in Mexico, USA and
UK that helped us to obtain
valuable materials for our paper.
Specially, we appreciate the
valuable advice from Navy
Airship Association members

12. Paper 29 Peña and Nava
9th
International Airship Convention, Ashford, 2012 12
and notes from Spanish fellow
Mr. Francisco Gonzáles de
Posada.
• We express our most profound
appreciation to the advice
provided by enthusiast members
of the most influent Mexican
aviation historic research groups
in Mexico and the valuable
engagement of friends from the
French-Mexican community.
9. REFERENCES
[1] Macworth-Praed, Ben.
(Researcher and editor). Aviation,
the Pioneer Years. Studio
Editions. London.1990.
[2] Gaceta - Racines Françaises au
Mexique, No. 5 año 2008
http://www.rfm.org.mx/publicacion
es/gacetas/boletin5rfm.pdf
[3] THE EARLY BIRDS
OF AVIATION, Inc.
An organization of pioneers who
flew solo before December 17,
1916
http://earlyaviators.com/index.htm
[4] “El Imparcial” Newspaper 1896-
1914.
http://www.bicentenario.gob.mx/in
dex.php?option=com_content&vie
w=article&id=1433:12-de-
septiembre-de-1896-es-fundado-
el-periodico-el-
imparcial&catid=121:septiembre&I
temid=222
[5] Mexican Aviation History Website
http://prodigy.msn.com/?ocid=hml
ogout&ar=3
[6] Tercer Simposio de Tecno-historia
en la ciudad de México – “Y la
ciudad miró al cielo”. El globo
dirigible de El Buen Tono en la
ciudad de México. Denise Hellion
(Biblioteca Nacional de
Antropología e Historia, INAH)
http://www.inah.gob.mx/index.php/
boletines/2-actividades-
academicas/3627-simposio-
tecnohistoria
[7] Gonzáles de Posada, Francisco,
et al. Leonardo Torres Quevedo y
la Conquista del Aire. Centenario
de la botadura del dirigible “Torres
Quevedo”. (Report on a series of
conferences held on Guadalajara
City, Spain. 2007-2008). Amigos
de la Cultura Científica. Spain.
2008.
[8] Villela Jr., Ing. José. Pioneros de
la aviación Mexicana. Ediciones
Colofón. 1964.
[9] Edwin Mowforth, “An introduction
to the airship”, Third edition, The
Airship Association Ltd.,
September 2007
[10] Impacto Aéreo. Proyectos en
movimiento
http://www.impactoaereo.com/
[11] Romero, Manuel Ruiz. La Aviación
durante la revolución Mexicana.
Soporte Aeronáutico S.A. de C.V.
1988.