National Air and Space Museum Archives

Admiral Gago Coutinho Collection

Summary

Collection ID:
NASM.1988.0091
Dates:
bulk 1922
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
0.05 Cubic feet
(1 folder)
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
This accession includes a map of the flight and seven photographs. Two photos are of the Fairey IIID Mk. II Seaplane "Lusitânia," Three are of the Fairey IIID Seaplane "Santa Cruz," the airplane which made the flight, and one of those three includes the pilots, Carlos Viegas Gago Coutinho and Artur de Sacadura Cabral. The remaining two photos are of sextants. The first is the original sextant used on the 1922 flight. The second is the commercial version manufactured by C. Plath. Finally, there are the manuscripts on the new sextant: one in English, one in Spanish, and one in German.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Admiral Gago Coutinho was a pilot for the Portuguese Navy in the 1920s. He is famous for his 1922 flight across the South Atlantic with fellow navigator, Commander Sacadura Cabral, the first flight to use celestial navigation for an oceanic crossing. Admiral Coutinho designed the instrument and developed the methods for the flight. He worked with C. Plath, a German manufacturer of nautical instruments, to improve the sextant over the next 15 years.

Administration

Immediate Source of Acquisition
Embassy of Portugal, Gift, 1988

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access.
Preferred Citation
Admiral Gago Coutinho Collection, Accession 1988-0091, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Conditions Governing Use
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Aeronautics Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Navigation Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Fairey IIID Seaplane Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Transatlantic flights Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Portugal Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Gago Coutinho, Carlos Viegas Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sacadura Cabral, Artur de (Artur de Sacadura Freire Cabral) Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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