Jorge Chavez Dartnell

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Jorge Chavez in his Blériot
Monument to Jorge Chavez Dartnell in Brig

Jorge Chávez (in Switzerland also known as Geo Chavez , from George ) (born June 13, 1887 in Paris , † September 27, 1910 in Domodossola ) was a Peruvian-French aviation pioneer who was the first person to fly over the main Alpine ridge crossed.

Life

The son of a Peruvian millionaire who emigrated to France graduated from the Henri Farmans flight school in 1910 and received the French pilot's license No. 32. He then won numerous prizes for flying achievements and carried out a number of record flights. In September 1910 he reached a height of almost 2,500 m (according to another source 2,652 m) while Hubert Latham (1883–1912) had only achieved 155 m a year earlier. After intense preparation and off-road exploration, while its rivals Charles Weyman and Pierre Emile Taddéoli already undertook unsuccessful attempts, he started on 23 September 1910 a meadow in Ried-Brig to his Blériot XI monoplane (powered by a 50  hp - Gnôme Rotary engine ) to fly over the 2000 m high Simplon Pass to Domodossola and thus master the first flight over the Alps . On September 19, he had already abandoned one attempt after experiencing exhausting turbulence and cold, without success. The flight on the 23rd, observed by numerous onlookers, was initially successful, but on landing after 42 minutes of flight duration, the aircraft broke apart while attempting to intercept it after a dive because the structure made of ash wood, steel pipes, cotton and linen fabric could not withstand the stress withstood. World icon

Chavez was seriously injured in the fall from a height of 10-20 meters and died on September 27, 1910 in Domodossola Hospital. His body was transferred to Paris, where Chavez was buried in the family mausoleum in the Père Lachaise cemetery. In 1957 his remains were brought to Peru.

His compatriot Jean Biélovucie (born July 30, 1889) made the flight on January 25, 1913: He flew over the Simplon Pass and landed happily in Domodossola. The flight lasted fifteen minutes.

Honors

  • In memory of the aviation pioneer, the international airport of the Peruvian capital Lima was named Aeropuerto Internacional Jorge Chávez .
  • In Brig, a fountain with a sculpture of a winged person was erected in honor of Chavez and named the Chavez fountain .World icon
  • The Chavez monument is located in Ried-Brig near the launch site .World icon
  • A commemoration ceremony was held at the launch site for the 100th anniversary of the flight.
  • As part of the entertainment program now or never - Live your dream of Swiss television on September 30, 2018 flying Raoul Geiger with an electric glider ( Ruppert Archeopteryx ) from the same place on the grid over the Simplon Pass.

literature

Web links

Commons : Jorge Chávez Dartnell  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Corina Kolbe: Aviation pioneer Jorge Chávez: Nightmare over the Alpine ridge spiegel.de/einestages, September 22, 2010, accessed September 24, 2018.
  2. Alex Capus: 13 True Stories. Historical miniatures. Deuticke, Vienna 2004; dtv, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-423-13470-4 , pp. 84–98: Géo Chavez - The first man over the Alps
  3. Jean Biélovucie
  4. 1913, Jean Biélovucie flight over the Simplon Pass
  5. Chavez Fountain. Brig Simplon Tourism, accessed on September 30, 2018 .
  6. F. DLC: Geo Chavez - 100 years of crossing the Alps by plane. In: YouTube. September 28, 2010, accessed September 30, 2018 .
  7. Now or never - Live your dream. SRF, September 30, 2018 .;