First plane to fly from Europe to Latin America: Its 95-year journey
Monday, February 22, 2021 @ 11:55 AM
A FIRST for two continents, not just for Spain, this month marks the 95th anniversary of a journey that now takes place dozens of times a day without incident, celebration or welcome parties beyond those strictly family- or friend-related.
The original Plus Ultra in its long-term home, the Transport Museum in Luján, State of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The information boards to the right of the picture show its maiden flight, complete with pit-stops, and the crew members (photo: Wikimedia Commons)
In these times of standard check-in, security and passport-control procedures as thousands of daily passengers hop on and off planes between Spain and Latin America, knowing the drill, settling in their reclining seats with blankets, eye-pads, iPads and either dread or eager anticipation at the knowledge the food will turn up on the usual trolley within an hour or so, it is easy to forget that, within the lifetimes of thousands still with us today, this would have been impossible – not just for the non-wealthy, but for anyone.
The Plus Ultra, manufactured in Spain and Italy, made its maiden flight on January 22, 1926 from the very same town from which Christopher Columbus set off on his epic, historical adventure in 1492, in the very same direction: Palos de la Frontera, Huelva province, to the first mass of land directly due south-west over the Atlantic.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com