Plus Ultra (hydroplane)
Encyclopedia
Dornier Do J
The Dornier Do J Wal was a twin-engine German flying boat of the 1920s designed by Dornier Flugzeugwerke. The Do J was designated the Do 16 by the Reich Air Ministry under its aircraft designation system of 1933....
flying boat
Flying boat
A flying boat is a fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a float plane as it uses a purpose-designed fuselage which can float, granting the aircraft buoyancy. Flying boats may be stabilized by under-wing floats or by wing-like projections from the fuselage...
which completed the first Trans-Atlantic flight between Spain and South America in January 1926 with a crew of Spanish aviator
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
s, that included Ramón Franco
Ramón Franco
Ramón Franco y Bahamonde Salgado Pardo de Andrade , was a Galician pioneer of aviation, a political figure and brother of later dictator Francisco Franco...
and Julio Ruiz de Alda Miqueleiz
Julio Ruiz de Alda Miqueleiz
Julio Ruiz de Alda Miqueleiz was a Spanish aviator and politician. He joined the Army at the age of 15 and developed an interest in planes. He was the co-pilot of the Plus Ultra as it completed a Trans-Atlantic flight in 1926...
, Juan Manuel Duran and Pablo Rada.
The Plus Ultra departed from Palos de la Frontera
Palos de la Frontera
Palos de la Frontera is a town and municipality located in the southwestern Spanish province of Huelva, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is situated some from the provincial capital, Huelva...
, in Huelva
Huelva (province)
Huelva is a province of southern Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is bordered by Portugal, the provinces of Badajoz, Seville, and Cádiz, and the Atlantic Ocean. Its capital is Huelva....
, Spain on January 22 and arrived in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
on January 26. It stopped over at Gran Canaria
Gran Canaria
Gran Canaria is the second most populous island of the Canary Islands, with a population of 838,397 which constitutes approximately 40% of the population of the archipelago...
, Cape Verde
Cape Verde
The Republic of Cape Verde is an island country, spanning an archipelago of 10 islands located in the central Atlantic Ocean, 570 kilometres off the coast of Western Africa...
, Pernambuco
Pernambuco
Pernambuco is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. To the north are the states of Paraíba and Ceará, to the west is Piauí, to the south are Alagoas and Bahia, and to the east is the Atlantic Ocean. There are about of beaches, some of the most beautiful in the...
, Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
and Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
. The 10270 km (6,381 mi) journey was completed in 59 hours and 39 minutes. The plane was subsequently donated to the Argentine Navy
Argentine Navy
The Navy of the Argentine Republic or Armada of the Argentine Republic is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the Army and the Air Force....
and was used to deliver airmail. It is currently on display in a museum in the city of Luján
Luján, Buenos Aires
Luján is a city in the Buenos Aires province of Argentina, located 68 kilometres north west of the city of Buenos Aires. The city was founded in 1755 and has a population of 94,000 ....
, Buenos Aires Province
Buenos Aires Province
The Province of Buenos Aires is the largest and most populous province of Argentina. It takes the name from the city of Buenos Aires, which used to be the provincial capital until it was federalized in 1880...
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
.
The flight of the Plus Ultra followed approximately the route taken, in 1922, by the Portuguese aviators Sacadura Cabral
Sacadura Cabral
Artur de Sacadura Freire Cabral, GCTE , known simply as Sacadura Cabral , was a Portuguese aviation pioneer who in 1922, together with Gago Coutinho , conducted the first flight across the South Atlantic Ocean, and also the first using astronomical navigation only, from Lisbon, Portugal, to Rio de...
and Gago Coutinho
Gago Coutinho
Carlos Viegas Gago Coutinho, GCTE, GCC, generally known simply as Gago Coutinho was a Portuguese aviation pioneer who, together with Sacadura Cabral , was the first to cross the South Atlantic Ocean by air, from March to June 1922 , from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro.The Fairey IIIB seaplane used by...
, in the first Trans-Atlantic flight over the South Atlantic (from Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
, Portugal to Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, Brazil).