Ramón Franco

Ramón Franco y Bahamonde, Salgado y Pardo de Andrade (1896 — October 1938), born in the naval station of El Ferrol in North-western Spain was a Galician pioneer of aviation, a political figure and brother of later dictator Francisco Franco. Well before the Spanish Civil War, during the reign of Alfonso XIII both brothers were acclaimed as national heroes in Spain. However, the two had strongly differing political views.

They had a less known brother Nicolás. Ramón started his career as an ordinary successful military officer in the infantry, assigned to Morocco in 1914. In 1920 he joined the Spanish Air Force, participating in activities that earned him international attention. In 1926 he became a national hero when he piloted the "Plus Ultra" on a Trans-Atlantic flight. His co-pilot was Julio Ruiz de Alda Miqueleiz; the other crew members were Teniente de Navio (Navy Lieutenant) Juan Manuel Duran and the mechanic Pablo Rada. The "Plus Ultra" departed from Palos de la Frontera, in Huelva, Spain on January 22 and arrived in Buenos Aires, Argentina on January 26. It stopped over at Gran Canaria, Cape Verde, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro and Montevideo. The 10,270 km journey was completed in 59 hours and 39 minutes.The event appeared in most of the major newspapers world wide, though some of them underlining the fact that the airplane itself plus the technical expertise were foreign. Throughout the Spanish-speaking world the Spanish aviators were glamorously acclaimed, particularly in Argentina and Spain where thousands gathered at Christopher Columbus square in Madrid.

In 1929 he attempted another trans-Atlantic flight, this time crashing the airplane to the sea. The crew was rescued days later by an aircraft carrier of the British Royal Navy.

During the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera he declared himself on several occasions against the regime. He conspired against the Monarchy, inflicted losses on the army and was sent to prison, from where he was able to escape.In October 1930, along with other Republican aviators, he seized some aircraft in the aerodrome of Cuatro Vientos and flew over Madrid with the intention to bomb the Palacio Real, an action that he could not achieve. He fled to Portugal and returned to Spain when the Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed.

Reentering the Army, he was named chief of a main directorate of Aeronautics, a position which he was dismissed shortly afterwards by his participation in an anarchist revolt in Andalusia.He was elected as a deputy in the Cortes for Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya in Barcelona, retiring from the army and focused on politics.

When the Spanish Civil War exploded in July 1936, he was in the United States as an air attaché of the Spanish Embassy.

Upon his return to Spain, in spite of his political ideology (leftist), he joined the Nationalist side, where his brother Francisco was one of the main leaders. He was promoted to lieutenant Colonel and was named head of the Aerial Base of Majorca.

This post was badly accepted by other officers, who rejected that Ramón, a Freemason who had been dismissed, had been promoted over officers with war merits.

He died in an accident in October of 1938 when his hydroplane crashed off the coast of the island of Majorca, while attempting to bomb the republican zone in Valencia. Some conspiracy theories state that his airplane had been sabotaged.

External links

* [http://www.aire.org/ea/raids/plusultr.htm El vuelo del Plus Ultra] , in Spanish.
* [http://ferrol.historia.tripod.com/ A picture of Franco at the "Plus Ultra" celebrations in Ferrol and Madrid (1926)]
* [http://www.geocities.com/ferrolhistory/Ferrol_WorldHistory.html Traveller's Guide of Europe: Ferrol c.1919]
* [http://www.histarmar.com.ar/Armada%20Argentina/AviacionNaval/HIDR-DornierWal.htm Dornier Wal] , in Spanish.