The day Teide was deemed ‘dashing’

All signs point to the first documented aerial photograph of the Teide being captured during a flight on the 4th of February, 1924, precisely a century ago today. Leading the hydroplane that took off from the port of Santa Cruz was Ramon Franco Bahamonde, the rebellious brother of the Caudillo, and the image was shot by the specialist Leopoldo Alfonso on a brilliant morning.

The first aerial picture of Teide marks its centenary today. The scheduled observation flight on this day in 1924 reached an altitude of four thousand meters. On board the hydroplane Dornier Wall-W-3 were the commander Guillemo Delgado Brackembury, Captain Ramón Franco Bahamonde – the republican brother of the generalissimo, the aerial photographer Leopoldo Alfonso who is credited with the authorship of the image, and the mechanics Mateos and Panizo. The five were part of the RAID Larache (Casablanca) – Canary Islands, which made the inaugural military expedition to the Islands possible, beginning on January 6, 1924 in the Bay of Cádiz (Dornier Wall-3) and concluding with the arrival of the seaplane Melilla and two airplanes in Tenerife, at noon on January 30.

There is no confirmation whether the aerial image of Teide on February 4 was pre-planned or promoted during the aviators’ stay on the Island. However, in the early hours of that day, they took off from the Santacrucera breakwater with the mission to fly over the highest peak of Spain. The Dornier embarked on the flight towards La Cuesta, with its rotors resounding in towns like La Laguna, Tacoronte, Puerto de la Cruz, La Orotava, and other centres on the southern slope of Tenerife. The aircraft was considered the latest advancement in war aviation, measuring 32 meters in length, with the flotation nacelle spanning 17 meters and equipped with a pair of 260 HP Rolls-Roice engines. The Wall-3weighed 3,000 kilos and could carry 2,000 kilos of load. Its technical specifications stated it was capable of reaching a maximum speed of 140 kilometers per hour, though its normal cruising speed was set at 120 kilometers per hour. It offered eight hours of flight autonomy and cost around 100,000 dollars, depending on its equipment. The photograph of Teide published by the ABC newspaper in the Iberian Peninsula was taken from its cabin in February 1924, and caused a significant impact, though less awe than that experienced by the crew at four thousand meters above sea level.

In the logbook of the aerial photographer Leopoldo Alfonso, which documented all the incidents of the RAID Larache-Canary Islands, it is noted that “we flew between low clouds that revealed the monstrous mouth of that pit of fire”, a description that was also featured in the article that the ABC dedicated to the event on February 19th, one of the many exploits led by Captain Ramón Franco in the 1920s and 30s.

Time was the perfect collaborator

It was not necessary to fill the fuel tanks [a key factor for maneuvering at 4,000 meters of altitude for a short period of time], although the hydroplane always carried some auxiliary cans to cover a potential shortage during flight. The reports reflected that the morning was bright, with some areas covered in thick clouds, which dispersed as the Dornier gained height [it is possible that the crew encountered the typical panza de burro that sets in the Valle de La Orotava] to fly over a space with lunar-like features: accounts speak of the desolate landscape dominating the Cañadas del Teide, the area yet to be declared a National Park. All of this occurred in less than an hour and a half, and the feeling of making history was commemorated as the crew once again approached the sea, merging with the capital’s waterfront. During the Dornier raid (Melilla) and the Breguets (Canary archipelago, Gran Canaria and Tenerife) between Cape Blanc and the Islands, a world air speed record was set on that stage, establishing it as a significant achievement.

Rehearsal of the ‘Plus Ultra’ flight feat

The RAID Larache-Canary Islands and the flight over the Teide peak became two key trials to plan another remarkable feat in the history of Galician captain Ramón Franco, who had a distinguished past as a combat aviator in the Rif War (Morocco). Franco’s brother led the flight of the Plus Ultra when he had already been promoted to commander. It took place two years after the glorious aeronautical milestones in the Archipelago, accompanied by Captain Julio Ruiz de Alda, ship lieutenant Juan Manuel Duran, and sergeant-mechanic Pablo Rada. The Plus Ultra flight commenced on January 22, 1926 in Palos de la Frontera (Huelva) and successfully concluded on February 10 in Buenos Aires. It included eight technical stops, one of them in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.Title: The Story of Canarian Palms in British Aviation History

Canarian palms were essential for the success of an aeronautical expedition that cost 415,132 pesetas.

The passage of the Dornier Do J Wall – somewhat smaller than the hydroplane of the RAID from Larache to the Canary Islands but a little faster – lasted for 59 hours and 30 minutes, covering a distance of 10,270 kilometers, almost seven times more than planned in 1924 between White House and Tenerife. “The arrival of the Plus Ultra to Buenos Aires was an apotheosis for Spain and its pilots,” headlined the Buenos Aires newspaper on its front page, The nation. The foreground featured a spectacular five-column photograph with the aircraft perched in the River Plate waters.

Some statements that did not please the general Rivera’s cousinRamon Franco Bahamonde before starting his political adventure – he became part of the Republican Left of Catalonia – and confirming himself on the side of the rebels.