Jorge Chavez Dartnell , forerunner of aviation. Son of Manuel Chávez Moreyra and María Rosa Dartnell and Guise, Jorge Chávez. He was born on January 13, 1887. His mother had among his grandparents Admiral Jorge Martín Guise , hero of independence, founder of the Peruvian navy and died in the combat of Malpelo . During his youth, Jorge always preferred sports and activities that could bring him excitement:he took part in car races and excelled in soccer and athletics, becoming champion of the 400-meter flat and the 1,200-meter long-distance race. His greatest passion, however, was aviation. He graduated in 1910 from the Violet School of Industrial Electricity and Mechanics with his engineering degree and immediately enrolled in the aviation school founded by brothers Henri and Maurice Farman , who had built several models of aircraft. He obtained license number 32 and his first flight was made in Reims, managing to stay in the air for 1 hour and 42 minutes. He then participated in various air competitions:Biarritz, Nice, Tours (in this he managed to cover a distance of 147 km), the week of Lyon, Verona, Budapest, Rouen and Champagne.
In July 1910 he decided on the Bleriot monoplane and at the English seaside resorts of Bournemouth and Blackpool he reached the height record of 1,755 m. He then broke the world height record again in Issy-Les-Mouli-neaux, flying at 2,652 m, as a rehearsal for an even bigger project:it was about participating in the crossing of the Alps. It is fair to recognize that all these practices were carried out by Chávez with due preparation and professional support; it is also proven that he had the physical conditions -height, weight and texture- ideal for the practice of aviation; In addition, he always raised problems in the aeronautical field and often suggested modifications to his plane.
Flights over the Alps and their tragic outcome
In November 1910 he finally participated in a test consisting of a flight from Switzerland to Italy with the passage of the Alps through the neck of Simplon. There were three contestants, one of whom -of Italian nationality- was eliminated for not showing up on time, while the other, an American, had to withdraw after two failed attempts. The only one left was Jorge Chavez, who left Briga (Switzerland) with his Bleriot monoplane on September 23, crossed the Alps via the Simplon pass and reached the Domodossola valley (Italy):he had accomplished the feat! However, on the verge of landing, at an altitude of 5 m, the Bleriot's wings detached and folded, and the device plunged to the ground from the front.
It was discovered shortly afterwards that a joint between the fuselage and a wing showed signs of a previous break and had been defectively repaired with nails. The heroic pilot suffered both broken legs, not because of his fault or due to engine failure, but because of the flimsy and poorly arranged frame of a primitive turn-of-the-century monoplane. The tail, rudders and bicycle wheels were left intact; the wings were not deformed much.
Jorge Chavez seriously injured
Chávez, seriously injured, was taken to the Domodossola hospital, while receiving messages of congratulations for his aerial feat from personalities such as the King of Italy and the President of France. In those years his feat was only comparable to that of Lindbergh's flight from the United States to Europe. The truth is that Jorge Chávez did not lose consciousness nor did he have internal injuries, only fractures in his legs and some bruises on his face. However, he had a long agony due to a traumatic and hemorrhagic shock caused by a strong fall from a low height; his circulating blood was insufficient when he bled to death from the fractures in his legs. Given the level of medicine at that time, it was not possible to perform a transfusion that would have been life-saving; he was only given purgatives, made to drink coffee and a little champagne. It is said that he cried out for liquid. During his agony, he uttered, according to Luigi Barzini, broken phrases such as:"the altitude, the altitude", "the engine, the engine", "I want to get up". It seems that his last words were:"No, no, I'm not dying", but Juan Bielovucic's version has been the most widespread:
"Up… higher still!" He died on September 27, 1910 . The Italian poet Giovanni Pascoli concluded an elegy on his behalf this way:“He falls with his great soul alone ever rising. And now yes, he flies!” His remains were repatriated to Peru with solemn ceremonies in 1957 and today they rest in the main square of the FAP officers' school in Las Palmas, in Lima.
Many Peruvians confuse Jorge Chavez on the 10 soles bills currently in circulation, but the hero on the 10 soles bill is José Abelardo Quiñones.