Jose Abelardo Quinones

Jose Abelardo Quiñones Gonzales aviator hero. He was born in the Chiclayo port of Pimentel, on April 22, 1914. Son of José María Quiñones Arizola and María Juana Rosa Gonzales Orrego. He began his studies at the San José de Chiclayo national school, and continued at the Sagrados Corazones Recoleta and Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe schools in Lima. After completing his studies and, overcoming family opposition, he entered the Jorge Chávez Central Aviation School in 1935, from which he graduated with the degree of aeronautics lieutenant on January 21, 1939, awarded the "Golden Wing", as recognition for being the best fighter pilot of his promotion called "Comandante José Raguz". It should be noted that Quiñones was the first cadet to perform an “inverted looping” , aerobatic maneuver in which the plane ascends and describes a circle in a vertical plane; and three “vertical tanneaux”, another clever pirouette in which the plane rotates on its axis of drive while continuing to fly horizontally. He also managed to excel in sports, captaining the school's basketball team. These were years in which a national aeronautical awareness was formed, since the first thing to develop in Peru was civil aviation . In the aviation school he received sufficient theoretical education and practice to crystallize his vocation and become aware of his responsibility in the service of the country and the defense of the Republic.
Graduated from the Aviation School, Quiñones was assigned to the No. 4 Aviation Squadron based in Ancón , at the “Alférez Huguet” air base. A few months later, in June 1939, he returned to Las Palmas, stationed at the Central Aviation School. That same year he received the order to move to Chiclayo to join the squadron No. 41 of the XXI Fighter Squadron, in the First Air Group based in the base of that city. As part of the first high acrobatic squad formed in Chiclayo, he demonstrated his skill and efficiency in several local air shows and in Lima and Arequipa.
Almost two years after his graduation from Las Palmas, on January 28, 1941, he was promoted to the class of aeronautical lieutenant. That year a conflict with Ecuador took place:around July 5, an advance party from that country attacked Peruvian posts, seeking to cross the Zarumilla River, and occupied the Noblecilla and Matapalo islands and the Caucho plateau. The Peruvian reaction was immediate, and between July 5 and 31 of the same month, the enemy was defeated on all fronts. Since the beginning of the conflict, Quiñones has carried out multiple reconnaissance missions, including taking aerial photographs of the Ecuadorian front. On July 23, the 41st squadron, to which he belonged, took off from the Tumbes field to fulfill the mission of recovering the border and attacking the Ecuadorian post of Quebrada Seca. The squadron was made up of Lieutenant Commander Antonio Alberti, Lieutenants Fernando Paraud, José Quiñones and Lieutenant Manuel Rivera, with North American 50 fighter planes. In the operation, Quiñones made the descent to drop his bombs, being hit by anti-aircraft fire from adversaries that hit their aircraft in vital areas. Quiñones, far from using his parachute, with the plane engulfed in flames, took a course over the enemy position crashing into it and destroying it completely . Thus ended the life of this great Lambayecan who knew how to courageously defend the integrity of his homeland; the next day he was posthumously promoted to the rank of captain for heroic death in action at arms. Three months later, on October 19, 1941, his remains were delivered to the Peruvian consul in Guayaquil, and since 1961 they rest in a mausoleum in Las Palmas, next to which is a piece of his plane .
By law 16126 of May 10, 1966, Quiñones was declared a national hero and the day of his death, July 23, was designated as Peru's Military Aviation Day. Promotion 42 of the Peruvian Air Force bears his name, as does the Chiclayo airport.