The year is 1926, in Spain Miguel Primo de Rivera had stablished a dictatorship. The country had suffered from great losses of international prestige during the last 30 years. The 1898 disaster and the Annual one caused a feeling of need to regenerate (regeneracionismo). In that context a small Dornier Do J Wal seaplane was proposed to complete a crazy mission, connecting Spain with the Americas.
The “Plus Ultra” (as it was known) took off, with a crew of 4 (including Francisco Franco’s brother, Ramón Franco), on January 22, 1926 from Palos de la Frontera (Huelva). The plane made six stops on its ocean crossing, supported by the Spanish Navy: Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (after flying 1,300 km), Praia (Cape Verde, after a flight of 1,745 km; Lieutenant Juan Manuel Durán disembarked there, due to the need to lighten the weight of the plane), the islands of Fernando de Noronha (Brazil, after a journey of 2,305 km, a a very long distance for an aircraft of that time), Pernambuco (Brazil, after 540 km), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil, after a flight of 2,100 km) and Montevideo (Uruguay, after flying 2,060 km). Finally, on February 10, 1926, the “Plus Ultra” arrived in Buenos Aires. After the feat was completed, the plane wass gifted to argentina, where it still stays.
Back to the present, 2026 is the year of the centenary of the flight. Thats why the spanish airforce has decided to do a tour following the path that the Plus Ultra did. A-400M and the Patrulla Aspa helicopter acrobatic team participated in this aniversary. And this decal was installes on the firsts.
The decal’s writing means “centnary of the great flights of the spanish aviation (1926-1935/2026-2035)” and has below the registration number of the original Plus Ultra plane (M-MWAL).
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