Jorge Chávez

Jorge Chávez ( in Switzerland also known as Geo Chavez) ( born June 13, 1887 in Paris, † September 27, 1910 in Domodossola ) was a Peruvian- French aviation pioneer who crossed the first man to the main Alpine ridge on the plane.

The son of an immigrant to France Peruvian millionaire graduated from flight school in 1910 the Henri Farmans and received the French pilot's license No. 32 Then he won numerous awards for aeronautical services and conducted a series of record flights. So he reached in September 1910 amounting to almost 2,500 m, while Farman previously scored only 155 m one year. After intense preparation and terrain exploration, while the already undertook its competitors Charles Weymann and Pierre Emile Taddéoli unsuccessful attempts, he started on September 23, 1910 in Ried- Brig to ( driven by a 50 hp Gnôme rotary engine ) with his Blériot XI monoplane the to fly over the Simplon to Domodossola and to master the first flight over the Alps. On September 19, he had already aborted an attempt unsuccessful. The observed by many onlookers flight succeeded at first, but when landing after 42 minutes of flight time, the plane broke while trying to catch it after a dive, apart. Chavez was seriously injured in the crash at low altitude, and died on September 27.

In memory of the aviation pioneer the international airport in the Peruvian capital Lima was named Aeropuerto Internacional Jorge Chávez.

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