alejandro magno

El Departamento de Aeronáutica es responsable de la representación de la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba como miembro asociado. El Prof. Ing. Jose A. Sirena es el representante de la Universidad ante el ICAS.
Con motivo de la conmemoración del centenario del primer vuelo de los hermanos Wright (Año 2003), se elaboró una corta historia del desarrollo de la aviación en la Rep. Argentina, la cualfue enviada al ICAS para su divulgación, sigue:
ARGENTINE AERONAUTICAL HISTORY
The Argentine Republic placed at the southern tip of the American continent, was far away from the technological development centers where the aeronautical science was born. Nevertheless, the country was the land of numerous people who, since the beginning of the XX century, became deeply involved with the newscience of flight. Many of them gave their lives to encourage the development of the aeronautical activities foreseeing its long-term prospects.
First manned balloons ascents are already reported in the second half of the XIX century, with aerostats mainly brought from France. However, it was not until the first years of the XX century that flights in balloons became more frequent. On December 25th.,1907, Aaron de Anchorena and Jorge Newbery flew across the Río de la Plata from Buenos Aires (Argentina) to Conchillas (Uruguay) in 2hs. 5min, in the balloon "Pampero" of 1200 cubic meters.
J. Newbery, on December 28th., 1909, was the protagonist of an splendid achievement flying in a balloon from Buenos Aires to the city of Bagé in the brazilian state of Río Grande. He covered 541 km in 13 hs.On June 24th., 1916, E. Bradley and Cap. A.M. Zuloaga flew over de Andes in a flight that started in Santiago (Chile) and finished in Uspallata valley (Argentina). The flying time was a little more than 3 hs. and reached a maximum altitude of 8100 m. It was the first flight over the Andes range.
During the year of the centennial commemoration of the May Revolution of 1810, several planes andpilots from France and Italy arrived to Argentine. The first flight officially recorded of a vehicle heavier than air, was made by the French pilot E. Brégi on February 6th., 1910. He flew a biplane Voisin with a 60 CV engine, reaching an altitude of 60 m. and an speed of 53 Km/hr. As part of the celebrations of the National Holiday (May 25th., 1910), several flight contests were organized. Winnerswere Dolphyn who in a Voisin flew at an altitude of 230 m and Valleton who, with a Farman airplane travelled a distance of 86 Km at a velocity of 63 Km/hr.
On December 1st., 1912, Teodore Fels with a Blériot, accomplished the first crossing of the Rio de la Plata, joining Buenos Aires with Montevideo (Uruguay). On this opportunity he flew a distance longer than that flown by L. Blériot when hecrossed the Channel. Fels flew back to Buenos Aires the following day. On January 6th., 1913, the German pilot Lübbe in a Rumpler Taube with a 110 CV Argus engine obtained the world record flight with passenger over the water. Conspicuously, the passenger was J. Newbery and the flight was again Buenos Aires-Montevideo.
Flying across de Andes range was an obssesion for the Argentine aeronauticalpioneer J. Newbery, and prompted him to improve the altitude world record. On February 10th., 1914, with a Morane Saulnier aircraft powered by a 80 CV supercharged engine reached an altitude of 6225 m, exceeding in 75 m the world record. Unfortunately, Newbery crashed and died without accomplishing his aim.
The first flight over the Andes was done by 1st.Lt. L. Candelaria on May 13th, 1918, on aMorane Saulnier (Parasol) with a Le Rhone rotative engine of 80 CV. However, this flight was made by way of the Argentina south where the mountains are lower. The crossing over the highest peaks of the mountainous range was performed on december 12th, 1918, by the Chilean pilot D. Godoy flying a Bristol airplane equipped with a 110 CV engine. Two years later, the argentine V. Almandos Almonacid...