Alfredo Salazar Southwell

 

Alfredo Salazar Southwell

 

Alfredo Salazar Southwell was a FAP instructor and aviation hero. On September 14, 1937, during its test flight in a rehearsal prior to a parade for Peruvian Aviation Day, the Potez 39 A.2 airplane caught fire due to mechanical failures. He orders his co-pilot, sub-officer Carlos Fajardo, to evacuate and directs the ship towards the then vacant lands of the cliff in the Miraflores district (where the San Martín barracks and the Place of Memory are now located). With this he manages to avoid a major tragedy in the urban part of Lima. His remains lie in a mausoleum in the Presbítero Maestro cemetery. In 1953, Salazar Park was inaugurated in his honor, currently integrated into the CC. Larcomar.

(Images from Blirmedios and Juan Luis Orrego's blog)

 

ALFREDO SALAZAR SOUTHWELL. Peruvian aviator born in Lima in 1913. He studied at the Anglo-Peruvian School, entered the School of Engineers, but decided to join the Peruvian Air Force.

On September 14, 1937, Ensign Alfredo Salazar participated in the rehearsal for the air exhibition that would be held the next day at the inauguration of the Jorge Chávez monument in the Campo de Marte.

Unfortunately, the plane he was piloting suffered a breakdown and lost altitude. He asked his co-pilot to save his life by parachuting. However, Salazar did not jump, he decided to pilot the plane to an unpopulated area to avoid a greater tragedy. That's how the aviator hit his ship in an area near the cliffs of Miraflores. He was 24 years old.

In 1953, a monument was placed in his honor, the work of the Hungarian sculptor Lajos D'Ebneth. It represents a condor head.

A park was also built that was named after him, Salazar Southwell Park, later called Salazar Park. It was remodeled at the end of the nineties and converted into the "Larcomar" shopping center. Photo: Juan José Pacheco Ibarra

With affection,

Ruben