Alejandro Bello

Alejandro Bello Silva

2nd Lt. Alejandro Bello Silva
Born 1887
Died c. 1914 (disappeared)
Allegiance  Chile
Service/branch Chilean Army
Years of service 1909 - 1914
Rank First Lieutenant

First Lieutenant Alejandro Bello Silva (1887 – c. 1914) was a Chilean aviator who disappeared during his qualifying flight for certification as a military pilot.

Biography

The third of four sons of José Maria Bello (the son of Andrés Bello) and Ana Rosa Silva, Bello lived in Ancud, Chile as a child, due to his father's banishment after the 1891 Chilean Civil War.[1]

Disappearance

In the pre-dawn hours of 9 March 1914, Lieutenant Bello was in the Lo Espejo aerodrome, where he was to take an examination to earn the designation Military Pilot. Bello and two companions had to complete the circuit from Lo Espejo to Culitrín, to Cartagena, and back to Lo Espejo, in the central region of Chile, in order to pass the exam.[1] The total distance of the flight was 111 miles, and should have taken two hours to complete.[1]

Bello in his aircraft

On the first attempt, the aviators had to return to base due to near-zero visibility caused by heavy fog.[1] Bello damaged his aircraft during the landing, and switched to an 80 horsepower (60 kW) Sánchez-Besa biplane (tail number 13, nicknamed "Manuel Rodríguez") for the second attempt.[1] He took off together with one companion and the instructor, who had to make an emergency landing for refueling. Nevertheless, Bello continued his route and was lost among the clouds.[1]

Search efforts were initiated the very day Bello disappeared. Several people claimed to have seen the aircraft land or crash, but these sightings were unsubstantiated. Various theories proposed at the time suggested that Bello had crashed into the sea or that the wrecked craft would be found in a mountain pass. Several expeditions were launched to locate a crash site, including one as recently as 1988, but no traces were found either of Lieutenant Bello or of the plane he was piloting.[1]

On 28 November 2007 an expedition set out for the commune of San Antonio, Chile.[2][3] Two metal fragments belonging to an aircraft were found in the Cuncumén hills.

Jaime González Colville, of the Chilean Academy of History, considered it very unlikely that the remains of Lieutenant Bello should be found near Cuncumén.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Van Hare, Thomas. "More Lost Than Lieutenant Bello". www.historicwings.com. Retrieved 8 May 2013.
  2. ↑ Alejandra Cristi (6 December 2007). "Restos podrían ser del avión del 'teniente Bello'" [Debris may be from Lieutenant Bello's aircraft]. Publimetro (in Spanish). p. 16.
  3. ↑ "Expedicionarios buscan restos del teniente Bello" [Expedition members search for the remains of Lieutenant Bello]. Terra (in Spanish). Archived from the original on January 10, 2008. Retrieved 2009-09-07.
  4. ↑ Jaime González Colville, "Teniente Bello", El Mercurio, 6 December 2007, Maps section, page A-2. Online version at "Archived copy" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on December 10, 2007. Retrieved September 7, 2009.
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