''Plus Ultra'' is a Dornier Do J flying boat which completed the first transatlantic flight between Spain and South America in January 1926 with a crew of Spanish

aviator An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators because they a ...

s, that included: the major Ramón Franco, the captain Julio Ruiz de Alda Miqueleiz, the sub-lieutenant Juan Manuel Durán, and the mechanic Pablo Rada.

The flight

The ''Plus Ultra'' departed from

Palos de la Frontera Palos de la Frontera () is a town and Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the southwestern Spain, Spanish province of Huelva (province), Huelva, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is situated some from the provincial capi ...

, in Huelva, Spain on January 22 and arrived in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

on January 26. It stopped over at

Gran Canaria Gran Canaria (, ; ), also Grand Canary Island, is the third-largest and second-most-populous island of the Canary Islands, a Spain, Spanish archipelago off the Atlantic coast of Northwest Africa. the island had a population of that constitut ...

Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

, Fernando de Noronha,

Pernambuco Pernambuco ( , , ) is a States of Brazil, state of Brazil located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.5 million people as of 2024, it is the List of Brazilian states by population, ...

(

Recife Recife ( , ) is the Federative units of Brazil, state capital of Pernambuco, Brazil, on the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of South America. It is the largest urban area within both the North Region, Brazil, North and the Northeast R ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

and

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

. The journey was completed in 59 hours and 39 minutes. The flight of the ''Plus Ultra'' followed approximately the route taken, in 1922, by the Portuguese aviators Sacadura Cabral and Gago Coutinho, in the first Trans-Atlantic flight over the South Atlantic (from

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, Portugal to

, Brazil). Cabral and Coutinho used three different Fairey III

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

Later use and preservation

The plane was subsequently donated to the Argentine Navy and was used to deliver airmail. In 1985, ''Plus Ultra'' was shipped back to Spain with the goal of restoring it to flying conditions in order to recreate the original 1926 flight. However it was soon realized this would require much more work than anticipated, and the project fell through.VV. AA.
El 'timo' del ''Plus Ultra''
�, diario ''ABC'', 8 de agosto de 1988. The plane was instead restored as a static exhibit, then shipped back to Argentina in 1988, where it is now on display in the city of Luján,

Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires, officially the Buenos Aires Province, is the largest and most populous Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of the province an ...

. A replica built in 1992 also exists on display at the Museo del Aire in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Gallery

File:HIDROAVION PLUS ULTRA PARTIENDO DE MONTEVIDEO.JPG, Departing from Montevideo

References

External links

{{commons category, Plus_Ultra_(aircraft), Plus Ultra
The Flight of the ''Plus Ultra''
Individual aircraft Argentine Naval Aviation Transatlantic flight History of the Spanish Air Force

The flight

Later use and preservation

Gallery

See also

References

External links