During the 15th and 16th centuries, Christopher Columbus made five trips to America. Four hundred years later, the Italian mariner's voyages were replicated by air. In 1933, Captain Mariano Barberán and Lieutenant Joaquín Collar managed to do it onboard a plane, without stops, a milestone in world aviation history.

The idea to replicate the historic feat accomplished by Colombus was cooked up in 1926 when the Spanish seaplane Plus Ultra managed for the first time to unite the old and the new continent by air. The aircraft took off from Palos de la Frontera on January 22, 1926, and arrived in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on February 10, 1926. The Plus Ultra became a symbol of aviation, and King Alfonso XIII donated it to the Argentinian Navy, serving as a mail plane until it was withdrawn from service.

The Spirit of St. Louis overshadowed the Spanish achievement

While a fantastic feat of aviation, its notoriety was short-lived when the following year, American aviator Charles Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic from New York to Paris in just 33 hours. The flight of the Spirit of St. Louis overshadowed what had been achieved by the Spanish Navy and had them desperate to set a new record.

Charles Lindbergh Getty
Photo: Getty Images
Charles Lindbergh and his Ryan monoplane, the Spirit of St Louis. Photo: Getty Images

The plan was to unite the Andalucian city of Seville with Cuba by flying nonstop without refueling. It would be the longest ever flight made without refueling eclipsing Lindbergh's flight by 1,243 miles.

The aircraft chosen to perform the epic feat was called "Cuatro Vientos" (four winds), a Breguet XIX fitted with a 12 cylinder 650 horsepower Hispano Suiza engine. When the modifications were complete, the aircraft weighed 13,933lbs and could fly at a speed of 136mph. The plane needed plenty of fuel, so engineers modified the plane with a 1,400-gallon fuel tank.

Engineers developed a closed  cockpit

Also supplementary to the main fuel tank, engineers placed additional tanks between the fuselage stringers behind the engine. The fuel was housed in eight tanks with quick-drain valves so that, in the event of an accident, they would serve as floats for 24 hours.

Another innovation engineer came up with was to develop a closed cabin to protect the pilots from lousy weather and cold temperatures. The rear cockpit was also fitted with duplicate flight controls, so should they be needed, the plane could be flown from the back seat.

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Extra fuel tanks were added for the Atlantic crossing. Photo: Museo de Aeronáutica y Astronáutica via Wikimedia

Despite the plan for it to be a nonstop flight, preparations were made for the aircraft to land in Madeira, Puerto Rico, or Santo Domingo if needed. For the aircraft to take off carrying such a heavy load of fuel, the runway at Sevilles' Tablada Air Base needed to be lengthened. With favorable weather conditions on June 9, 1933, preparations were made for the plane to take off at dawn the following day.

The flight lasted 40 hours

The Cuatro Vientos took off from Tablada (Seville) at 04:35 in the morning on June 10, 1933, and four hours later was spotted flying over the Portuguese island of Madeira. Calculating their flight using the pole star, they spotted Cuba after having been airborne for 30 hours. A change in the weather made them deviate off course before successfully landing in Camagüey, Cuba, at 15:39.

In total, the Cuatro Vientos flew 4,970 miles and was in the air for 40 hours, an aviation feat never seen before.

The Cuatro Vientos flew 4,970 miles from Spain to Cuba. Image. GC maps

The reception of the pilots in Cuba was tremendous. The flight of the Cuatro Vientos constituted a social event of the first magnitude, with the aviators entertained in Cuba's elite political and social circles. After the trip to Cuba, the Cuatro Vientos had planned to travel 1,193 miles to Mexico, a flight of 12 hours.

Again planning for all possibilities, four airfields were designated as possible landing areas should the plane get in trouble. Loaded with 528 gallons of fuel and enough provisions to last eight days, Barberán and Collar took off from Cuba on June 20 at 08:45. While en route to Mexico City, the Cuatro Vientos was spotted flying over the coastal state of Tabasco before completely vanishing. With the arrival of night and nervousness among the 60,000 people waiting for the plane's arrival, search parties were dispatched.

The Cuatro Vientos never arrived in Mexico City

Following the Cuatro Vientos disappearance, rumors and legends spread like wildfire, but none could be proven until 1995. The most widespread was that the Spanish airmen tried to avoid a storm and ended up ditching into the Gulf of Mexico. Historians, however, are convinced that a storm forced the aviators to land in the Sierra Mazteca mountains in the Mexican state of Oaxaca.

There they believe the pilots either died in the landing or shortly thereafter. The Mexican army was sent in to scour the area but found no signs of wreckage or the airmen.

The Cuatro Vientos disappeared while flying from Cuba to Mexico. Image: GC maps

Other theories began to be spread about how they were rescued and secretly transferred back to Spain, while others speak of a crack in the fuel tank and sabotage. A month after the plane's disappearance, a farmworker found an innertube on Chiltepec Beach in Tabasco.

The innertube was sent to the Spanish Embassy in Mexico City, who confirmed it belonged to the Cuatro Vientos and served as a lifesaver should the plane be forced to land at sea. The Mexican press never published this news, preferring instead to speculate about the possible kidnapping and murder of the pilots.

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Spanish research into the disappearance

In December 1933, the pilot of the Plus Ultra Ramon Franco (the brother of Francisco Franco) was appointed Spanish military attaché in Washington and traveled to Mexico City to lead the official investigation into the disappearance of the Cuatro Vientos. His report was later sent to Spain in 1934 but disappeared during the Spanish Civil War.

Years following, the Mexican press believed that the plane had made an emergency landing in Sierra Mazateca and that locals attacked and robbed the pilots. In the 1980s, Mexican Channel 13 journalist Jesús Salcedo began his search for the remains of the Cuatro Vientos.

Reports suggest the plane crashed in the Sierra Mazateca. Photo: Paula Misle via Wikimedia

He traveled to the Sierra Mazateca and interviewed indigenous people, who not only recounted the murder but identified the culprits. A version of events was later endorsed by the municipality of Puebla and by the Secretariat of the National Defense of Mexico.

In 1995 the story gained more force when parts of a plane were found along with two bodies hidden in a cliffside cave. The Mexican government investigated and concluded that the wreckage found was that of the Cuatro Vientos. They also believed that the pilots had been transported to the cave to hide evidence of the crime.

However, the problem is that Spanish aeronautical experts could not confirm that the wreckage was that of the Cuatro Vientos or that the bodies were Barberán and Collar.