Some days ago, I got an old book, edited in 1983, about the world wide aviation history...or some like this, the book is in Spanish.

Obviously all the mexican aviation pioneers are in the pages, but in few lines, it´s talk about Martín Mendía, and pioneer that got 2 Deperdusin and came to Mexico, and flew one of them, the another was sold to another pioneer, the strange history is about his depart to France to fight in WWI!

The book says, after the flights he brought in Mexico, he noticed in news papers about the conflict in Europe, so he decided to be a volunter aviator, and went to France, and some reports talked about his courage.

I searched in the web and ONLY one mexican page talks about him, only one line and no more.

Definteley, I think it will be a hard work to find more about him, not only in Mexico, but about his misions in France in WWI.

Cheers.

Alfredo Rubio

Hi Alfredo.

Sorry to muscle in on your thread, hope you find what it is you are looking for, but I have a question for you regarding another Mexican pilot in WWI.

I would be very interested to know if the following pilot is mentioned in your book. I have been trying to trace the history of this chap but have hit a brick wall, this is all I know;

Corporal Ignacio Juan de la Torre (Mexican pilot)

Born in Mexico on the 30/07/1896

Joined the French army ( 1st Foreign Regiment) on the 20/11/1916

He received his pilots brevet on the 27/03/1917

He was promoted to Corporal on the 11/09/1917

He served with GDE before being sent to the Escadrille N77 on the 07 - 08/06/1917

The SPA77 insignia was the Cross of Jerusalem

He was shot down on the 03/07/1917? while flying a Nieuport 24 and became a POW. (it may have been a Nieuport 17)

As you can see, this pilot has the same surname as myself, so any information about him would be much appreciated.

Des.

http://www.ww1aircraftmodels.com

Des... now I have a head pain Thanks for the complete information that you share, I never knew before about De la Torre, I going to investigate more about, I tell you if find some information.

About Martin, 2 writers talk about him, one is Manuel Ruiz, an Mexican aviation historier, and the other is Liborio Pérez Elorriaga, in the bok that I said before.

Bot I asked to some friends from Mexico city, and one of then told me Martin fought 6 times, and he sent a leter to Mexico (The reports that Liborio put in his book) and after that, no more information about him.

In the Mexican Aviation Tohtli from 1917, talks about Mendia, but no more than we now know. I do not know this magazine, the infor came from Oscar Ramirez, an P.A. and frined.

I have some cuestions, what GDE means?
The SPA77 is the escuadrille 77? or do you mean SPAD7?

I noticed your second name since I know the forum, but never ask, yes, De la Torre is from Spain and in Mexico, menas From The Tower, and some says this second name as many others is Sefardi, from Spain Jewish... Rubio, my second name is one of them.

Cheers.

Al

I know now wath SPA77 means, I saw some information in the web about the escuadrille 77.

I sent all the information to a friend that is aviation investigator, in Mexico City, Thanks to all the information that you share, even the born date, he can to get the certificate of born, and with the special name, usually is Juan Ignacio, in spanish sounds nice, and is common, but Ignacio Juan is very strange.

Cheers.

Al

Thanks very much Al for looking in to this for me. I know that Spa77 is a unit in the Escadrille but I don't know what the GDE is.
His promotion date to Corporal is a little strange, this is after he was shot down and made POW.
I would love to know which aircraft he flew and maybe the markings so I can make a model of it.
I have done a comprehensive family history and know that the de la Torre name originated in Chile, Jose was the first de la Torre to come to Australia, he was my Great Grandfather.

Hope you have some luck with the search.

Des.

http://www.ww1aircraftmodels.com

Thanks for the wishes I knew an retired pilot of the Mexican Air Force, the Capt. Arturo de la Torre, from Mexico City, but sadly pased away in 1994, and all his family is in that City, far away from mine.

Nice to hear about your latin rooths, from Chile to Austrailia is a lot of water

The web page that you write is your business?

Cheers.

Al

Thanks for sharing this info guy's . This is all new to me , didn't know that there were Mexican pilots in WWI .

Terri, this is new for me too, Mexican pilots fought in WWII, not only the Sqd 201, but few days ago I thought about the probability of existence of Mexican pilots in WW1, and was not an crazy idea, first apears the book about Mendia, and is amazing the information that De la Torre share to us, because this is not a theme that Mexican aviation history talks.

Some history, Mexico have an great celebration in 2010, we have 200 years of Independence, 100 years of Revolution fight, and 100 years of flight, and the last 2 cecelebrations are together.

In those years, the President Gral. Porfirio Diaz had an special feel about France, and we got many of this influence in art, music, arquitecture and builds. The families with resourses went to France, to study, live and vacations, this is the case of Alberto Braniff, the Mexican Aviation pioneer, the first plane that flew in my country and in Latin America, was his Voisin Model 13.

But not only he, many Mexican pioners that flollow him, came back from France, only one went to Germany and France. So the second and prolific plane was the Bleriot Xl.

When the conflict started in Europe, some Mexicans (I am sure not only the 2 men that we talked before) feels the moral obligation, or the adventure desire to help and fight arm to arm with France.

I hope more histories may will see the light.

And we still celebrating our 100 years ouf flight in Mexico.

Cheers.

Al

Thanks Al for all the information you have given so far, like Terri, I never knew there were Mexican pilots in WW1, but like you said, there were probably more than just the two.
My web site is not my business, I started the site just to share with other WW1 aircraft modellers. I do not charge for advertising, this is a service I offer so modellers can find WW1 related products.

Des.

http://www.ww1aircraftmodels.com

Des, another pilot, but this man was son of an Ireland-North American father and Mexican mother, Ralph O´Neal, he was born in Durango in Dec. 17th, 1896, and he was one of the most important man in the Mexican Air Force since tha days after the Revolution fight.

Flew in France, his planes where the Nieuport 28C.1 and Spad XIII. From May to November, 1918, and became Lt. in October 1918, with 11 victories, first was in the lines of French Expeditionary Escadrille 147.

Here an page, with the information (In spanish) from the writer and investigator Santiago Flores:

http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/apjinternational/apj-s/2006/1tri06/flores.html#flores

Cheers.

Al

Thanks Al for the latest information. It's very interesting that another Mexican pilot has cropped up, especially one who scored so many victories.

Des.

http://www.ww1aircraftmodels.com

I searched my Genealogy sources for Martín Mendía, and found nothing.

I did find this.
Ignacio De La Torre
Birth abt 1896
in Mexico, Distrito Federal, Mexico
He was the son of Ignacio de la Torre and Carmen Vasquez del Mercado. This might be the guy. I found numerous Juans and Ignacios that came into the US in the 20s and 30s. They all had birth dates between 1895 and 1901. They could also be the one. Sadly, Mexican records are really sparse in genealogy. Sorry I could not be of more assistance.

Thanks Carl for doing a search and providing additional information.
Like you, I have hit a brick wall as far as Mexican records are concerned, the only small piece of info I found was that Ignacio Juan de la Torre rigistered with the World War 1 Draft Registration in San Diego, California, what happened to him after that is a mystery.

Des.

http://www.ww1aircraftmodels.com

Thank Carl and Des, in fact, in Mexico is more easy now to investigate with the parents names, The next week I start in my city the investigation, now with one database nation wide is more easy and I do not need to go to Mexico City to do it.

Cheers.

Al

Thanks Al.
I'm looking forward to seeing any information you can come up with, I wish you luck in your search.

Des.

http://www.ww1aircraftmodels.com

More possible matches.

Name: Juan De La Torre
Gender: Male
Baptism/Christening Date: 04 Jul 1896
Baptism/Christening Place: Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico
Birth Date:
Birthplace:
Death Date:
Name Note:
Race:
Father's Name: Romualdo De La Torre
Father's Birthplace:
Father's Age:
Mother's Name: Jacinta Carranza
Mother's Birthplace:
Mother's Age:
Paternal Grandfather's Name:
Paternal Grandmother's Name:
Maternal Grandfather's Name:
Maternal Grandmother's name:
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: I04367-4
System Origin: Mexico-EASy
Source Film Number: 277445
Reference Number: p 28
Collection: Mexico Baptisms, 1560-1950


Name: Ignacio De La Torre
Head of Household:
Age: 34a
Residence: Palo Verde, Zapotlanejo, Jalisco, Mexico
Estimated Birth Year: 1896
Birthplace: Jalisco
Gender: Male
Sexo: Hombre
Civil Status: Married both Civilly and in the Church
Marital Status (Spanish): Casado por lo Civil y la Iglesia
Film Number: 1507581
Digital Folder Number: 4107232
Image Number: 00523
Page Number: 185
Line Number:
Collection: Mexico Census, 1930

Name: Ignacio Lopez De La Torre
Gender: Male
Baptism/Christening Date: 02 Aug 1897
Baptism/Christening Place: Tapalpa, Jalisco, Mexico
Birth Date:
Birthplace:
Death Date:
Name Note:
Race:
Father's Name: Leocadio Lopez
Father's Birthplace:
Father's Age:
Mother's Name: Ramona De La Torre
Mother's Birthplace:
Mother's Age:
Paternal Grandfather's Name:
Paternal Grandmother's Name:
Maternal Grandfather's Name:
Maternal Grandmother's name:
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: I04365-9
System Origin: Mexico-EASy
Source Film Number: 270186
Reference Number: p 50
Collection: Mexico Baptisms, 1560-1950

Any of these could be the match. They might all be wrong. I am going to check a few more sources.

This is all fantastic info ! Thanks guy's for taking the time and sharing that info with us .

Hey Carl!!!!!! how you did it????? thats great, some observation, those names came from people that lived in my State, Jalisco. I hope to get any success about De la Torre, but the history said all the men that went to France, was born in Mexico City, in our capital state, but I going to use this information, maybe an Jaliscience (People from Jalisco) fought in WWI, for me this is more significative

Cheers.

Al

I research the name. I have no control over what comes up. Genealogy is not an exact science. Sometimes bits and pieces add up and you find the person you were looking for. Sometimes you find cousins. And often you find you have been wasting time looking for the wrong person. I do not know if any of these records are correct for the person we are looking for. But there is a possibility, that this is a family name, shared by cousins. Maybe the reports he was from Mexico City are incorrect. That is where a trip to the records office comes in handy.

Thanks very much Carl for all the extra information, it certainly makes it confusing when so many names come up all with the same family name.
The origins of my name are in Chile with my name being written as such -
de la Torre - which means - of the tower - My family crest is a tower with a lion either side.
The name has, over time, been written as delatorre, Delatorre, De La Torre, so I suppose that would throw even more confusion into the search.
I appreciate all the effort you have put into it Carl.

Des.

http://www.ww1aircraftmodels.com

OK Carl, thanks for the extra information, I tell you if find some info.

Cheers.

Al

Des: Another coincidence! My Grandmother came from Valparaiso, Chile.

Clarence De Barrows

While the investigation going on, I share some pics from the museum in my city, and ad hoc with the age we talk, the images are twin Lewis machine guns, some pics of early Mexican Air Force and the Stearman, the classic trainer.

Cheers.

Al

Dehavilland DH 9a




Highly modified Bristol F2b Mk.IV.

Thanks Al for sharing the photos, especially the twin Lewis guns.

Des.

http://www.ww1aircraftmodels.com