Emilio Carranza

Emilio Carranza

Captain Emilio Carranza Rodríguez (1905 – July 13, 1928) was a noted Mexican aviator and national hero, nicknamed the "Lindbergh of Mexico". He was killed while returning from a historic goodwill flight from Mexico City to the United States.

He was the great-nephew of President Venustiano Carranza of Mexico and the nephew of famed Mexican aviator Alberto Salinas Carranza. At age 18, he took part against the Yaqui Indians's rebellion in Sonora and helped to put down the de la Huerta rebellion. While in Sonora, he crashed and his face had to be reassembled with platinum screws. At age 22, on May 24–25, 1928, he set the record for the third longest non-stop solo flight by flying 1,875 miles (3000 km) from San Diego, California to Mexico City in 18.5 h.

In the summer of 1928, he became a national hero when he was selected to undertake a goodwill flight from Mexico City to New York City in response to the previous year's flight from New York City to Mexico City undertaken by Charles Lindbergh. Flying his plane The Excelsior, he landed in Washington, D.C on June 12, 1928, where he was congratulated by U.S. President Calvin Coolidge. Flying on to New York, Carranza landed at Roosevelt Field on Long Island and was honored in New York City by Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover and New York City mayor Jimmy Walker. Owing to violent weather, he was urged to remain in New York by Charles Lindbergh and others.

On July 12, Carranza received a telegram from Mexican General Joaquín Amaro ordering his immediate return to Mexico City "or the quality of your manhood will be in doubt." Carranza took off the same day into the teeth of a violent electrical storm. While flying over the Pinelands of southern New Jersey, his plane came apart, and he crashed into the woods. His body was recovered the following day and held in a garage behind Willis Jefferson Buzby's General Store in Chatsworth.

In 2007, documentary filmmaker Robert A. Emmons Jr. completed and premiered a feature length documentary detailing the life of Emilio Carranza and the role of the American Legion Post 11 and the town of Chatsworth, NJ's involvement in his recovery and memorial.

In April 2009, J&J Video Producers of Chicago premiered their documentary film titled "FLYING WITH EMILIO". The documentary details the life of Emilio Carranza and the continued role of the American Legion Post 11 of Mount Holly, NJ's involvement in his recovery and their annual Memorial Service.