Looking at this picture many of you who are living in Lima probably have passed by it many times. It is Parque Salazar ("Salazar Park") in Miraflores next to the Commercial Centre Larcomar.
The history of this park begins with Alfredo Salazar Southwell (1913 – 14 September 1937) a Peruvian aviator, Salazar was very studious gaining high marks in his school. He joined the Peruvian Air Force in 1932 and In 1935 he finished his military studies gaining the rank of Sub-Ensign and became a flight instructor for other cadets. By 1936 he was promoted again to the rank of Flight Officer.
On the 14 of September 1937 while celebrating the inauguration of a monument to Jorge Chávez, the airplane he was piloting started emitting smoke while doing a rehearsal. He ordered his copilot, a mechanical technician Carlos Fajardo to abandon the aircraft using the parachute, initially he refused but then later accepted. In order to minimize damage and civilian deaths Salazar veered the aircraft out of the populated areas and crashed into a field that is now Parque Salazar, he was killed instantly.
Salazar's quick thinking and sacrifice is remembered and he is considered a hero for this.
The monument of the condor that stands there now was inaugurated in 1953 and is the work of a Hungarian sculptor Lajos D’Ebnet and is made of rocks found in the Highlands of Peru so the monument is not easily affected by the heat nor by the humidity.
By GringoPeru
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