Geo Chavez Memorial

On the Italian side of the Alps, Domodossola is a historic town in Piedmont’s Ossola Valley, near the Swiss border. In the early 20th century, it became the setting for a key event in early aviation history. In September 1910, six years after the Wright brothers’ first successful flight, Peruvian-French pilot Jorge “Geo” Chavez embarked on a flight across the Alps.

As part of a challenge launched by the Circuito Aereo Internazionale di Milano, Chavez planned to take off from Brig, Switzerland, cross the Alps over the Simplon Pass, land in Domodossola, and then continue along an easier route over flatter ground towards Milan, where the challenge would conclude. Chavez piloted a modified Blériot XI, a French monoplane similar to the one Louis Blériot had used a year earlier to cross the English Channel.

Chavez's first attempt was on September 19, but the presence of strong winds and storm clouds forced him to land after a few minutes of flight. On September 23, with somewhat improved climate conditions, he made a second attempt. Just before landing in Domodossola—about twenty meters above the ground—the wings of the aircraft broke, likely due to the strain of battling the strong Alpine winds. The plane crashed, and Chavez was taken to a local hospital with broken legs and severe blood loss.

Heavily injured, Chavez died four days later at 23 years old, as around a hundred people gathered at the hospital doors. To this day, monuments dedicated to Chavez stand in Switzerland and France. In Peru, Lima’s international airport was named after him.

In Domodossola, a monument of a woman looking up towards the sky was built sometime between 1910 and 1935. Dedicated to Chavez’s memory, it bears an inscription that translates to: “To Geo Chavez, Peruvian citizen. To the conquest of the ways of the sky. First to fly across the Alps. Sacrificed his ardent youth.” The monument stands in a small, quiet square near the town center, framed by the Alps—a background that recalls the young pilot’s audacity and the fine line between triumph and tragedy.