The strange flight of the Santa Maria

Visitors to the Albuquerque will find this:




It's the propeller of the Italian flying boat Santa Maria, which flew near here in its world tour in the early 1930s.

Mussolini was keen to showcase the rise of a technocratic fascist state, and heavily subsidized aviation and showy projects. The Santa Maria flew from Sardinia to Brazil (being only the seventh plane to cross the Atlantic), and then on to Havana, New Orleans, Galveston, and ultimately Albuquerque.

Refueling on a lake in Arizona, the tanks were mistakenly topped off and gasoline spilled into the water. A careless match tossed by a spectator ignited the slick and burned the plane to the water line. About all that survived was this prop.

The whole escapade caused an international incident, with Mussolini accusing the United States of sabotage. The chief of he Italian Air Force (who was also the pilot, and who witnessed the event) calmed things down by vouching for the accidental nature of the conflagration.

We're surrounded by history, if we bother to look.

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