At 4:50, El Universal’s Manuel Cadenas reported, a speck appeared against the black clouds and slowly materialized into a monoplane. Turbulent winds had forced Fierro off his course into the Valley of Mexico. The escort took off again to perform aerobatics, saluting their victorious colleague. Then, to an exuberant ovation, the elegant silver monoplane made a low-level pass over the full length of the field, turned smoothly and, gradually losing altitude, lined up for a landing. Fierro touched down at 4:55 p.m., for an official flying time of 14 hours 50 minutes. Western Flying magazine considered his average speed of 108.72 mph ‘a record for a Wright Whirlwind-powered plane of that type, made possible [by] the narrow fuselage and general pursuit type of construction.’

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As BC-2 taxied to a stop, the band of the capital’s Mounted Gendarmerie gave forth on their trumpets, and crowds surged forward yelling ‘Viva Fierro!‘ ‘Viva México!‘ and ‘Viva la aviación nacional!‘ Spectators were heard to proclaim, ‘Now we have real fliers’ and ‘Now we have an aviation industry!’ The flight was indeed a double triumph for Mexico: Fierro had just flown 1,612 miles nonstop–in a plane built in Mexico, by Mexican labor and capital.

Roberto Fierro and Emilio Carranza were following the example of Charles Lindbergh, whose landmark New York-Paris flight the year before had sparked a worldwide record-flight frenzy. After meeting Lindbergh as one of his five Mexican army aides-de-camp during his December visit, Fierro wrote, ‘Lindbergh’s arrival gave us the confidence to pursue our dreams of conquering spaces, at home and abroad.’

More than confidence would be needed–namely aircraft like Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis. The relatively heavy biplanes–all wood construction with water-cooled engines–then being built in Mexico’s Talleres Nacionales de Construcciones Aeronáuticas (National Aircraft Factory) had payloads that were too small for long-distance fuel needs. Some American manufacturers, however, were using chromium-molybdenum-steel frame tubing. The alloy’s strength permitted lightweight, thin-drawn tube walls and drag-reducing streamlined designs. And radial engines made air-cooling more efficient. The metal-framed, radial engine Wright-Bellanca monoplane had reportedly impressed Lindbergh because it could cruise at least 15 mph faster, burn only half the amount of gasoline and carry double the payload of the old de Havilland D.H.4 in which he had flown the mail.

The planes Carranza and Fierro flew to Mexico City in May 1928 utilized these modern technologies. The Ryan Brougham, a commercial version of Spirit of St. Louis, could lift 2,000 pounds more than the Talleres-built Quetzalcoatl that Carranza had flown to Ciudad Juárez. And BC-2’s 2,068-pound payload was 50 percent greater than that of Talleres-built two-place fighter-bombers. But while Carranza’s México-Excelsior was built in the United States, Fierro’s BC-2 had been made at Tijuana, Mexico.

Fierro received orders to report to General Rodríguez in Mexicali, Baja California, in February 1928, while commanding a ground-attack squadron in the Cristero Rebellion. He had fought in the 1910-1920 Revolution, both for and against Pancho Villa, with some time out for movie work in Hollywood. When his Chihuahua auxiliary cavalry regiment was demobilized after Villa’s ‘retirement’ in 1920, Fierro, then a 23-year-old captain, requested admission to Mexico’s military aviation school. Rodríguez’s first task for him was to collect Baja California-1 (BC-1) from the Tijuana Airplane Factory and test it at Mexicali with Captain Luis Farrell, the chief test pilot. On March 8, after several days of racing it against a Liberty engine Douglas O-2K biplane, Farrell took off to deliver it to the Army Air Service in Mexico City, with refueling stops in Hermosillo, Navojoa, Mazatlán and Guadalajara. Between Hermosillo and Navojoa the temporarily fitted BMW engine failed and Farrell crash-landed in the mountains. Fortunately, he was not injured, but the badly damaged BC-1 eventually arrived in Mexico City by rail.

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