Logbook · 3 places

The flight of Diego Marín Aguilera

Coruña del Conde, Ribera del Duero, Burgos

1 Villages · 1 Monuments · 1 Historical milestones

Spain › Castile and León › Burgos › Ribera del Duero › Coruña del Conde › The flight of Diego Marín Aguilera

The flight of Diego Marín Aguilera

Historical milestone · Coruña del Conde, Ribera del Duero, Burgos

On the night of 15 May 1793, the shepherd and inventor Diego Marín Aguilera launched himself from the highest crag of the castle of Coruña del Conde with a machine of feathers and iron rods that had taken him six years to build, after studying the flight of eagles above the battlemented tower. He reached a height of five to six varas and covered about 360 metres towards Burgo de Osma before landing on the other side of the river, when one of the bolts on the wings broke. The next morning his neighbours, believing him mad, burned the contraption. Marín, born and died in Coruña del Conde (1757-1800), had earlier devised other inventions, such as one for the mill on the Arandilla. In 1993, on the bicentenary, the Ejército del Aire (Spanish Air Force) donated a plane to the municipality in his memory.

1793

Photo: Rodelar (CC BY-SA 3.0)

What to see and do in Coruña del Conde