Joaquin Cayon Street

Joaquín Cayón was born in Torrelavega, in the old Quebrantada neibourhood,on 12th March 1891. His family was modest. His passion since he was young was aviation. He found a job in the military service in the Aerostation School of Guadalajara. Soon after he went to the Aeronautic Experimetation Warehouses. Later, he was a plane tester in Barcelone, where he became the aviation school headteacher.

From the time he obtained his Civil Aviation title, he participated in a lot of sport events getting different awards among them the gold medal in the ability contest for pilotes, sent there by the Cataluña Royal Steel in 1919.

It was great the admiration towards his figure in his hometown, shown by the local newspaper: “El Impulsor”, which narrated several of his adventures and acrobacies. On 8th January 1921, the Torrelavega Town Hall, whose mayor was Don Hermilio Alcalde del Rio at the time, names a street after his name. That summer he flew over Tanos and Torrelavega doing a lot of acrobacies, curls and so on. He was cheered by the crowds and they even dedicated him some songs.

In 1922 he became a pilot in C.E.T.A. flying in the line Sevilla-Larache and Sevilla-Madrid.

He married the singer Mary Terán who was a local celebrity in Torrelavega.

On 14th July 1932 he passed away piloting a test plane whose engines exploded when he was flying 50 metres above the ground. His death was a painful loss for Spain, especially to his home land.

Bibliography: “Torrelavega en su historia” de Pablo del Río Gatoó. “Torre La Vega (Siglo XX • 1900-1925)” de José Ramón Saiz.

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