Aqui el link para leer la historia en español. Un poco largo pero bien interesante:
https://www.eldia.com.bo/index.php?cat=386&pla=3&id_articulo=97260
Hoy en día este es un lugar popular para relajar. Podrás sentarte, disfrutar un bocadillo y observar a la gente
(hamburguesas vendidas detrás del avión y vendedores ambulantes que venden sándwiches y dulces).
El escondite está situado en el tren de aterrizaje principal a la derecha (encima de la rueda trasera derecha - verás una abertura: mete la cabeza y mira hacia el morro del avión. El cache está en el lado izquierdo unido a una cuerda).
Tengan cuidado, los bolivianos son buenos para mirar sin que se den cuenta. No dejes que nos roben el geocache.
ingles:
July 1961. A mysterious plane circled like a ghost at an altitude of more than 10,000 meters above the capital of Santa Cruz. The aircraft had the mission of making a surreptitious landing at El Trompillo airport in the late hours of the night to unload merchandise, refuel and take off again.
The "pirate plane" was smuggled from Panama to Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay, supposedly under the protection of the Departmental Command of the Revolutionary Nationalism Movement MNR and the head of the armed militias of Santa Cruz.
A forced landing and a tragedy On the night of Saturday, July 29, the enigmatic aircraft landed on the runway at El Trompillo. It was a four-engine Lockheed Constellation type aircraft, manufactured in 1945 and with U.S. registration number N2520B, owned by "Lloyd Airlines" of Miami, which under the custody of armed militiamen unloaded some boxes of merchandise with impunity. The next day, at 6:30 a.m., the four-engine plane was decolonized without presenting a flight plan or cargo manifest, indicating that it would only make a test flight.
Alerted by the control tower, the fighter planes of the Bolivian Air Force faded away in their pursuit, intercepting the smuggler's plane at 120 kilometers from Santa Cruz. The Mustangs, by means of their radios and with maneuvers, indicated to the pilot that he should head towards Cochabamba. In turn, the control tower gave him the same order, both in Spanish and in English.
The crew of the "Avión Pirata", ignoring the order, headed for Argentina, so the fighters made several passes in front of the aircraft firing machine gun blasts into the air. Faced with this strong warning, the four-engine plane gave up its escape, but instead of heading for Cochabamba it returned to the Santa Cruz airport, because it was sure that there it would find the protection of the militia. Already in the vicinity of our city, the Constellation, as a last resort to elude their captors, made an untimely dive without managing to get rid of the fighters. In these critical and confusing circumstances the misfortune occurred, the Mustang F-51D, license plate FAB-260, piloted by Captain Alberto Peredo Cespedes, crashed near the Circunvalación Avenue. The accident caused the instant death of the aviator.
Harassed by the fighter, the four-engine plane landed at El Trompillo, where all its crew members were arrested. To prevent the possible escape of the accomplices, the aircraft's tires were deflated. Likewise, anticipating the takeover of the airport by the armed militias, in an operation that lasted one hour, military personnel were taken to the airport in Military Air Transport aircraft from the Cochabamba Air Detachment No. 1. At first it was said that the Mustang had fallen due to shots fired from the Constellaton, a hypothesis that could never be proven. Later, it became evident that both the pilot and the aircraft were not hit by bullets, for this reason, it is most likely that the fighter fell by "loss of speed" at low altitude, says Ramiro Molina Alanés the author of "The True History of the Pirate Plane". The large amount of merchandise seized, consisting of cigarettes, fabrics, nylon items, televisions and others, was valued at more than a million dollars at the time. The merchandise remained in the custody of the FAB and was later transferred to the Customs warehouses in the city of La Paz.
It was an unprecedented national scandal. The "Constellation case", as it was later known in the courts, caused a tremendous political commotion, since authorities, officials and militiamen of the ruling party were involved, so the President of the Republic himself, Dr. Victor Paz Estenssoro, ordered the military intervention of Santa Cruz, which ended with the bloodless capture of 85 militia men and the disbandment of another 130, who were acting at their own discretion committing abuses and excesses with the civilian population of Santa Cruz. The crew of the "Pirate Plane", Cap. William Roy Robinson (pilot), Salvatore Henrique Romano (co-pilot), William B. Friedman (pilot), Bertrand H. Vinson (flight engineer) and Gene Hawkins (radio operator), all of US nationality, except for the second who was Brazilian, were arrested and sent to the La Paz Panopticon, on charges of murder, piracy, smuggling and violation of international laws and treaties. Months later, three of the accused were granted provisional freedom and two were admitted to the "Americana" clinic under the personal guarantee of the United States Vice-Consul, Mr. Samuel Karp. But in November of the same year it became known that all of them had escaped from the country. Within the judicial process that followed them in absencia, in 1967 the prosecutor asked for 10 years in prison for the accused, but to no avail, as they never returned to Bolivia.
On August 25, 1961, the 4th Judge of Criminal Investigation appointed the commander of the FAB, General Barrientos, as the Judicial Depositary of the aircraft and the merchandise seized from it. Likewise, by Resolution of the Supreme Court of Military Justice, it was ordered that the "Constellation" be transferred to the Air Force as compensation for the destroyed Mustang. But the tenacious opposition of the La Paz District Customs Office, which was asking for it to be auctioned off, and the effect of other judicial tricks, prevented these provisions from being implemented. The plane remained in the custody of the Military Aviation College, deteriorating due to the weather and its prolonged inactivity, until it was taken out of flight. In July 1972 it was moved to Uruguay Avenue in the populated area of El Tao neighborhood to become part of the new "Boris Banzer Prada" park better known as "Plaza del Avión Pirata". Since then, despite having been used at various times as a kiosk, children's library and tourist agency, it was abandoned until it became a den of bad living, which is why it was even asked to be destroyed and sold as scrap metal.
Today this is a popular hangout place. You’ll be able to sit down, enjoy a snack and watch people (Hamburgers being sold behind the plane and streetvendors selling sandwiches and other snacks).We also managed to see 20 mennonites within 5min. Next time I would love to get to know them better.
The cache is located in the main landing gear on the right (above the right rear wheel – you will see an opening: stick your head in and look towards nose of plane. Cache is on the left side attached to a string.) Be careful, Bolvivians are good at watching without you noticing. Don’t let it get muggled.