Pedro Vives Vich

Pedro Vives Vich (20 January 1858 – 9 March 1938) was a Spanish military engineer, politician, and aerial observer, who was the main pioneer of Spanish ballooning and aviation, both military and civil. In 1896, Vives was made head of the ("Aerostation Services"), and at his suggestion, the army adopted the kite-type ballon and then had it built in Guadalajara. He was the first Spaniard to fly in an airplane in 1909. He served as the first Chief of the Spanish Air Force, which was founded in 1913 at his request. who was called back to the Peninsula to take charge of it in October 1896, thus ending his first performance in Africa and beginning his destination to Guadalajara, where the Park will be located.

The first objective that he imposed was the acquisition of the essential material to be able to begin aerostatic activities. In 1915, Colonel Vives moved to Cartagena to choose the place where the first Spanish maritime aerodrome was to be established, the Los Alcázares Hydro Base, with a commission being appointed to travel to North America to choose the material that should be acquired to found a seaplane pilot school. Suddenly, he was removed from command of the aeronautics, leaving behind his management an indelible mark of creation and effectiveness. Immediately after his dismissal, he was appointed head of the General Command of Engineers of the IV Military Region, a position he took office on 19 October, and one that corresponded to the position of general, but he held it as a colonel with a higher rank.

In March 1917, for war merits, he was promoted to brigadier general, and was again assigned to the Peninsula, to take command of the General Command of Engineers of Zaragoza. When the Military Railway Service was created in 1920, General Vives was appointed its director. His work in this position, although brief, was fruitful. He established the foundation of an organization that remained unchanged until April 1931. In September, he joined his new position as inspector of the Engineering Services in Africa, and in this destination, one of the most active and fruitful stages of the general's life will take place.

In the territory of Melilla, when the Annual disaster occurred (July 21), there were no military railways, nor troops of this specialty, and furthermore, the scarce civil network remained in the power of the enemy. With all the speed that the available elements allowed, railway communications were reestablished until they were synchronized with the advance of the troops, using armored trains that provided excellent services. One can end this stage of his life by saying that the railroads, the roads, and the successes of military transmissions are due to him. The services provided by the Engineers in the Melilla Field were due to him.

Upon being promoted to major general in 1921, he was assigned to Cartagena as military governor. He remained in this position until mid-1923, when he was appointed head of the General Command of Melilla. General Vives once again has the Aviation Forces under his command. Between the years 1917 and 1923, Vives was living in Africa (Ceuta and Melilla), in Zaragoza and Cartagena, holding different military positions.

Writing career Vives was also a publicist, and as such, he directed several technical studies, directed military works (in the Pyrenees, Lleida, Cuba, Morocco), including the First Melillan campaign in 1893.

Between 1886 and 1935, Vives published 14 works of different types and themes, related to ballooning, aeronautics, meteorology, Igualada, Et cetera.

Politic career Bosch began his political career around 1873

Personal life On 20 January 1885, while still in Lérida, Vives married his girlfriend from his cadet years in Guadalajara: Inocencia Camino Molina, and the couple had eleven children were born and fifty years later they were able to celebrate their golden wedding in Madrid.

Death During the Spanish Civil War, Vives was in Madrid, and became a refugee in the Norwegian embassy, where he died on 9 March 1938, at the age of 80.

In his honor Igualada has held different events. In 1925 he was named the Favorite Son of the city of Igualada, and the street that until then had been called Rambla de Sant Pere Mártir was named Rambla General Vives. To commemorate the 100th anniversary of his birth, he erected a monument to him in Paseo Verdaguer. He has also inscribed his name on a tombstone in the Town Hall and named a Secondary School after him.