Virgilio Leret
Virgilio Leret Ruiz (23 August 1902 – 18 July 1936) was a Spanish air force commander, writer and pioneer of aeronautical engineering with a patented jet-engine design.
On 8 July 1920 he graduated – first in his class – as second lieutenant and was assigned to Ceuta in the Regimiento de Infantería Serrallo nº 69 under his father's command and the overall direction of General Felipe Navarro in Western Spanish Morocco.
He was released and took the military pilot course at the Albacete School, but didn't complete it as he was ordered to return to Larache to aid his colleagues in their withdrawal from Chefchaouen and other areas.
[1][2][3][4][5][6] He went to Los Alcázares in March 1926 for the observer course, and within days was hospitalised for a month in the navy's military hospital in Cartagena after an aircraft accident.
The children were ignored by their grandparents until after the Nationalist uprising because of the stigma of their being conceived out of wedlock, although Leret's father did provide some money to Carlota O'Neill.
[1][7][8][9] On 15 December 1930 Leret and eleven others refused to pursue general Queipo de Llano and air commander Ramón Franco who had escaped by aeroplane to Portugal after their failed Cuatro Vientos aerodrome uprising.
When released, he was imprisoned again by the head of Moroccan military forces – for previously failing to support right-wing general José Sanjurjo's attempted coup in 1932 – but he continued with his project.
The President of Spain, Manuel Azaña, was informed of the project and on 28 April 1936 made him professor of the mechanics' school at Cuatro Vientos aerodrome to commence experiments.
In September 1936 – after Leret's death – Azaña authorised production of the jet engine to begin at Hispano Suiza de Aviación's manufacturing plant.
With second lieutenants Armando González Corral and Luis Calvo Calavia in his squadron, Leret defended the base, which was futile given that many soldiers were on leave.
The advance of a column of Regulares led by the Francoist Moroccan officer Mohamed Meziane towards Melilla was halted so they could help in the attack on the base.
