Claim: Aviation pioneer Joaquin Loriga was promoted to Captain in 1926 after joining the Spanish Military Aviation service in 1920.
Evidence: Joaquín Loriga Taboada (Lalín, 23 September 1895 – Cuatro Vientos Airport 18 July 1927) was a Galician aviation pioneer. As a Captain promoted in 1926, together with two pilots and three mechanical engineers, the first long-distance flight from Madrid to Manila of over eleven thousand miles. Raised in a stately house known by the parish as Pazo de Liñares in Lalín, he joined the army and the pilots division in the Spanish Military Aviation Service in 1920.