When you are driving one road Y-150, towards the Sarmiento entrance of the park, you will pass by a big rock with a metal plate saying "Homenaje". This is the Plüschow lookout. On the plate, there is a text in Spanish talking about the pioneers captain Günther Plüschow and the mecanic Ernst Dreblow:

In memory of the pioneers on the southern routes, Captain Günther Plüschow and mechanic Ernst Dreblow, who with their bravery and courage carried out the first exploration flights in Chilean Patagonia. "I am now going to realize this ideal that I have cherished so much after 35 years"

- Günther Plüschow. Punta Arenas, October 1928 IVs air brigade.

Circle of friendly pilots of the Air Force. December 12, 1996.

So who was this Günter Plüschow, and why is this place called the Plüschow lookout?

Gunther Plüschow was a German aviator, aerial explorer, and author born in 1886, Munich, Germany. He came from a family of high aristocracy, and was educated in the spirit of exploration, and he had a special connection to the water. This is probably why he in 1896 got enrolled in the Cadet Academy in Plön, the beginning of his naval career. He did not like the military discipline though, because - as he wrote himself - it took away his precious freedom. When finishing school, he joined the navy, and was assigned to the navy vessel "Storch". With this vessel, he travelled many parts of the world.

Flights with the Silver Condor

With the historic - but short - flights made by the Wright Brothers in 1903*, Plüschow got interested in learning to fly. He requested his superior to send him to an aviation course, that first was denied, but he appealed and got finally accepted. This is when he little by little started his flying career, and also participated in the First World War, fighting for Germany. When the war ended, Germany collapsed, and Plüschow ended losing his job in the Navy. Later, he became captain of a tourist ship, and during one of his journeys, he ran into an old friend who built yachts for trips to Cape Horn. This is how he in 1925 ended up getting to know the Falklands, Cape Horn, and Valdivia.

In 1928, he returned to these lands, passing by Argentina, and ended up in Punta Arenas, where he met Dreblow. He had brought the dismantled "Silver Condor" to Punta Arenas by sea. They had to fix it before taking it on its first flights around Tierra del Fuego. They even went as far as the Beagle glaciers, at the very south of the island. He made various recordings, the first one ever from the sky, during their journeys. He eventually ran out of money, had to sell the airplaine and return to Germany. In 2028 he was, by the german car factory company, BMW, given the support to return to Argentina, and later Puerto Natales where Dreblow waited for him with a surprise: the "Silver Condor".

The last flight starting from Torres del Paine

They had to wait for months before flying because the weather was bad. They managed to get to the shore of the Lake Sarmiento, where they had to camp and wait for another window of good weather. This is why there today is a plate tribute to Plüwshow beside the road. Finally, in January 1929, there was a window of calm weather, and they flew over the Paine mountain range and the Calafate area. What they didn't know was that this was their last flight; a whole opened on the left float, and they unfortunately crashed into the side of the stretch of Lake Argentino, Calafate.

Plüschow today is remembered for his courage, and adventurousness and also for being the first person to take air photos of Tierra del Fuego.

*The Wright brothers, Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright, were American aviation pioneers generally credited with inventing, building, and flying the world's first successful motor-operated airplane.