Andrés Bertolo Crespo

This page or section is in the middle of an expansion or major revamping. You are welcome to assist in its construction by editing it as well. If this article has not been edited in several days, please remove this template.

Andrés Bertolo Crespo
Born	(1918-08-05)August 5, 1918 Sloane, Democratic Republic of Maracaibo
Died	May 21, 1987(1987-05-21) (aged 68) Altagracia, Sylvan Territory
Buried	Tomb of Heroes, Sloane, Maracaibo
Allegiance	Maracaibo
Service/branch	Maracaibo Army Flying Corps
Years of service	1941-1955
Rank	Major
Unit	3rd Aerial Squadron, 4th Aerial Squadron
Commands held	4th Aerial Squadron
Air Combats	Battle of Sloane, First Battle of Matadepera, Second Battle of Matadepera, Siege of Maracaibo City
Awards	Allied Nations Medal of Honor, Almodovar Award, Flying Ace Award Gold Tier
Memorials	See List of Maracaibo Patriotic War memorials
Spouse(s)	Laila Bailey (1920-2016)
Children	Marie Crespo, Andrés Crespo Jr.
Other work	Chairman of Tigre Air Ways

Andrés Bertolo Crespo was a fighter pilot for the Democratic Republic of Maracaibo during the Pan-Septentrion War. In Maracaibo, he is regarded as a national hero. A flying ace, by the end of the war, Crespo had eleven confirmed, and four probable kills.

Early Life

Andrés Bertolo Crespo was born in the then-small industry town of Sloane to a mother and father of Sylvan origin. His mother was a seamstress and his father was a dockworker at the small riverine port. Crespo was set on leaving Maracaibo and flying one of the new commercial airline routes in Casaterra. The Pan-Septentrion War beginning in earnest put a damper on this, and he took on his father's profession until 1941.

Military Service

In 1941, Andrés signed up for the military, still eager to scratch the itch of taking to the sky. In the years prior, he'd managed to scrape together enough money from his job as a dockworker to purchase a commission. Andrés entered as an Ensign, and he put in a request to fly with the Flying Corps. He trained in one of the limited types of fighters the Army had on hand, the Hawker Fury. Although technically obsolete by the time the Pan-Septentrion War reached Meridia, Crespo maintained to his dying day that it was "not about the capability of the plane, but that of the pilot."

When tensions between the Dayashinese Empire and Maracaibo came to a head in 1943, following the breakdown of the Neutrality Deal, Crespo's squadron, the Third Aerial Squadron, was called to muster in the South. Crepso's first combat mission coincided with the first Dayashinese incursions into Maracaibo territory. Crespo observed heavily lopsided kill rates as the technologically superior Imperial planes decimated Republican air forces. During the opening days of the war, Crespo flew seven sorties, obtaining one kill, an A6M Zero during a turnfight.

As the war carried on, and the Dayashinese captured more territory, Crespo and his plane were transferred to the Fourth Aerial Squadron, based out an aerodrome less than thirty kilometers from his hometown of Sloane. This town, by now the largest industrial distribution center in the west, was planned to be the holding point for the Republican army, and it was fortified extensively.

The Battle of Sloane began in early 1944 and slogged on for several months. During this time, Crespo shot down two Ki-49 bombers, one G4M, and two A6M Zeroes. Late into the battle, a Ki-100 got the best of him and he was shot down over the city, but managed to wrest his plane to safety and land in a field nearby. This action was used as propaganda material by the Interim Government.

As the frontlines were drawn further and further back towards the capital, Crespo and the 4th Squadron were rebased to the Naval Air Base by Matadepera. Here, Crespo sortied out and met the Dayashinese at every aerial clash, downing one Ki-61 and one Ki-67. He was downed again here, by enemy anti-aircraft guns, but was again fortunate enough to regain control of the plane and land it in a field less than three kilometers from the airbase. Upon returning to his unit, he was brevetted to Major. Less than a month later, the unit was moved again after the fall of Matadepera in 1945.

At the Siege of Maracaibo, Crespo, now permanently promoted to Major, led sorties to harass Imperial gun emplacements and troop columns. In these conflicts, Crespo successfully downed two G4M bombers and one A6M Zero, with Crespo himself claiming four more kills. Imperial authority, however, had caught on to this Republican flying ace and rotated their own ace into the same theater.

On May 13th, 1945, Crespo and his squadron encountered the plane and pilot so feared about Meridia, Yuuto Onishi, the "Devil of Meridia". Boasting over two hundred combat victories, and flying in the very maneuverable Ki-100, Crespo had met his match. The two entered into a dogfight, and Onishi appeared on Crespo's tail. When the latter could not shake him, Crespo drew out his service pistol and attempted several shots behind him as he went into a nosedive, out of control. This time, his crash would not be so lucky. Crespo survived, but the use of both of his legs did not. The crash left him wheelchair-bound for the rest of his life.

Dayashinese account

Having recovered ace pilot Yuuto Onishi's diary, Tyrannian officials found his account of an engagement with a specifically competent Maracaiban pilot, later confirmed to be Crespo through cross-referencing of accounts. Upon reconstructing and translation of the pages, the following quote was found:

"On this morning, I engaged with an airman flying what I believe was an old Tyrannian-built Hawker Fury. This occurred during an aerial escort mission to allow the IDA's 7th Division to move into position around the city without casualties. My wing was attacked by a large grouping of enemy aircraft, I counted 24. Many of them were swiftly shot down, as I would expect of my men. But there were a small group of Hawker Furies that proved incredibly and uncharacteristically difficult to deal with. My wingman and I trailed one very skilled Fury pilot, who evaded us for more than fifteen minutes, pulling off manoeuvres I commonly dealt with when flying against Anglian pilots. For all this, this airman evaded, but he could not manage to shake us. My wingman was able to force him into a very exposed position twice, where I managed to unleash a few bursts of fire into his fuselage. On a third occasion, I was able to perform a short aeries of rolls and ended up on his tail, going rapidly towards the ground. Before I could fire off my finishing burst, this airman turned around in his seats and loosed several shots at me from what appeared to be his sidearm. Out of fear, I climbed rapidly, realising that he no longer had control of his aircraft. I watched it plummet to the ground, but did not see any explosion, admittedly to my anger. I am convinced that this pilot was not of domestic origin, he must have been Anglian or Sylvan. I have never seen such competence displayed in such an outdated aircraft. It is a shame that he was not born a Dayashinese, for he bore our undying spirit within him."

Postwar Service

After the end of the war, Crespo stayed on the Allied Nations Air Force, and trained new pilots in the art of aerial combat until 1955, where he formally retired.

Chairman of Tigre Air Ways

In 1957, after touring the country observing rural reconstruction efforts, Crespo was offered Chairmanship of a brand new airline based out of Maracaibo, connecting flights to Hemithea, and eventually Casaterra. Crespo chaired the company and advised the Board of Directors on aircraft purchasing. In 1968, Crespo was present on the company's first nonstop flight to Sylva. In 1984, Crespo stepped down as the Chairman of Tigre Air Ways, citing a need to "see the world, and not in a stuffy suit". The company went bankrupt in 1989.

Personal Life

Andrés Crespo got married in 1955, to Laila Bailey, a Tyrannian woman who had struck his fancy. In 1957, he fathered two children, Marie and Andrés Crespo Jr. In 1974, Crespo became an adamant advocate for handicap accessible buildings, speaking at conferences around Maracaibo and the world. He published an autobiography, "A Wonderful View" in 1979, and it sold over 600,000 copies by the time of his death. Andrés Crespo died of a heart attack in 1987 during a vacation to Altagracia. He is buried in the Tomb of Heroes in his hometown of Sloane, Maracaibo.