1959 Ernesto Che Guevara Signed Photo Inscribed David Gómez Pilot Flight School for Sale

1959 Ernesto Che Guevara Signed Photo Inscribed David Gómez Pilot Flight School For Sale

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1959 Ernesto Che Guevara Signed Photo Inscribed David Gómez Pilot Flight School:
$8495.00

For your consideration is an exceptionally important original black-and-white gelatin-silver presentation photograph of Ernesto Che Guevara (19281967), 1959, depicting Guevara seated aboard a small light aircraft during the formative period in which he was learning to fly following the triumph of the Cuban Revolution. Measuring approximately 7.0 by 9.0 inches, the photograph shows Guevara in military field dress and his characteristic soft cap, seated immediately beside the glazed cabin structure of the aircraft. Across the lower portion he has inscribed an unusually extensive personal dedication in his own hand to his revolutionary associate David, concluding emphatically, Revolucionariamente / Che. The inscription may be translated in substantial part as: To my great driver and longtime friend David, I dedicate this image with all affection. Revolutionarily, Che. The photograph survives with associated period photographic material identifying the recipient as David Gmez Pliego, providing important contemporary provenance for the dedication.

David Gmez Pliego (born 11 August 1916 at A Gudia, Ourense, Galicia) was a trusted Cuban revolutionary collaborator whose relationship with Guevara can be traced directly to the Sierra Maestra campaign. Following the Battle of El Uvero, Gmez Pliego first met Guevara on 3 June 1957 near Boca de Pinalito on the Ro Peladero, while Guevara was caring for wounded guerrillas. Contemporary and later accounts identify Gmez Pliego as the estate manager through whom Guevara maintained vital contact with the outside world during June 1957. Operating under the cover afforded by his civilian position, he supplied the guerrillas with food, medicines, clothing, maps and other necessities, transmitted information and correspondence, and assisted in maintaining the clandestine network upon which Guevaras isolated detachment depended. Guevara himself subsequently acknowledged the importance of David in his account of the revolutionary campaign, while fellow commander Juan Almeida Bosque likewise remembered Gmez Pliego as Guevaras trusted supplier and intermediary.
Gmez Pliegos commitment to the revolutionary movement extended well beyond ordinary logistical assistance. He was arrested and subjected to interrogation and torture but refused to disclose guerrilla positions or the identities of collaborators, later making his way back into the Sierra to assure Guevara personally that he had revealed nothing. Their association survived the revolutionary victory: when the two encountered one another again in Havana after January 1959, Guevara reportedly greeted Gmez Pliego warmly and acknowledged the hardships he had endured. Gmez Pliego subsequently served the new revolutionary government in military, agricultural and administrative capacities. The unusually affectionate language of the present inscriptionaddressing David not merely as an associate but as a longstanding friendis therefore entirely consistent with the documented relationship between the two men.
The aviation setting provides an additional and unusually specific historical context. Guevara began flying in Cuba in January 1959, initially aboard a Cessna 182 before receiving instruction in smaller training aircraft, including the Piper PA-18, and had progressed to solo flying by the end of that year. The compact cabin configuration visible in the present photograph is consistent with the light-aircraft environment associated with this documented period of flight training, although the precise aircraft has not been conclusively identified. Taken togetherthe 1959 aviation context, Guevaras extensive autograph presentation inscription, the associated photographic identification of David Gmez Pliego, and Gmez Pliegos independently documented role as one of Guevaras trusted Sierra Maestra collaboratorsthe photograph constitutes an unusually intimate surviving artifact of Guevaras personal revolutionary circle and of the immediate aftermath of the Cuban Revolution. Photographer unidentified. The photograph exhibits expected age-related surface wear and handling consistent with an original presentation photograph of the period; the inscription remains prominently legible and visually integral to the image. Related Items: