The first Mexican designed aircraft, the Serie A, built in some numbers by the Talleres Nacionales de Construcciones Aeronauticas for the Army. A conventional two seat two bay biplane powered by a Mexican -designed engine, the 60 hp Aztatl (Stork) six cylinder radial the only foreign items of equipment utilised by the Serie A were, in fact, the French magnetos as even the propeller was of Mexican design.
On 6 July 1917, the Serie A No 9, piloted by Army Lt Horacio Ruiz, flew the first Mexican airmail service, from Pachuca to Mexico City, and six months later, on 3 January 1918, Cadet Samuel C Rojas became the first officer to graduate from the Military Aviation School after completing his training in a Serie A aircraft. Lt Rojas was also the first pilot to perform aerobatics in Mexico, on 26 June 1918, but within nine weeks, on 5 November, the Mexican Army’s fledgeling aviation component suffered its first fatality. For some time Lt Amado Paniagua had led a small demonstration team known as the Escuadrilla Amado Paniagua to promote aviation among the Mexican populace, but on that day, his Serie A aircraft failed to recover from an “Immelmann” turn over the beach at Veracruz and spun in.
