{"id":56784,"date":"2024-08-12T20:40:03","date_gmt":"2024-08-12T18:40:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/?p=56784"},"modified":"2025-08-12T09:55:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T07:55:07","slug":"the-mystery-of-the-spanish-aviator-celso-mosteiro-and-his-b-25-mitchell-bomber-in-wwii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2024\/08\/12\/the-mystery-of-the-spanish-aviator-celso-mosteiro-and-his-b-25-mitchell-bomber-in-wwii\/","title":{"rendered":"The mystery of the Spanish aviator Celso Mosteiro and his B-25 Mitchell bomber in WWII"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although Spain was a neutral country, many Spanish citizens fought in various armies during World War II.<\/p>\n

An excellent report on Manuel Otero, the Spaniard who fell in the Normandy landings<\/a><\/rel>
\nA film about Andr\u00e9s Pereiro, a Spaniard who fought in the US Army in World War II<\/a><\/rel><\/p>\n

The excellent YouTube channel Tropa Guripa<\/a> (I highly recommend subscribing to it if you like content on military history), directed by the Galician \u00d3scar Galansky, has been doing magnificent research work for years on Spanish combatants in the US Armed Forces<\/strong> during that war. The result of this research is the fabulous videos published by Tropa Guripa on Manuel Otero, the only Spaniard to fall in the Normandy Landings<\/a>, and on Andr\u00e9s Pereiro, who fell on September 1, 1944<\/a> in Brittany (France). Both were emigrants from Galicia.<\/p>\n

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Celso Mosteiro Correa in his US Army Air Forces aviator uniform (Source: Tropa Guripa<\/a>).<\/div>\n

Yesterday, Tropa Guripa<\/a> published a new video about Celso Mosteiro Correa<\/strong>, another Galician, in this case born on September 21, 1916 in the city of La Coru\u00f1a, who emigrated to the United States, specifically to New York, after the start of the Spanish Civil War<\/strong>. Once there, he began the process of acquiring American nationality. Finally, after the approval of mandatory military service in that country (for both US citizens and foreign residents), Celso was called up in February 1941<\/strong>, months before the US entered World War II.<\/p>\n

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A B-25 Mitchell with its bomb bay open. This was the type of aircraft that Celso Mosteiro was flying when he disappeared (Photo: Archivos Nacionales de EEUU<\/a>).<\/div>\n

Curiously, this Galician emigrant ended up serving as a bomber crewman<\/strong> (in charge of dropping bombs) on a North American B-25 Mitchell twin-engine medium bomber<\/strong> of the US Army Air Forces (USAAF). His unit was initially sent to the European theatre of operations, where Celso flew missions over Yugoslavia and Italy. On a mission over the latter country, this Galician aviator was wounded in combat<\/strong> by anti-aircraft fire. Celso's unit was later sent to India. There, Celso's B-25 disappeared on a mission on 20 June 1944<\/strong>. You can find all the details of his story in the excellent video by Tropa Guripa (the video is in Spanish but has English subtitles, you can activate them in the bottom bar of the player):<\/p>\n