WI: Sanjurjo not killed in plane crash?

Tsao

Banned
Jose Sanjurjo was a Falangist general who, together with Generals Francisco Franco and Emilio Mola, started the Nationalist uprising that directly led to the Spanish Civil War. On the flight back to Spain in July of 1936 , his plane crashed during takeoff, killing him instantly but sparing his pilot. IIRC, his plane crashed due to his heavy luggage, which although too heavy he insisted on bringing. What if the pilot had successfully convinced him to leave without the luggage, or if he had simply chosen a different (sturdier) plane? How would this affect the Civil War and would Franco still seize power? Thoughts?
 
I think you will find this has been covered on some spanish civil war threads already out there, it's one of the more obvious what if's and Turtledove has it as an opening gambit in his new series which has WW2 starting in 1938.

For my money Franco would have found a way, he was underrated as a plodder but he was more capable than most, Sanjurjo would have probably been sidelined as a figurehead, remember Franco controlled the Foreign Legion, the only really effective fighting force in 1936. Also as re Mola unfortunate accidents did occur to other possible nationalist leaders.

An interesting variant on this would be to have Franco's plane the Dragon Rapide overloaded with luggage and crashing on take off.
 

Tsao

Banned
Well, would Sanjurjo take power if Franco died then?

EDIT: Or would there be a power struggle?
 
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