A characterization of Hering's plane of order 27

Hering's translation plane of order 27 has been characterized by its order and the fact that it admits SL(2, 13) in its translation complement (see [1]). We show that, aside from the Desarguian plane and a Generalized, André plane, it is the only plane of order 27 which admits a subgroup of SL(2, 13) of order 13×12.Partially supported by FONDECYT 0343 and ANDES FOUNDATION.