Spanish Air Force
| Ejercito del Aire Spanish Air Force |
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| Founded | 7 October 1939 |
| Country | Spain |
| Size | 27,000 personnel 650 aircraft |
| Command HQ | Cuartel General del Ejército del Aire (CGEA) |
| March | Spanish Air Force Anthem |
| Engagements | Rif War Spanish Civil War Ifni War Yugoslav wars Kosovo War |
| Commanders | |
| General del Aire | José Jiménez Ruiz |
| Insignia | |
| Roundel |  |
| High and Low visibility Fin flashes |   |
| Aircraft flown | |
| Attack | Mirage F1, F/A-18 |
| Fighter | F/A-18, Eurofighter |
| Patrol | P-3 Orion, Fokker F27 |
| Reconnaissance | Falcon 20 |
| Trainer | F-5, CASA C-101, Beechcraft Bonanza, King Air, Colibrí |
| Transport | Hercules, CASA C-295, CASA CN-235, 707, A310, Cougar |
The Spanish Air Force (Spanish: Ejército del Aire; literally, "Army of the Air") is the air force of Spain. It is one of the 3 branches of the Spanish Armed Forces and has the mission of defending the sovereignty and independence of Spain, its territorial integrity and constitutional freedoms, within airspace of Spain and its territories as well as to maintain the international security in operations of peace and humanitarian help.
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History
The beginnings
Although Spanish military aviation started with a balloon force in 1896, April 10, 1910 is the date when the Spanish military aviation was formally formed by means of a Royal Decree.
On November 5, 1913, during the war with Morocco, a Spanish expeditionary squadron became the first organized military air unit to see combat during the first organized bombing in history.
The Spanish Civil War
During the Spanish Civil War, Spanish military aviation was divided into the Spanish Republic Air Forces (Fuerzas Aéreas de la República Española-FARE), created by the republican government and the National Aviation (Aviación Nacional), created by the army in revolt.
At first, the republican air forces had the control of the majority of the territory using the Soviet Polikarpov I-16, but the help received by Francisco Franco from Nazi Germany (Condor Legion) and Fascist Italy (Aviazione Legionaria) changed this.
In July 1936, the first German Junkers Ju-52 and Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM-81 arrived. In August Fiat CR-32 and Heinkel He-51 fighters were also deployed. These planes helped the army in revolt to gain full control of the air.
Post-Civil War
The present Spanish Air Force (Ejército del Aire, or EdA) was not formed until October 7, 1939, at the end of the Spanish Civil War. The EdA was a successor to the Nationalist and Republican Air Forces. During World War II, one air section, the "Blue Squadron" (Escuadrilla Azul), operated alongside the Blue Division (Division Azul). The Blue Division was a Spanish volunteer group which fought alongside the Axis Powers on the Eastern Front.
During the first years after WWII the Spanish Air Force consisted largely of German and Italian planes and copies of them. An interesting example was the HA-1112-M1L Buchon (transliteration: "big throat"), this was essentially a licensed production of the Messerschmitt Bf 109 re-engined with a Rolls-Royce Merlin for use in Spain.
Although in sheer numbers the EdA was impressive, at the end of WWII technically it had become more or less obsolete due to the progress in aviation technology during the war. For budget reasons Spain actually kept many of the old german aircraft operative well into the 50´s and 60´s, as an example the last Junkers_Ju-52 transport plane was not retired from service until 1972.
On March 18, 1946, the first Spanish paratroop unit was created. It participated in the Ifni War during 1957 and 1958. In this campaign many old axis aircraft still saw service such as the Junkers 52 or the Heinkel 111 (nicknamed "Pedro") and others; because USA did not allow, more modern planes of this origin participate in colonial wars. This is why still now in present times, EdA mantains a policy of having jet fighters from two difrent origins, one first line fighter of North American origin, and one from French-European origin( F-4C Phantom / Mirage F1, Mirage III; EF-18A / Eurofighter Typhoon).
Links were established in the 1950s with the United States. Spain received its first jets, like the F-86 Sabre and Lockheed T-33 together with training and transport planes like the T-6 Texan, DC-3 and DC-4. This first age of jets was replaced in the 1960s by newer fighters like the F-104 Starfighter, F-4C Phantom and F-5 Freedom Fighter
The organization and equipment of the Spanish Air Force was again modernised in the 1970s to prepare for Spain's membership of NATO in 1982.
Planes like the Mirage III and Mirage F1 were bought from France and became the backbone of the Air Force during the 1970s and part of the 1980s until the arrival of the American F/A-18 which participated in the Bosnian War and the Kosovo War under NATO command, based in Aviano, Italy.
The Spanish Air Force is replacing older aircraft in the inventory with newer ones including the recently introduced Eurofighter Typhoon and the Airbus A400M airlifter, both manufactured with Spanish participation.
Its aerobatic display team is the Patrulla Aguila, which flies the CASA C-101 Aviojet. Its helicopter display team, Patrulla Aspa, flies the Eurocopter EC-120 Colibrí.
Air Bases
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Order of battle
See Also Spanish Air Force Order of Battle
Functional structure
The basic organization of the Air Force is the following:
- Air Force Headquarters (CGEA). Madrid.
- Battle Air Command (MACOM). Headquarters in Torrejón Air Base, Madrid.
- General Air Command (MAGEN). Headquarters in Madrid.
- Canary Islands' Air Command (MACAN). Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
- Personnel Command (MAPER). Madrid.
- Logistics Support Command (MALOG). Madrid.
Operative structure
The usual operative unit is the ALA (wing), composed by two or three ESCUADRONES (squadrons), each one of which is integrated by 18 to 24 airplanes. Thus, Ala 15, with base in Zaragoza Air Base, is formed by two squadrons with 18 F-18s each.
Aircraft identification
The Spanish Air Force has its own alphanumeric system for identifying aircraft. This forms a prefix to the airframe serial number, usually marked on the tail. The letter or letters, correspond to the use given. Thus, C means cazabombardero (fighter bomber); A, ataque (attack); P, patrulla (patrol); T, transporte (transport); E, enseñanza (training); D, search and rescue; H, helicopter; K, tanker; V, Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL); and U, utility.
An example would be that the F-18 with "C.15-08" on the tail is the fifteenth type of fighter that arrived in the Spanish Air Force (the Eurofighter is the C.16) and is the eighth example of this type to enter the SAF. On the nose or fuselage the aircraft has a numeral specific to the unit in which it is based.
Variants of planes in service, for example two-seater versions or tanker versions of transports planes, add another letter to differentiate their function, and have their own sequence of serial numbers separate from the primary versions. Example: "CE.15-02" will be the second F-18 two-seater (Fighter Trainer) delivered to the SAF.
In addition, the aircraft used by the Spanish Air Force usually carry a code consisting of one or two digits followed by a dash and two numbers, painted on the nose or fuselage. The first number corresponds to the unit to which they belong, and the second the order in which they entered service. Example: the fourth F-18 arriving at Ala 12 will have on the nose the code "12-04". Those codes do change when the aircraft is re-allocated to a different unit.
Officer rank insignia
| Pay grade | OF-10¹ | OF-9 | OF-8 | OF-7 | OF-6 | OF-5 | OF-4 | OF-3 | OF-2 | OF-1 | |
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| Title | Capitán General | General del aire | Teniente General | General de División | General de Brigada | Coronel | Teniente Coronel | Comandante | Capitán | Teniente | Alferez |
| Equivalence | GOAF | Gen | Lt Gen | Maj Gen | Brig Gen | Col | Lt Col | Maj | Capt | 1st Lt | 2nd Lt |
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No periods are used in actual grade abbreviation, only in press releases to conform with AP standards. |
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| NATO Code | OF-10 | OF-9 | OF-8 | OF-7 | OF-6 | OF-5 | OF-4 | OF-3 | OF-2 | OF-1 | |
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Aircraft Inventory
The Spanish Air Force operates a wide-ranging fleet of aircraft, from fighters to transport aircraft and passenger transports to helicopters. It maintains some 650 aircraft. The Spanish Air Force operates 151 Fighter Air Craft, which in the near future will be mainly made up of the new Eurofighter Typhoon.
Distinguished Spanish Air Aces
- Luis Alcocer Moreno-Abellá
- M. Joaquín García-Morato y Castaño
- Julio Salvador Diáz-Benjumea
- Manuel Vázquez Sagastizábal
- Miguel Guerrero García
- Miguel García Pardo
- Arístides García López
- Carlos Bayo Alessandri
- Abundio Cesteros García
- Narciso Bermúdez de Castro
- Vincente Aldecoa Lecanda
- Antonio Alós Herrero
- Mariano Cuadra Medina
- Lucas Fernandez Peña
- Gonzalo Hevia Alvarez-Quinones
- Fernando Sanchez-Arjona Courtoy
- José María Bravo Fernandez-Hermosa
- Ramón Franco Bahamonde
See also
- List of F-104 Starfighter operators
References
External links
- (Spanish) Home page of the Spanish Air Force
- (Spanish) Unofficial Spanish Air Force page
- (Spanish) Foro Militar General Spanish military forum)
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