Spanish Air Force
| Ejército del Aire | |
|---|---|
Spanish Air Force seal
|
|
| Founded | 7 October 1939 – present |
| Country |
 Spain
|
| Allegiance | King Felipe VI |
| Branch | Air Force |
| Size | 20,300 personnel (2012) 389 aircraft |
| Part of | Ministry of Defence |
| Command HQ | Cuartel General del Ejército del Aire (CGEA) |
| Patron | Our Lady of Loreto |
| Motto(s) | "Per aspera ad astra" |
| March | Spanish Air Force Anthem |
| Anniversaries | 10 December |
| Engagements | |
| Commanders | |
| Commander in Chief and Captain General | King Felipe VI |
| Chief of the Air Force Staff | Air General Francisco Javier García Arnaiz |
| Insignia | |
| Roundel |  |
| Fin flash |
 
|
| Aircraft flown | |
| Attack | F/A-18 |
| Fighter | F/A-18, Eurofighter |
| Patrol | P-3 Orion, CASA CN-235 |
| Reconnaissance | Falcon 20 |
| Trainer | F-5, CASA C-101, Beechcraft Bonanza, King Air, Colibrí |
| Transport | C-130 Hercules, CASA C-295, CASA CN-235, Airbus A310, Eurocopter Cougar, A400M |
The Spanish Air Force (SPAF) (Spanish: Ejército del Aire; literally, "Army of the Air") is the aerial branch of the Spanish Armed Forces.
Hot air balloons had been used with military purposes in Spain as far back as 1896. In 1905, with the help of Alfredo Kindelán, Leonardo Torres y Quevedo directed the construction of the first Spanish dirigible in the Army Military Aerostatics Service, created in 1896 and located in Guadalajara. The new airship was completed successfully and, named 'España', made numerous test and exhibition flights.
The Spanish Army air arm, however, took off formally in 1909 when Colonel Pedro Vives Vich and Captain Alfredo Kindelán made an official trip to different European cities to check the potential of introducing airships and airplanes in the Spanish Armed Forces. One year later a Royal decree established the National Aviation School, Escuela Nacional de Aviación (civil) in Getafe, near Madrid, under the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, Ministerio de Fomento.
The established institution became militarized under the name Aeronáutica Española when Colonel Pedro Vives was chosen to lead it as director of the Aeronáutica Militar, Military Aeronautics, the name of the air arm of the Spanish Army. Captain Alfredo Kindelán was named Chief of Aviation, Jefe de Aviación.
On 17 December 1913, during the war with Morocco, a Spanish expeditionary squadron of the Aeronáutica Española became the first organized military air unit to see combat during the first systematic bombing in history by dropping aerial bombs from a Lohner Flecha (Arrow) airplane on the plain of Ben Karrix in Morocco. During the years that followed, most of the military activity of the Spanish Air Force would take place in Northern Morocco.
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Wikipedia