Getafe Air Base
Encyclopedia
Getafe
Getafe is a city in the southern zone of the Madrid metropolitan area, Spain, and one of the most populated and industrialized cities in the municipality. The city is home to one of the oldest Spanish military air bases, as well as the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid...
, 14 km south of Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. These facilities, at an altitude of 620 m over sea level, have a single runway with a length of 3.6 km. It was one of the first military air bases in Spain and because of that, is considered the "cradle" of Spanish aviation.
The base was inaugurated in 1911 (20 years before Madrid Barajas International Airport
Madrid Barajas International Airport
Madrid-Barajas Airport is the main international airport serving Madrid in Spain. In 2010, over 49.8 million passengers used Madrid-Barajas, making it the country's largest and busiest airport, and in 2009 it was the world's 11th busiest airport and Europe's fourth busiest airport. It opened...
) and two years later the Civil Aviation School was created.
As of 2008 most CN-235 moved to other Air Force bases and a second Squadron of C-295 was formed and stationed at Getafe A.B.
Military Use
The US Miliatary Assistance Program (MAP) gave the Spanish Air Force 12 C-119F transports in 1955-'56.The Spanish AF never flew the aircraft. They decided they did not want the C-119's and so a decision was made to move the aircraft to the SABENA facility in Brussels for IRAN and eventual transfer to the Jordanian Air Force.
In the summer of 1957, 12 two pilot plus Flight Engineer (FE) crews flew to Gatafe from Evreux AB, France for the purpose of a one time flight to the SABENA facility at the Brussels airport All 12 C-119F's
were successfully moved to Brussels in the summer of 1957.
Civil use
Nowadays, apart from military use, an EADS CASA factory is situated next to the base. It commonly uses the facilities to transport AirbusAirbus
Airbus SAS is an aircraft manufacturing subsidiary of EADS, a European aerospace company. Based in Blagnac, France, surburb of Toulouse, and with significant activity across Europe, the company produces around half of the world's jet airliners....
aircraft parts to Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
. In another factory next to the base, the Spanish Eurofighter Typhoon
Eurofighter Typhoon
The Eurofighter Typhoon is a twin-engine, canard-delta wing, multirole combat aircraft, designed and built by a consortium of three companies: EADS, Alenia Aeronautica and BAE Systems; working through a holding company, Eurofighter GmbH, which was formed in 1986...
s are assembled. The air traffic is light and mainly military.
Garrison
The main military unit to operate from Getafe is the "Ala 35" transport wing, which operates CASA CN-235CASA CN-235
The CASA/IPTN CN-235 is a medium-range twin-engined transport plane that was jointly developed by CASA of Spain and IPTN of Indonesia as a regional airliner and military transport. Its primary military roles include maritime patrol, surveillance, and air transport...
(two units for VIP missions, eighteen units for transport) and EADS CASA C-295
EADS CASA C-295
The EADS CASA C-295 is a twin-turboprop tactical military transport aircraft manufactured by Airbus Military in Spain.-Design and development:...
(nine units for transport).
As of 2008 most CN-235s moved to other Spanish Air Force's bases and a second Squadron of C-295s was formed. Several other units have also been placed at Getafe including the Cartographic Center's fleet from Cuatro Vientos A.B. a few kilometers from Getafe itself.