Spain · Government / Military · Formed 7 October 1939
Builds every A400M in the world at Seville, and once flew Merlin-engined Messerschmitts long after Germany had stopped.
The Ejercito del Aire was constituted as an independent service on 7 October 1939 and spent its first decades on an unusual footing, cut off from both power blocs and making do with licence-built and locally modified aircraft. The most famous of them was the Hispano HA-1112 Buchon: Spain built the Bf 109 under licence, ran out of German DB 605 engines, and fitted Rolls-Royce Merlins instead, producing a Messerschmitt with a Spitfire's powerplant that stayed in service into the 1960s and then supplied most of the "Luftwaffe" seen in Battle of Britain in 1969.
Today it flies the Eurofighter Typhoon from Moron and Albacete and has a particular claim on the A400M: final assembly for every operator sits at Seville San Pablo, so each Atlas in service anywhere was rolled out in Spain. The service was renamed the Ejercito del Aire y del Espacio in 2022 on taking on space surveillance duties. Its display team, the Patrulla Aguila, flies the CASA C-101, another aircraft of domestic design.
Cuartel General del Ejercito del Aire, Madrid, Spain
