Getafe Air Base

Getafe Air Base (ICAO: LEGT) is a military airbase located in Getafe, 14 km south of Madrid, Spain. The air base, at an altitude of 620 m above sea level, has a single runway with a length of 3.06 km. It was one of the first military air bases in Spain and, because of that, is considered the "cradle" of Spanish aviation.[2]

Getafe Air Base

Base Aérea de Getafe
Summary
Airport typeMilitary
OperatorSpanish Air Force
LocationGetafe, Spain
Built1911
Elevation AMSL2,034 ft / 620 m
Coordinates40°17′45″N 3°43′30″W
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
05/23 8,136 2,480 Asphalt
Aerial photograph
Air Bases of the Spanish Air Force

The base was inaugurated in 1911 (20 years before Madrid Barajas International Airport) and two years later the Civil Aviation School was created. It was the first air bases in Spain where the first autogyro was flown its designer Juan de la Cierva.

This air base was established permanently in 1911 (20 years before Barajas ), and two years later the Civil Aviation School was created. Since then, the extensions and reforms of the same have happened to this day.

Military use

In summer 1957, two-pilot, a flight engineer, and crews flew 12 to Gatafe from Evreux, France, for the purpose of a one time flight to the SABENA facility at the Brussels airport.

Civil use

Today, apart from military use, the factory that belonged to CASA and is currently part of the European group EADS CASA is located next to the base, and next to a railway line. In another factory next to the base, the Spanish Eurofighter Typhoons are assembled. In an annexed facility, the Eurofighter Typhoon destined for Spain are assembled.CASA also carries out in the facilities attached to the base the maintenance of various aircraft of the Air Force, as well as programs for the improvement and modernization of these aircraft.

Through an agreement signed with the Getafe City Council, the Infante de Orleans Foundation, which maintains a collection of old aircraft in flight, will soon move its facilities to land near the Base, from whose aeronautical facilities it will become a user for its flights and its exhibitions. monthly flights.

Given the possibility of closing, increasingly remote, the Madrid-Cuatro Vientos Airport (civil), there have been several proposals for the creation of a civil aerodrome for general aviation and a terminal for low-cost airplanes, over the land of the Getafe Air Base. This proposal has always had the opposition of the City of Getafe, which does not want to increase the pollution that entails the heavy traffic of a civil airport. However, the Getafe City Council has always been a firm supporter of the maintenance of the EADS-CASA facilities and the Air Base of the Air Force, which it sees as complementary and responsible for the industrial-aeronautical fabric of the city.

Garrison

The main military unit to operate from Getafe is the "Ala 35" transport wing, which operates CASA/IPTN CN-235 (two units for VIP missions, eighteen units for transport) and EADS CASA C-295 (nine units for transport).

In 2008, most CN-235s moved to other Spanish Air Force 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 Air Base a few kilometers from Getafe itself.

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References
  1. airport information in "World Aero Data"
  2. Spanish Air Force Site
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