Manises Air Base ( es, Base Aérea de Manises) is a defunct

Spanish Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = Spanish Air and Space Force Anthem , mascot = , anniversaries = 10 December , equipment ...

base. It was located in Manises by Valencia Airport, the civilian airport for the city and metropolitan area of Valencia, Spain.

Units

The air base housed the following units in the past: *24th Fighter Group (''24º grupo de caza'') with FARE Polikarpov I-15 bis *1st Wing (''Ala nº 1'') with

F-86F Sabre The North American F-86 Sabre, sometimes called the Sabrejet, is a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as the United States' first swept-wing fighter that could counter the swept-wing Sov ...

, with Spanish Air Force denomination C.5 (1955–1970) *11th Wing (''Ala nº 11'') **30 Mirage III (24 EE and 6 DE, with Spanish Air Force denomination C.11/CE.11) which were bought from France on 20 June 1970 and which stayed at Manises until they were phased out. ** Mirage F1 (11 EDA and 2 DDA) which were transferred to

Los Llanos Air Base Albacete Airport is an airport operated by Aena located about south of the city of Albacete, the capital of the province of Albacete in Castile-La Mancha, Spain. It shares the runway and some facilities with Los Llanos Air Base, operated by t ...

in Albacete when Manises Air Base closed.Julián Oller and Luis Utrilla, ''Colección “Historia”''

History

During the Spanish Civil War Manises airfield became a

Spanish Republican Air Force The Spanish Republican Air Force was the air arm of the Armed Forces of the Second Spanish Republic, the legally established government of Spain between 1931 and 1939. Initially divided into two branches: Military Aeronautics ('' Aeronáutica M ...

base for the military planes that took part in the Battle of Teruel. In 1944 the air base was reopened as the seat of a

Spanish Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = Spanish Air and Space Force Anthem , mascot = , anniversaries = 10 December , equipment ...

fighter wing. The first modern fighters arriving to the base were the F-86 Sabre of which there were 123 units at a certain point. The Sabre were replaced by Mirage III in 1970. The decision to close the base was taken in 1997. It was officially dismantled on 31 July 1999 when the military installations were taken over by AENA, the Spanish Airports Authority. The equipment and the aircraft were transferred to Los Llanos Air Base, Albacete, and the military command was taken over by Zaragoza Air Base. Currently the airport complex is exclusively for civilian use.

References

External links

Amigos de la Mili - Base Aérea de Manises (Valencia)
{{authority control Manises Defunct airports in Spain Air force installations of Spain Airports established in 1944 Airports disestablished in 1999