Zaragoza Air Base is a base of the

Spanish Air and Space Force The Spanish Air and Space Force () is the Aerial warfare, aerial and space warfare branch of the Spanish Armed Forces. History Early stages Hot air balloons have been used with military purposes in Spain as far back as 1896. In 1905, with th ...

located near

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. It is located west of Zaragoza, west of

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, and northeast of

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. It shares infrastructure with the

Zaragoza Airport Zaragoza Airport (Aragonese language, Aragonese and ; ) is an international airport near Zaragoza, Aragón, Spain. It is located west of Zaragoza, west of Barcelona, and northeast of Madrid. In addition to serving as a major cargo airport, i ...

. in the past, Zaragoza was also used as an emergency landing site for the United States's

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

. Between 1958 and 1992, Zaragoza Air Base was used by the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

, courtesy of the

Pact of Madrid The so-called Pacts of Madrid of 1953 were three "executive agreements" signed in Madrid on September 23, 1953, between the United States and Spain, then under the dictatorship of General Franco. Under these agreements, five U.S. military bases w ...

. In 1992, Malcolm Harvey robbed and murdered two Zaragoza women while serving at the air base. On 20 May 2023, an F-18 crashed during an air show at Zaragoza Air Base. The aircraft "erupted into a giant fireball", according to local news sources. The pilot ejected and was thought to be safe.Express 20 May 2023 by Oli Smith

References

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External links

Zaragoza Airport websiteZaragoza US Air Base History (Spanish)
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{{authority control Airports in Aragon Installations of the United States Air Force in Spain Military airbases established in 1954

Air Base An airbase (stylised air base in American English), sometimes referred to as a military airbase, military airfield, military airport, air station, naval air station, air force station, or air force base, is an aerodrome or airport used as a mi ...

Bases of the Spanish Air and Space Force