Monográfico F-4 PHANTOM en el Ejército del Aire

More Details…

The Spanish Air Force had, in the late sixties of the last century, a problem of obsolescence in its fighter fleet, then composed of several squadrons of F-86F Sabre, and a single squadron of F-104G/TF-104G.

The first Mirage IIIEE/DE began arriving in 1970, but it needed more fighters, so the F-4C Phantom II (albeit second-hand) was chosen to replace the Starfighter and a Sabre squadron at Torrejón airbase. 

It thus began a policy of acquiring fighter aircraft from two sources, American and European, which continues to this day with the F-18 Hornet and the Eurofighter Typhoon.

The first of 36 initial aircraft arrived in 1971, and during the following years a total of 40 fighters (C.12) and 17 reconnaissance (CR.12) were received.

The former were withdrawn from service during 1990 and the latter in 2002. This special is about their interesting history over the Iberian skies.