Getafe,  16 October 2008

After a good first day at Torrejón de Ardoz we began our second day at Madrid-Getafe AB. Here we first had a quick look from the bridge near the train station. From here we had a nice view on the northern ramp where we were able to read two CN-235s and three C-295s of Ala 35. Unfortunately we weren't able to read the Beech C.90 which was parked here as well.

At the other side of the airfield you'll find a huge cemetery. From the gate of this cemetery we were able to read some more aircraft which were parked at the western ramp. When we decided to leave this spot a Police car came from behind, but they only looked at us, and didn't made us stop. A few minutes later when we were trying to catch some more serials of the aircraft parked at the western ramp, from a local park we were spot by the same Police again. This made us decide to leave the area around the airfield as soon as possible. The only shots we took at this airfield were the HA.220 Super Saeta which can be found near the main entrance at a roundabout. And the C-212 which can be found in the village Perales del Rio.

History of Getafe

The history of Getafe Air Base began in May 1911 when Jules Vendrines used it for it’s flight from Paris to Madrid. Two years later the National School of Civil Aviation was created at Getafe. In 1924, Construcciones Aeronáuticas S.A. (CASA) built its first factory in the area. That same year, Juan de la Cierva's autogyro was flown for the first time from the air force base. Since then the airfield had a mixed military and civil status. The military side housed the airbase and National School of Civil Aviation and the civil side was used by civil airlines and The Real Aero Club de España since 1927. When Madrid-Barajas opened in 1932 the civil part of Getafe moved to this new airfield. 

After the civil War, the airfield expanded, and the runway was paved. Several units have been stationed at Getafe Air Base since. One of these units is the Ala 35 transport unit which was created in 1935 and is still stationed at Gefate. The Ala 35 has flown CASA C-207’s, C-54’s and many other transport aircraft. Nowadays the squadron operates the CN-235s and new C-295s. Besides these two types Getafe is also home of Grupo 42 which is equipped with the Beech F.33 and Beech C.90.

sources: Ejército del Aire

Colmenar Viejo,  16 October 2008

From Getafe we drove towards Torrejón de Ardoz hoping to take some shots of the CL-215 flying boats as they returned after their morning mission. As you can see above we managed to take some nice shots of these nice yellow fire fighters. Below you'll also find four macro shots taken near the landing area at Torrejón while waiting for some thing to happen.

We left Torrejón de Ardoz around 1 o'clock in the afternoon and drove towards Colmenar Viejo where we arrived half an hour later. Several colleague spotters had told us you could enter the park north of this Army Base as this is a National Park. We parked our car close to the gate of this park and were able to read most of the helicopters on the ramp from various positions inside the park.

When we finally found a nice spot in the landing area out of sight of the Army Base we got a surprise visit of the Guardia Civil. They wanted to see our passports and our camera's as we were not allowed to take pictures of aircraft, helicopters or the base itself. Luckily the others made some back ups of their Compact Flash cards on Niels' portable hard drive, so when they were asked to delete the pictures they didn't care much. I had even more luck, as I didn't make a back up of the shots I took today, but they didn't see my camera. Otherwise I had certainly lost my shots of the CL-215s and the EC.135 you see above. The main reason for their visit was the fact that we were trespassing, as what we thought to be a park was actually a private terrain. So we were not allowed to be there. When all info from our passports was collected we were asked to leave, so we did.

From Colmenar Viejo we drove towards Alcorcón where we booked another Formula One Hotel. This hotel is pretty close to the airfield of Cuatro Vientos, so after we checked in at our hotel we had a quick peak at Cuatro Vientos.

History of Colmenar Viejo

Unfortunately I didn’t succeed in finding any historical information about Colmenar Viejo Army Base. This Army Base which is located 30 minutes north of Spain's capital Madrid is home to several helicopter squadrons. In earlier days helicopters like the AB.47, AB.206 and Bö-105 we stationed here. Nowadays the BHELTRA V is one of the main operators at Colmenar Viejo equipped with the CH-47 Chinook. The BTRANS unit operates the old UH-1s and the PCMHEL unit operates the Super Puma. The fourth squadron stationed at Colmenar Viejo is the CEFAMET, which is used for pilot training and this unit is equipped with the new EC.135s.