Aviation News - February 2016 UK

international agreements signed by the

Spanish authorities. For example, in 1986

Spain had joined the European Economic

Community (EEC) and also NATO.

This third aircraft had made its maiden

 ight in 1977 and had been bought by Saudi

Arabian Airlines with which it served until

1986. During that time it  ew 20,000 hours.
      A year later it was acquired by Boeing which
      sold it to the Spanish Government.
      The  rst converted aircraft to be delivered
      was a 707-331B, given the serial T.17-1 and
      coded 45-10 (it had  rst  own in 1968 and
      entered service with TWA), which arrived on
      March 30, 1988 for use in the VIP and tanker
      roles. The second example, a 707-331C,
      T.17-2/45-11 (which had its inaugural  ight

in 1964 before joining TWA), was assigned

to the regular transport role as well as being

a tanker, as it hadn’t been con gured for

VIP duties. The arrival of the  rst two 707s

enabled the DC-8s to be retired.

The three 707s were initially assigned to

45 Grupo (45 Group), established in 1987,

and more speci cally by 451 Escuadrón

(451 Squadron), which had its base in

the military area of Madrid’s Barajas

International Airport. With the departure of

the USAF’s 401 Tactical Fighter Wing and

its F-16 Fighting Falcons from Torrejón de

Ardoz air base, which is on the outskirts of

the capital, the Spanish Air Force decided

to take advantage of the newly vacant ramp

space and hangars for use by its own units,

and one of the bene ciaries was 45 Grupo.

The 707s were transferred to Torrejón in

January 1993, where they have been based

ever since.

CHANGE TO 47 GRUPO

Due to the age and resulting maintenance

issues with the Boeing 707s two Airbus

A310-300s were acquired and entered

service in 2003 at which point the 707s gave

up their VIP role. It was decided to create a

new unit to operate the 707s and, in 2004,

47 Grupo Mixto de Fuerzas Aéreas (47 Joint

Air Forces Group) was formed at Torrejón. In

addition to the missions of general transport,

airborne command centre and in- ight

refuelling, the 707s were also assigned to

http://www.aviation-news.co.uk 21

Above: One of the four Boeing 707s to have served with the Spanish Air Force. Antonio Camarasa

Below: Boeing 707-331B TK.17-1/47-01 used to wear the white scheme, but was re-painted grey and the n mostly used for air-to-air refuelling.

The aircraft is pictured taxiing at Gando Air Base which shares runways with Las Palmas Gran Canaria Airport. Rodrigo Rodríguez Costa

20-24_707sDC.mfDC.indd 21 30/12/2015 16:40