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If you drive from the Mediterranean
coast of Andalusia in the direction of the snow-covered Sierra Nevada,
then you will find at the edge of the small city of Armilla, about 6 km
of Granada, the home base of the 78th Wing of the Spanish Air Force. A long tradition connects the helicopter
base of Armilla to the Spanish aviation. Together with the military
base in Cuatro Vientos it is one of the of the oldest aerodromes of
Spain still in use and its aeronautical activities goes back into the
year 1895, when already some balloons started from here. Since then,
its aeronautical activity has been practically uninterrupted and the
airfield was the home of different aerial units. Logically the military aviation showed interest in the airfield at the beginning of the 20's, and the aviation base was opened on 21 June 1922. The original equipment contained airplanes of the companies de Havilland and Bristol and starting in 1927 also Breguet 14 and 19. A first connection to the rotary-wing aircraft developed 1934 during the exhibition of a Autogyro, the "CIERVA". The
flying school years In 1955 the flying school of El Copero
(Seville) was transferred to Armilla. The new training centre for
Spanish military pilots was established. The training of the cadets
took place on the Buecker 131 and above all on the Casa 1,131 (E-3B), a
Spanish licence build of the famous German Buecker. The E-3 was
supported from 1958 by the Spanish Aisa I-115 Garrapata (E-9); the
Spanish designations use an ‘E' which stands for
Entrenador/Escuela, trainer/school. Until 1971, the year the school was
transferred to the Basa Aérea de Reus, 21 pilots received
the pilot licenses in Armilla. Already two years later, in the year
1973, Armilla became the centre for the selection of future
military pilots of the Air Force academy, Centro de
Selección de la Academia General del Aire (C.S.A.G.A.). The
Spanish cadets of the Air Force academy should be examined after
aeronautical yardsticks and trained aeronautically. For these tasks the
"Bucker" E-3 returned to Armilla. The
Ala 78 In the year 1980 Ala 78 was formed as an
active training unit for helicopter pilots and took over the tasks of
the helicopter school from Cuatro Vientos near Madrid that was created
there in 1960. In Cuatro Vientos 866 pilots passed the VFR basic
instruction course (visual flight rules) and 128 pilots the IFR
training course (instrument flight rules), additionally 521 helicopter
mechanics were trained in 20 years. In the initial years of the
helicopter training two helicopter models were used, the
Aerotécnica AC-12 "Pepo" (Z-2), on which altogether only
2500 hours were carried out, and the Sikorsky S-55 (Z-1), which was
used only for 1500 hours. The unit flew also fixed-wing aircraft for
training, like the old-served school machine Buecker 131 supported by
the Do.27 (U-9) that was mainly used for liaison flights. The
‘Z' in the Spanish name stood for the helicopters and the
‘U' for Utilitario, utility. The old helicopters were soon replaced by the Bell-47 in the versions G-2 (HE-7), OH-13H (HE-7A) and G-3 (HE-7B), as well as the UH 1-H (HE-10B) and Agusta Bell 205 (HE-10A). The year 1978 saw the introduction of the Hughes Schweizer 300C (HE-20) for basic training duties. The ‘Z' in the Spanish naming was replaced in the meantime by ‘HE ' for Helicoptero, helicopter. Already in 1983 100,000 training flight hours could be registered. At the end of the eighties the unit needed a new helicopter model, that would be used particular for the instrument flight training but also for transportation and SAR - duties. The modern twin-engine American S-76C of the company Sikorsky was chosen to fulfil these tasks. On 08 November 1991 the first Spanish crew flew in the S-76 (HE-24-01) at the West Palm Beach Sikorsky factory. Still in the same month the helicopter was ferried on board a Spanish C-130 Hercules (T-10-01) of Ala 31 from the USA to Spain. It was presented officially on 10 December. 1998 the eight S-76 had already 15,000 flying hours, in the same year the wing celebrated a total number of 145,000 training flight hours. With the introduction of the S-76 the proven
but at this time aged helicopter models Bell 47 and UH-1 could be
withdrawn. Already in March 1990 the Bell-47 was retired with than
70,000 flying hours, followed by the UH-1 with a total of more than
50,000 flying hours (35,000 training flying hours), in the year
1993. The Hughes 300 was still in use, in 1997 it looked back
on more than 40,000 flying hours and reaches even the 50.000 in 1999.
However at that time the end of its career in the Spanish Air Force was
reached. On 28 April 2001 the last Hughes finally shut down its
turbine. With the Eurocopter EC-120 "Colibrí"
(HE-25) a modern successor could be found,. The EC-120 was introduced
on 28 July 2000. The education phase The tasks of the Ala 78 for over twenty years
now is to train helicopter pilots and mechanics, who are called by name
"Molinillos" in the Spanish Air Force. For these tasks the 78 Ala
operate today two helicopter types, 15 EC-120 and 8 S-76. The courses
that are distributed by the Unit are: o Basic Course of Helicopters in the EC-120 Colibrí. o Course of Instrumental Flight in helicopters Sikorsky S-76. o Course of Maintenance of Helicopters for the Air Force, Navy, Army and the Guardia Civil. Additionally the unit takes over the support
of parachutist units, accomplishes SAR of employments, also over sea,
and supports the civil services. The S-76 is also used for the
transport of VIPs. The
courses The aeronautical training begins in the 2.
squadron, the Escuadrón 782 on the 15 EC-120
"Colibrí". The Squadron is responsible for the three-month
basic training course for visual flight rules. During the whole course
the cadet will carry out about 50 flying hours and will spend
innumerable hours with learning. The lessons are divided in four
phases, first the pilot candidate has to learn the basic control of the
helicopter, the take off and landing, the turn around of the machine,
as well as hovering the aircraft on a place in constant height. During
the second phase airfield circuits are flown, autorotation exercises
are to accomplished and emergency situations will be simulated. After
20 days of theoretical training in the subjects navigation,
aerodynamics and meteorology, as well as 20 flying hours on the
"Colibri", a theoretical and a practical examination will be the goal,
which enables the pilot student for his first solo flight. The learned
is deepened in the third phase with low level and mountains flights.
The last phase contains then additional theoretical and practical
navigation training. After
the cadet went trough the basis course in the 782. squadron, he is
allowed to practice the slogan of the 1. Squadron, the
Escuadrón 781 "lo que bien se aprende ..." (mal se
olvida), "which was once correctly learned..." (cannot be
forgotten) during the three-month instrument flight training. This
training course on the 5 Sikorsky S-76C of the 1. squadron, which is
conducted 3 times in the year, is divided into three phases. The first
part is the instrumental flying, the second the flights with the help
of ILS (Instrument Landing System), VOR (VHF Omnidirectional Radio
Beacon), GPS (Global Positioning System) und ADF (Automatic Direction
Finder) and finally the third phase with the practical
navigating during various cross-country flights on blind flight
conditions. A theory part accompanies the entire training. The 781.
squadron accomplishes still another large training course for graduates
of the AGA, Academia general del Aire, the military academy. This nine
months course contains beside the basic instruction course also the
training for formation flights, landing on outposts, mountain flying
and the low-level flight, as well as the bases for the SAR duties over
sea and land including the handling of the rescue hoist. The
theoretical part, which contain also SAR regulations, English lessons
and the handling of the helicopters during a combat mission, as well as
the practical navigation lessons, are part of the course. The
ASPA aerobatic team Patrulla ASPA is the helicopter aerobatic
team, which is to represent the Spanish Air Force in Spain and abroad.
The Ala 78 received green light from the Spanish Air Force Headquarter
at the end of September 2003 for the build up of an aerobatic team. The
Patrulla ASPA was introduced to the public on the old airfield of
Tablada in Sevilla in May 2004 and since that time it attends almost
all aerial meetings and days of the open door of the Spanish Air Force
and is flying its display as well on meetings abroad. Each of the
special painted 5 HE-25 "Colibri is flown by two pilots, all
experienced instructors at Armilla, In the time between those events
the helicopter pilots and their machines take part in the daily
training of the Ala 78.
We would like to thank Major
"Pépe" De Los Rios and Major Jose Isidro Pinteño
Gijon for the
friendly support during my visit at Armilla. By Jens Schymura
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