Tablada Airfield

**Tablada airfield** (Spanish: aeródromo de Tablada) was an airfield on the outskirts of Seville, 390 kilometers southwest of Madrid.

Although the airfield was not officially inaugurated until 1915, aviation had made several contacts with the terrain in the years before. At the terrain, which had been in use for sports such as horse racing, tennis and clay pidgeon shooting, the first aviation week was held in April 1910. The event was organised by the then mayor of Seville, Antonio Halcón y Vivent, the count of Halcón. During the event, competitions were held for speed, turns, takeoffs and remaining airborne. Belgian pilot Jean Olieslagers, who had only made his first flight at the field on 28 March, won the Seville Cup.

A new event was held in 1913, during which the Frenchman Tixier made three flights during which he reached a top speed of 115km/hour. The first Spanish airmen to use the field were José Ortiz Echaqüe and Emilio Herrera Linares in 1914.

Colonel Pedro Vives acquired the natural airfield from the city of Seville, with the provision that it was to be returned to the city if the Spanish forces were to end using it. Work on the airfield commenced in 1915.

In April 1919, British commander Hereward de Havilland -brother of Geoffrey de Havilland- flew to Seville from Madrid in 2 hours and 10 minutes.  Later that year, the airfield became home to the Tablada flying school.

Seville became home to the 3rd Air Zone South in 1920 and the air base was converted for use by a reconnaissance squadron, a fighter squadron and a long range bomber squadron. in 1921 the airfield began to see civilian co-use with the first regular aeropastal line Seville-Larache. The King of Spain officially opened the airfield on 10 April 1921.

On 6 April 1926, the airfield saw 140 aircraft take off for a flyby over the Argentine cruiser ARA Buenos Aires, carrying the King and the heros of "Plus Ultra". Since then, what was to become known as 2 squadron was based at Seville Tablada.

In1927 the Spanish King came to see the preparations for a long distance record flight, which was to take place on 29 March 1928. Bad weather and bad luck cut short the attempt however. 1928 did seew the foundation of the Real Aéreo Club de Andalucía (Royal aeroclub of Andalusia) and the Escuela de Pilotos de Tablada (Pilot School of Tablada).

From 1929 until 1936, the airfield played a role as starting point for several long distance record flights. In 1292 two pilots attempted a record breaking flight to Rio de Janeiro. While they crossed 6746 kilometers in 43h50min and reached Brazil, they had to divert to Bahia because of strong headwinds, meaning their record flight had failed. In December 1931, two pilots took off from Tablada for Bata, which they reached after 27 hours and crossing 44500kilometers. In May 1933 a lengthened runway (1530m) was taken into service for another record flight which began on 10 June. Their flight to Mexico was cut short after 40 hours and 7000 kilometers in a straight line when they had to divert to Camagüey (Cuba). What happened next is still disputed, but the aircraft and its crew disappeared while flying from Cuba to Mexico.

In Februari 1936 the base suffered a flooding by the nearby Quadalquivir River. only shortly after the base saw warfare: Bombers that had arrived from Madrid were being bombed up to bomb rebel positions in Morocco. The missions continued during the coup that began in the city of Seville, as the commander of the base, Varela Martinez Esteve, had refused to employ his aircraft to be used against targets in the city. During the Civil War, the base was home to transport aircraft transferring legionaires and regular army personnel from Spanish Africa to southern Spain.

After the civil war the air base hosted the Second Air Region and later the Straits Air Region. In March 1947 the base suffered one of the largest floodings in its history, closing the airfield for 11 days. Similar floodings occurred in 1948, 1951 and 1952, although work to counter the floods had begun in 1949.

The decline of the airfield began when Spain and the United States signed defense cooperation agreements starting in 1953. As a result of these agreements Spain saw an influx of modern aircraft which required paved runways and ample airspace. Both were barely available at Tablada. In the mid 1950s Tablada hosted two units: a Light Bomber Wing (Ala 25) with B-2 Casa 2111 (Heinkel 111) bombers and a fighterbomber unit with C-4 Ha-1112M "Buchon"  (Bf109) fighters. In 1963 Tablada lost Ala25, which signalled the end of the base was coming near. The unit disbanded, its B-2 bombers were reassigned to Málaga and Gando and replaced by more C-4s for Ala7, which itself was renumbered Ala47 in May 1965. By the end of the year their aircraft were written off and stored and the unit disbanded. Almost devoid of aircraft, the airfield was demoted to Military Airfield, instead of Air Base. In 1966 the Straits Air Region was overlapped by the Tactical Air Command.

Between January and May 1968 the movie "Battle of Britain" was filmed at Tablada. For the filming of the movie, many C-4s were returned to flying condition. The aircraft were either flown or moved by road to England, never to return to Spain. In 1969 HQ-TAC was moved to Tablada.

In the 1970s Tablada became the location for all Air Force units and institutions in Seville. The Air Control Group and the unit responsible for inspections of DC-3 transports and Saeta trainers were also moved to the airfield.

The last crash at the airfield occurred in 1984, bringing the total aviation-related death toll to 82. In March 1986 the airfield once again became a Military Airfield instead of a base. On 18 May 1990 all aviation activity ceased, as the Millitary Airfield Tablada became seperated from the barracks and Hangar area by a new ring road. The civilian authorities had not accepted any of the alternative routes that were proposed. A Dornier Do-27 of 407 Sqn made the last ceremonial flight from the airfield on 31 March 1990.

The ring road now passes directly in front of the hangars, seperated only by a sound wall.

In 1991 HQ-TAC was renamed HQ-Straits Air Command. The base area entrance received a monument with a Mirage F1. The runway was used for illegal car races until 2004 when a child watching model aircraft was hit by a car and died. The base facilities remain in use for ground based Air Force activities such as training command and a mobile Air Control Group.