Supersonic ‘Planchetas’: an old film of the Mirage III of the Ala 11 of the Spanish Air Force

The fighters were based in Manises and were active from 1970 to 1992

Supersonic 'Planchetas': an old film of the Mirage III of the Ala 11 of the Spanish Air Force

@DefAviation Esp 9·27·2019 · 16:32 0

In 2020, it will be half a century since the arrival in Spain of a beautiful French supersonic fighter: the Dassault Mirage IIIEE, popularly known among Spanish pilots as "Plancheta" (Planchette).

Some images of Spanish F-104 Starfighter fighters of the 16th Fighter Wing in 1965
The testimony of a CASA 2111 Pedro pilot, the last bomber manufactured in Spain

On June 12, 1970, the first eight examples acquired by the Air Force landed at the now defunct Manises Air Base, in Valencia. The aircraft was designated C.11 in Spain, CE.11 in the case of the two-seater Mirage IIIDE. The first aircraft were assigned to the 101 Squadron of the 11th Fighter Wing of the Tactical Air Command (MATAC), equipped until then with the old North American F-86F Sabre fighters that I showed you here in August. Like their predecessors, the Mirage IIIEE were decorated with the emblem of Wing 11, inherited from Joaquín García-Morato's Blue Patrol and which bore (and still bears) that aviator's motto: "Vista, suerte y al toro". The Mirage IIIEE remained operational until 30 September 1992, when they made their last flight with the Spanish Air Force, being replaced by the Mirage F1CE.

The same Youtube account that posted the video of Spanish Sabres last month posted a new video the day before yesterday showing the Mirage IIIs of Wing 11. The video has no sound and shows, in its first sequence, a single-seater Mirage IIIEE and two two-seater Mirage IIIDEs. The second shot shows two single-seater Mirage IIIEEs. Unfortunately, the squadron numbers cannot be seen. The fighters in these images have a large Saint Andrew Cross, occupying the entire rudder, so they must have been recorded in the 1970s, since at the end of that decade or at the beginning of the 1980s (from the photos I have seen) the size of the Cross was considerably reduced. I don't know where the owner of that YouTube account gets these videos from, but considering that he has already published two videos of Ala 11 during its time in Manises, it is possible that he has access to some film library of that unit.