The last trip by road of the third Boeing 707 of the Spanish Air Force

@DefAviation ES 3·25·2024 · 21:36 0

In 1988, Spain acquired two Boeing 707s to replace the two old Douglas DC-8s used by the Air Force.

The old military plane used at the Torrejón Air Base to train firefighters
TM.11 Brujo, the Spanish Falcon military plane whose mission was not to transport politicians

Those two Boeing 707s had been operated by the defunct US airline TWA. The first of them, the T.17-1, was built in 1968, and the second, the T.17-2, was from 1964, that is, almost as old as the DC- 8 whom they came to replace. The T.17-1 was dedicated to VIP transport, while the T.17-2 was adapted for troop transport. These aircraft were equipped with in-flight refueling equipment, one at each end of their wings.

Due to the problems that these aircraft caused, the Air Force ended up purchasing a third Boeing 707, the T.17-3, a Boeing 707-368C (cn 21367), built in 1977 and which It had been operated by Saudia airline. These 707s, initially operated by the 45 Group, ended up passing to the 47 Group. The T.17-3 received the number 47-03.

The T.17-3 was one of the protagonists of the Aire75 air festival held at the Torrejón Air Base on October 11, 2014, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Air Force. This plane was one of the largest of those that were part of the static exhibition at that festival. It was there where I took the photo that heads this entry.

Its last mission was a flight to Senegal in mid-September 2016, in support of the Ivory Detachment of the Air Force in that African country. On September 27, 2016, the official farewell of this plane was celebrated at the Torrejón Air Base, with a last flight in which it was escorted by two EF-18 fighters from the 12th Wing:

September 27, 2016

The T.17-3 has spent years outdoors parked at the Getafe Air Base, until it was finally time to make its last trip. This time it was not by air, but by land. In February 2023, the Spanish Air Force signed an agreement with the Rey Juan Carlos University, in order to install this plane in Laboratory 6 of its campus from Fuenlabrada, where aeronautical engineering students and future aeronautical maintenance technicians will use this aircraft to improve their training.

At the beginning of this month, AviationGroup published the impressive video of the transfer, which required disassembling the aircraft's engines, wings, drift and stabilizers:

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Main photo Elentir.