The DHC-4 Caribou, a good STOL military plane explained by one of its Spanish pilots

On July 30, 1958, a fine military aircraft dedicated to tactical transport missions built in Canada made its first flight.

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The DHC-4 Caribou was the fourth aircraft designed by de Havilland Canada, an aeronautical company that has become famous for building aircraft well suited to the particular needs of the harsh Canadian geography, and in particular for its extensive experience in STOL aircraft, that is, aircraft capable of operating on short and poorly prepared runways. The Caribou was one of its best aircraft.

The first operators of the Caribou were the Canadian Army and the United States Army, the latter eventually ordering 173 units, initially designated as the AC-1 and later as the CV-2. The Caribou was widely used in the Vietnam War by the United States, both by the Army and the Air Force (USAF) and also by Air America, the famous company operated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The aircraft could carry 32 equipped soldiers or two Jeeps, which could be unloaded via its rear ramp.

The Spanish Air Force operated 30 units of the DHC-4, being designated as T.9. They were acquired to replace the already veteran Douglas DC-3s. The first 6 were purchased from de Havilland Canada in 1967, with a second batch of another 6 acquired in 1970. In 1969, these aircraft participated in the Azor I exercise, the first air transport operation of the current Brigade "Galicia" VII (BRILAT) of the Spanish Army.

In 1981, Spain purchased 18 C-7As from the US Air Force Reserve (AFRES), which, unlike the units purchased from Canada, had navigation radar installed in a radome on the nose. The first Spanish DHC-4s were assigned to the 372 Squadron of the 37th Wing, based in Los Llanos (Albacete), a unit that would be transferred in August 1974 to Villanubla (Valladolid).

In 1975, 4 Caribous from Wing 37 were deployed to Spanish Sahara during the evacuation operation in that territory, completing 190 missions and almost 800 flight hours. The Caribou served in the Air Force until July 1991, when it was finally replaced by Spanish-made CASA C-212 Aviocar aircraft. Currently, the Cuatro Vientos Air Museum preserves one of the C-7As purchased from the US in 1981, the T.9-25 / 371-05. This Monday, the Association of Friends of the Air Museum has published a video showing this aircraft, with the excellent testimony of Tomás Castro, one of the Spanish pilots of this aircraft (the video is in Spanish, you can activate automatic English subtitles in the bottom bar of the player):