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The days of the CASA C-101 Aviojet in the Spanish Air Force are coming to an end after 45 years of service in Spain.
This Spanish jet made its first flight on June 27, 1977 and entered service with the Spanish Air Force on March 17, 1980. Spain operated 88 C-101EBs, mainly used for training students at the San Javier General Air Academy (AGA) in Murcia. In 1985 the Patrulla Águila began flying these aircraft, with which it made its last flight in June.
The C-101 has already been replaced by the Pilatus PC-21 turboprop aircraft in the AGA's training duties. This Swiss model will also be the aircraft used by the Patrulla Águila when it returns from its current hiatus in flights following the farewell of the Aviojet. In this way, the C-101 is now only active at the Armament and Experimentation Logistics Center (CLAEX), created in 1991 and based at the Torrejón de Ardoz Air Base in Madrid, where the C-101s will remain flying for a few years. The other C-101 operators (Chile, Honduras and Jordan) have already decommissioned these aircraft.
As we saw in June, CLAEX has three missions: to experiment, approve and receive aircraft, equipment and aerial armament; to research, integrate, maintain, catalogue, store and distribute the armament and ammunition of the Spanish Air Force; and to design, maintain, modify, develop, validate and verify the on-board software of the weapons systems used in the Spanish Air Force. This Wednesday, the excellent YouTube channel Fly By Wire Aviation (which I recommend you subscribe to if you are a fan of the world of aviation) has published a video in which a CLAEX pilot shows up close one of those last Spanish Aviojets, the E.25-35 (54-20). The video is in English; you can activate automatic Spanish subtitles in the bottom bar of the player:
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Main image: Fly By Wire Aviation.
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