{"id":56901,"date":"2024-08-24T23:40:41","date_gmt":"2024-08-24T21:40:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/?p=56901"},"modified":"2026-08-24T02:27:57","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T00:27:57","slug":"the-new-life-of-some-old-spanish-mirage-f1-fighters-as-aggressors-in-the-united-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2024\/08\/24\/the-new-life-of-some-old-spanish-mirage-f1-fighters-as-aggressors-in-the-united-states\/","title":{"rendered":"The new life of some old Spanish Mirage F1 fighters as aggressors in the United States"},"content":{"rendered":"

After being retired from service, the life of a military aircraft can continue in various ways, often in civilian hands.<\/p>\n

The Spanish phantoms of Torrej\u00f3n: the two Phantom II aircraft preserved by the 12th Wing<\/a><\/rel>
\nThe history of the F-104 Starfighter that the Spanish Air Force keeps at Torrej\u00f3n Air Base<\/a><\/rel><\/p>\n

The French Dassault Mirafe F1 fighter aircraft served in Spain between 1975 and 2013.<\/strong> This single-engine fighter aircraft had excellent performance, being able to reach a maximum speed of 2,335 km\/h (Mach 2.2) with a flight ceiling of 20,000 metres. The Air Force came to operate 91 Mirage F1<\/strong> in Wing 11 at Manises Air Base (Valencia), Wing 14 at Los Llanos Air Base (Albacete) and Wing 46 at Gando Air Base (Gran Canaria). Their farewell took place in Los Llanos on June 23, 2013<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
Mirage F1EDA (C.14C-77 \/ 14-53) from Wing 14 and preserved at the Cuatro Vientos Air Museum (Photo: Elentir<\/a>).<\/div>\n

Since their retirement from service, the old Spanish Mirage F1Ms have been stored at the Albacete Air Maestranza (MAESAL)<\/strong> awaiting a buyer. In 2017, it became known of the sale of 22 of these aircraft (20 single-seaters and 2 two-seaters) to Draken International<\/a>, an American company that buys old fighter aircraft to use them as attacker aircraft in training US military pilots<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
The former Spanish Mirage F1 C.14-73 (14-45) still with its original grey paint, but with the Spanish cockade removed and with US civil registration (N576EM), at Lakeland Linder International Airport in November 2019 (Photo: Kai Qiu).<\/div>\n

This week, while watching a video from AirshowStuffVideos<\/a> with images of aircraft operating at Seymour Johnson AFB in North Carolina, I came across images of one of the old Spanish Mirage F1s, the N565EM (formerly C.14-44):<\/strong><\/p>\n