Morón Air Base
Morón Air Base (IATA: OZP, ICAO: LEMO) is located at 37°10′N 5°36′W / 37.167°N 5.600°W in southern Spain, approximately 35 miles (56 km) southeast of the city of Seville. The base gets its name from the nearby town of Morón de la Frontera, while it is located inside the municipality of Arahal.
Not to be confused with Moron Airport and Air Base or Mörön Airport.Morón Air Base
Military airfield
- Combat Air Command
- US Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA)
Operational
1940
1941 – present
11th Wing
- 113 Squadron
- 221 Squadron
- 496th Air Base Squadron (USAF)
87 metres (285 ft) AMSL
Currently the base is home to Ala 11, a fighter wing of Eurofighter Typhoons of the Spanish Air and Space Force.
History[edit]
Origins[edit]
Construction on the Vázquez Sagastizábal Military Aerodrome, as Morón Air Base was initially known, began in 1940. The following year it began to function as a military airfield and was utilised to train fighter pilots for the Spanish Army Air Force.
In 1953, the Spanish and American governments finalized agreements to establish a number of Spanish-American air bases, including Morón Air Base. Morón was one of three major United States Air Force (USAF) Cold War airbases in Spain, the others being Zaragoza Air Base near Zaragoza and Torrejón Air Base near Madrid. Construction efforts began in 1953 under the direction of the United States Navy, taking over 3 years to complete.
On May 13, 1958, the first flight of Boeing B-47 Stratojets were assigned to Morón Air Base to conduct Reflex operations and then Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighters arrived to conduct strip alert tanker missions, and six weeks later the first rotational fighter squadron, the 1st Fighter-Day Squadron, flying North American F-100 Super Sabres and commanded by Lt. Col. Chuck Yeager, arrived from George Air Force Base, CA, for temporary duty to conduct air defence alert.
Morón continued to operate primarily as a Reflex base until 1962, when the first Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft arrived. In 1966, the base was transferred from Strategic Air Command (SAC) to United States Air Forces Europe (USAFE). The mission changed to communications support, temporary duty (TDY) "fair weather" flying operations for McDonnell Douglas RF-4C Phantom IIs from RAF Alconbury, and McDonnell RF-101 Voodoo from RAF Upper Heyford, United Kingdom and the support of air rescue operations provided by the 67th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron.
Drawdown[edit]
In 1971, Morón Air Base was designated to a "modified caretaker status", and Torrejón Air Base was designated as the Primary Support Base (PSB) for the Spanish Air Force. A small Spanish Air Force contingent of F-5 Freedom Fighters used the air base during the 1980s. Most of its buildings were empty and on-base services were severely limited.
In November 1983, during the joint Spanish-American military exercise CRISEX 83, U.S. Air Force B-52 strategic bombers were allowed to enter Spanish air space and use Morón Air Base for the first time since being banned after the 1966 Palomares B-52 crash on January 17, 1966, near Palomares.[1]
In 1984, Morón became a NASA Space Shuttle Transoceanic Abort Landing (TAL) site. Special navigation and landing aids were installed, and Spanish personnel were trained to recover the Space Shuttle orbiter after an emergency landing—one that never came. In addition during the 1980 and 1990s, U.S. Air Force airmen deployed to Morón during Shuttle launching periods to help provide onsite weather reporting as well as crash/rescue capability.
Incidents and accidents[edit]
On 9 June 2014, at around 14:00 CEST (12:00 GMT), a pilot died after his Eurofighter Typhoon crashed whilst landing on the runway at the base.[11] A Royal Saudi Air Force pilot was also killed in a Typhoon crash in August 2010.[12]