Spain (2014)

Tuesday 7 October started early again. The first 4Aviation tour to Spain was about to start, in honour of the 75th anniversary of the Spanish Air Force and an interesting TLP at Albacete. The itinerary resulted in 23 participants for the tour. The group was to meet at Eindhoven Air Base at 05.00. One of the group chose to fly to Madrid on his own. All were there on time and Transavia flight to Madrid also kept to its schedule. Just before 09.30 we arrived at Madrid IAP. The last person joined the group there in time. Next step was to pick up the three vans. Since we needed to drive to Albacete from Madrid to capture the recovery of the TLP sortie that day we were somewhat in a hurry. We arrived at Albacete in time though. On our way to Albacete we stopped at fuel station for some refreshments. This stop had a serious impact since the tour guide did something stupid here and heard a ‘snap of a bone’. The TLP sortie in Albacete departs later than what we were used to at Florennes. It starts late in the afternoon instead of early in the afternoon. When we arrived at Albacete at 14.30 it was still very quiet. This changed with the launch of the TLP sortie, which we photographed during take-off. On our way to the approach area we saw a lot of stored Mirage F1Ms. The TLP aircraft landed until around 17.45. On our way to the hotel, also in Albacete, we stopped at a Mirage F1M on a pole. It was lit beautifully in the bright sun. It had been a long day, but with beautiful weather.