Mail from the “876th. ACWRON. Air Surveillance Squadron No. 5 – Aitana Base“

 

The First Agreement of Friendship and Cooperation signed in Madrid in 1953 between Spain and the United States, allowed a restructuring of the Spanish air defense and included the deployment of American units in joint-use bases that would be administered by the American government, along with the supply of American material to modernize the bases. Spanish Armed Forces, as well as the training of our military personnel to be able to use the supplied material and thus counteract the military power of the Soviet Union during the "Cold War." 

The USAF created the 16th Air Force in 1956 as the command for its units deployed in our country. The 16th Air Force included strategic bombing units equipped with the B-47 Stratojet and also the 65th Air Division, which was responsible for training and operation of the warning and control network.

The Alert and Control Squadrons (EAC) that were created in 1958 and constituted in 1959 as part of this Agreement, functioned as a full complement of Air Force pilots until 1965. Each base hosted a Spanish and an American squadron, which shared the use of the means and in turn maintained its own quartering area, which consisted of approximately 12,000 square meters of common land.

The bases contained a radar AN/FPS-20 surveillance aircraft and another AN/FPS-6 height aircraft and each one was protected by its radome respective. They were officially Spanish military installations where the Spanish flag also flew, but under the command of the USAF commander, who always made all the decisions.1

Finally, the 65th Air Division in Spain was made up of 7 bases where each of them received its American nomenclature within the USAF.2

  • 871st ACWRON in Villatobas (Toledo)
  • 872d ACWRON in Constantina (Seville)
  • 874th ACWRON in Inoges (Zaragoza)
  • 875th ACWRON in Rosas (Girona)
  • 876th ACWRON at Benidorm AC&W Site (later Alcoy) 
  • 877th ACWRON in Elizondo (Navarre)
  • 880th ACWRON in Sóller (Mallorca)

 

In Alicante, and specifically in the Sierra de Aitana at 1,558 m, and only 18 km from the coast of Benidorm and the Marina Baixa region, the radars that began their work with the American name “876th. ACWRON-AIRCRAFT CONTROL AND WARNING SQUADRON” were located, and whose Spanish name was “ESCUADRON DE ALERTA Y CONTROL Nº5.

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Thus two radomes were built on the summit of Aitana which took the name of "Kansas", as the system's identification as part of the 65th Air Division, which was integrated into the 16th United States Air Force, which had its main base in Lindsey, Germany. 

For its operational functioning, "Kansas", In addition to the radar system at the summit of Aitana, it required an Air Force military barracks close to the radars, which was finally located in the Port of Tudons, and a Military Colony that would serve as a residence for the displaced American soldiers and their families. 

In 1957, construction began on the Aitana radar, which was finally operational in 1960. Initially, it was thought that this military colony would be located in the city of Benidorm, as evidenced by USAF documents, where in 1958 the “876th ACWRON” appears under the name “Benidorm AC&W”, but in 1960 Benidorm was a quiet and pretty town of 6,300 inhabitants, which was beginning to have a flourishing tourism, whose urban development plan had recently been approved, but which lacked the main and basic infrastructure for the American military.3

The US finally awarded "Kansas" to Alcoy, which at that time had a population of 55,000 inhabitants, and they built the colony in this city, which had two hospitals and a secondary school. 

The first twenty American families arrived in Alcoy in October 1960. The Americans built the colony in the city centre, with 60 single-family homes designed in the purest American style, fully furnished, with electric stove, refrigerator, washing machine and dryer. The colony had a nursery, primary school, grocery store, officers' and non-commissioned officers' club, printing press, post office, cinema, sports and leisure areas, garages and other annexed facilities with a total of 60,000 square metres. Even American dentists travelled from Hospital 3970 at the USAF base in Torrejón de Ardoz and professors from the University of Maryland also periodically visited the Alcoy Aviation Colony to give courses to American soldiers.4Some Spanish teachers residing in Alcoy came to teach North Americans within the colony.

In 1962, the graphic arts department of the Aitana Military Base printed a small informative publication in English for the American military, recounting the goodness of the people of Alcoy and the inhabitants of the region, its flourishing industry in the 1960s, with a stable and expanding economy, with abundant school places in both public and private Catholic primary and secondary schools and the presence of two hospitals with a total of 223 beds, where there was no discrimination based on race or religion, an important concern for American society in the 1960s and for military personnel stationed abroad.5

Although the stay of the American military in the Alcoy Aviation Colony and in the Aitana Base was only five years and two months, there are very few postal references that remain of their passage. 

At least one military postmark is known to have been used at the Aitana Base, the legend of which is similar to that of the other American bases in Spain. As stated above, the postmarks must have been postmarked between October 1960 and December 1965: “ARMY & AIR FORCE POSTAL SERVICE-(date)- 414 – APO”.

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At the end of 1964, the US government ceded the property, facilities and equipment to the Spanish government and dissolved its squadrons. In 1965, the Spanish Air Force took over this base, changing its name to “AIR SURVEILLANCE SQUADRON Nº5 (EVA-5)” with the motto “Always Vigilant” and its own emblem. 

In the late 60s, and as an anecdote, the radomes of the Aitana base detected a target over North Africa heading east, moving at 3.2 Match, which finally turned out to be a spy plane. SR71 Blackbird of the USAF, the fastest plane in history and which curiously had been designed to not be detected by radars6.

The 65th Air Division was disbanded in 1991. 

The Alcoy City Council is currently in talks with the Ministry of Defence to integrate the land of the Aviation Colony as its own in the city of Alcoy. 

On the other hand, although the radomes on the summit of Aitana are working, the military barracks of the Aitana Base located in Puerto de Tudons is completely in ruins, destroyed and with the buildings looted as a result of vandalism. 

However, we still have the few postal testimonies of that military base and its Alcoy Aviation Colony, which unfortunately, still do not have a deserved place in the Alcoy collector's album published by the Philatelic and Numismatic Association of Alcoy, at least as a reminder of all those Americans and Spaniards who served in its facilities and who left their memories and experiences in many of the Alicante regions and also in the Alcoy culture.

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  1. https://elviajerohistorico.wordpress.com/2016/03/08/bases-americanas-en-espana/  American bases in Spain.
  2. https://www.militar.org.ua/foro/las-bases-usa-en-espana-t37499.html American Bases in Spain during the Cold War.
  3. Journal of Festes. ASJ. Alcoy 2006. “Always Vigilant. Alcoy in the sixties as seen by Americans”. Juan A. Sempere Martínez. California. USA.
  4. Journal of Festes. ASJ. Alcoy 2006. “Always Vigilant. Alcoy in the sixties as seen by Americans”. Juan A. Sempere Martínez. California. USA.
  5.  "Remembrance of Alcoy" (1962). Compiled and edited by Master Sergeant Anthony F. Esposito. Printed by Aitana Graphics Art. Cº. Alcoy. Limited edition of 600 copies.
  6. https://www.militar.org.ua/foro/las-bases-usa-en-espana-t37499.html American Bases in Spain during the Cold War.