Zaragoza Air Base is a base of the

Spanish Air and Space Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = Spanish Air and Space Force Anthem , mascot = , anniversaries = 10 December , equipment ...

located near

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Province of Zaragoza, Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Ara ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

. It is located west of Zaragoza, west of

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, and northeast of

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. It shares infrastructure with the

Zaragoza Airport Zaragoza Airport ( Aragonese and es, Aeropuerto de Zaragoza; ) is an international airport near Zaragoza, Aragón, Spain. It is located west of Zaragoza, west of Barcelona, and northeast of Madrid. In addition to serving as a major cargo ai ...

. in the past, Zaragoza was also used as an emergency landing site for the USA's

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program n ...

. Between 1958 and 1992, Zaragoza Air Base was used by the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Si ...

, courtesy of the

Pact of Madrid The Pact of Madrid, signed on 23 September 1953 by Francoist Spain and the United States, was a significant effort to break the international isolation of Spain after World War II, together with the Concordat of 1953. This development came at a ...

References

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External links

Zaragoza Airport websiteZaragoza US Air Base History (Spanish)
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{{authority control Airports in Aragon Air force installations of Spain Installations of the United States Air Force in Spain Military airbases established in 1954