5 November 1913

In 1913 the Spanish Air Military Service was born. An expeditionary unit, with 14 aircraft, 10 pilots and 6 navigators, was assigned to cooperate with the Army in colonial warfare in North Africa, giving Spain pre-eminence in first employing the airplane in military operations. The first combat flights occurred on November 5, 1913. Although Italian airplanes had dropped bombs in Libya in 1912, Spain was the first country to employ air forces in an organized fashion.