| The Portuguese Air Force |
By Eddy Wierenga
The history of Portuguese military aviation dates back to 1911, when a Balloon Company was founded as part of the Army Telegraphic Service and received a handfull of aircraft. During WW I, Portugal had no aircraft but Portuguese airmen flew in French squadrons.
In 1918 the 'Military Aviation Service' was founded, including a flying school, the OGMA workshops at Alverca, which still exists under this name, and the first operational squadrons.
After that period many domestic and international incidents have had dramatic influences on the organization of Portuguese military aviation, including the Revolution in 1926, the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s, WW II in which Portugal was not directly involved but during which various allied aircraft entering Portuguese airspace were appropriated, Portugal joining NATO in 1949, the merging of the Military Aviation Service with the 'Naval Aviation Service' into the independent 'Portuguese Air Force' in 1952, the uprisings in the Mozambique, Angola and Portuguese Guinea during the 1960s, and the military coup in 1974 which restored the democracy after 46 years. The turmoil of the revolution and the end of the war in the African colonies in 1975, which had involved 150.000 personnel, urged for a major reorganisation which reduced the 850 aircaft inventory of the FAP in 1974 to only one third of that in 1976.
Since then Portugal has gradually regained its balance and changes in the FAP organization were either intended to increase efficiency or the result of budget cuts. Some of the noteworthy changes during the last decade include the closure of BA3 Tancos and BA7 Aveiro, the re-introduction of an independent naval helicopter squadron, the acquisition of modern aircraft such as the F-16A/B, which replaced the (T)A-7P, the relocation of several squadrons to other bases, the intention (still?) to acquire helicopters for the Army, possibly to be based at Tancos, and the privatization of the OGMA workshops. At this moment, the 21/4 F-16A/B's from the second batch are slowly being converted into F-16AM/BM's, with the first four already on the flightline at Monte Real, while at the Montijo base the first two EH101's were delivered, out of the 12 ordered.
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Photo: Rui Ferreira
Photo: Piet Luijken
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You can find more about the Portuguese Air Force on these pages. On the Order of Battle page we show you where the
main bases of the Força Aerea Portuguesa are. A map of Portugal is available. Click on an airbase to see what's there to be found. Also we present links to
Microsoft's Terraserver and Expediamaps services: with each airbase you can find a link to a map of the airbases' neighbourhood and,
if available, a satellite picture of the base.
Also on the Scramble site: The database containing the FAP aircraft inventory. In this database you can search for aircraft serials and codes. It is also possible to send updates to us!
And of course we present you some links to other Portuguese Aviation Pages.
Order of Battle
FAP Database
Links to Related Websites
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