photo #1723711

THE AV-8S HARRIER IN THE SPANISH ARM 🇪🇦.In 1973 the Spanish Navy purchased 8 Hawker Siddeley Harrier Mk-53 monopolace and 2 Mk-54 double-seater. The planes purchased by Spain were built under license in the U.S. by McDonnell-Douglas and belonged to that country's Marine Corps. Their denomination in Spain was AV-8S or VA-1 Matador, in the case of monoplazes, and TAV-8S or VAE-1 Matador in the case of biplazes. The first planes arrived in Spain in 1976. A second batch of 5 more planes (Mk-55) monoplane was purchased in 1980.. All the planes were framed in the missing 8th Squadron and operated from the “Give it” aircraft carrier.Three of these planes were lost in many other crashes on May 28, 1980, October 22, 1984 and July 29, 1986, these two last crashes occurred at the Naval Base de Rota. After being withdrawn from service in 1996, nine of these aircraft (7 AV-8S and 2 TAV-8S) were sold to Thailand 🇹🇭, whose Armada was operating on board the HTMS Chakri Naruebet aircraft carrier until 2006. The Matador were replaced in the Spanish Navy by the most modern EAV-8B Matador II, which are still in service.