Museo del Aire (Madrid)

The Museo del Aire, full title in Spanish Museo de Aeronáutica y Astronáutica o Museo del Aire, is an aviation museum located in the outskirts of Madrid at Cuatro Vientos Airport, Spain. The museum was founded in 1981, and offers six exhibition galleries and it has about 150 aircraft on display.Cuatro Vientos was inaugurated in 1911 and is Spain’s first military airfield. The airfield, although surrounded by construction, is still in use.HistoryThe initial projectIn 1939 the Spanish Civil War came to an end and the Ejército del Aire (Spanish Air Force) was created. It is in this period the Ministerio del Aire (Spanish Ministry of Aviation) appointed Colonel Társilo Ugarte Fernández to prepare a project for the creation of an aeronautic museum. However, 27 years passed before its creation. A first draft was presented in the December of 1948, with its location in the plant below the new building of the Ministerio del Aire (currently Cuartel General del Ejército del Aire).Through subsequent studies and consults, the Museo de Aeronáutica y Astronáutica was created by decree number 1437 of June 16, 1966, accountable to the Ministerio del Aire and with headquarters in Madrid.