The Spanish Air Force (Spanish: Ejército del Aire; literally, "Army of the Air") is the air force of Spain. It is one of the 3 branches of the Spanish Armed Forces and has the mission of defending the sovereignty and independence of Spain, its territorial integrity and constitutional freedoms, basically in its air space. Although Spanish Military Aviation started with a balloon force in 1896, April 10, 1910 is the date when the Spanish military aviation was formally formed by means of a Royal Decree.
On November 5, 1913, during the war with Morocco, a Spanish expeditionary squadron became the first organized military air unit to see real combat during the first organized bombing in history. During this war, the Spanish Military Aviation was divided in two: The Spanish Republic Air Forces (Fuerzas Aéreas de la República Española-FARE), created by the republican government and the National Aviation (Aviación Nacional), created by the army in revolt. At first, the republican air forces had the control of the majority of the territory using the Soviet Polikarpov I-16, but the help received by Francisco Franco from Nazi Germany (Condor Legion) and Fascist Italy (Aviazione Legionaria) changed this.