Behind the scenes of the air-to-air photo session of a Spanish KC-130H with an ALA46 EF-18 Hornet.

Held at Gando Air Base, in Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, in the second half of January, Dissimilar Air Combat Training 2017 was the most important Air Defense exercise organized by the Ejercito del Aire (Spanish Air Force) this year.

During the Exercise’s Media Day, some aviation photographers went aboard a Spanish KC-130H for an air-to-air photo session with some of the combat planes involved in the drills, including the local-based ALA 46 (Wing) EF-18 Hornets.

We have published the stunning photos our contributor Remo Guidi took from the Hercules, here’s a cool video (produced by thefightercommunity.com) that includes footage from the cockpit of the Spanish Hornet.

As already explained, the ALA 46/Esc. 462 based at Gando flies the surplus U.S. Navy delivered to the SpAF between 1995 and 2000 whereas the ALA  12 from Torrejon and the ALA 15 from Zaragoza, that took part in DACT 2017 too, operate the EF-18A and EF-18B model Hornets (the “E” standing for “España”, Spain), named respectively as C.15 and CE.15 by Spanish AF, along with the upgraded EF-18A(M) (C.15-33) and EF-18B(M) (C.15-36).

H/T Giulio Cristante for the sending the link to the video over.

Here are some really crazy cool shots of the Spanish “Legacy” Hornets.

As already reported, Dissimilar Air Combat Training 2017, the most important Air Defense drills organized by the Ejercito del Aire (Spanish Air Force), at Gando Air Base, in Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, gathered some Italian and Spanish Typhoon jets, along with several F/A-18 Hornets of the SpAF.

During the drills, some aviation photographers, including our contributor and friend Remo Guidi, had the opportunity to board a Spanish KC-130H for an air-to-air photo session with some of the aircraft taking part in the exercise.

In this post you can find some of the shot taken by Guidi from aboard the Hercules as well as on the ground at Gando.

The Spanish Hornets attending DACT belonged to various variants and units: the local-based ALA 46/Esc. 462 flies the surplus U.S. Navy delivered to the SpAF between 1995 and 2000 whereas the ALA  12 from Torrejon and the ALA 15 from Zaragoza operate the EF-18A and EF-18B model Hornets (the “E” standing for “España”, Spain), named respectively as C.15 and CE.15 by Spanish AF, along with the upgraded EF-18A(M) (C.15-33) and EF-18B(M) (C.15-36).

Image credit: Remo Guidi

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