San Luis Aerodrome was the first civil airfield on Menorca. Originally built during the 1920s it was converted for military aircraft activities during the Spanish Civil War

Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...

. The airfield is located in the Sant Lluís

Sant Lluís

Sant Lluís is a municipality on the tip of south-east Minorca in the Spanish Balearic Islands.- External links :...

 municipality

Municipality

A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...

 in close proximity to Mahon

Mahon

Mahón is a municipality and the capital city of the Balearic Island of Minorca , located in the eastern part of the island. Mahon has the second deepest natural harbor in the world: 5 km long and up to 900m. wide...

 (only 2½ km from the town centre). During 1949, San Luis was equipped as a customs airport and opened to domestic and international traffic in August. Over the following decade, the airport traffic increased which facilitated two extensions of the runway. However the airport could neither accommodate larger aircraft nor could the runway be extended. In 1967, San Luis was assigned to Real Aero Club de Mahón Menorca (Royal Mahon Flying Club) and since then this entity has been responsible for the conservation and maintenance of the facilities of the Pilot and Aeromodelling School. All civilian services were transferred to the island's newly constructed main airport

Menorca Airport

Menorca Airport or Mahón Airport is the airport serving the Balearic island of Minorca in the Mediterranean Sea, near the coast of Spain. The airport, located southwest of Mahón, was opened on 24 March 1969 when all civilian services were transferred from the neighbouring San Luis Airport...

on March 24, 1969. Today it is primarily used for general and leisure aviation, with approximately 3,000 flights per year.

Aeronautical Fleet

San Luis Aerodrome has a fleet of five light aircraft:

• Cessna 172 N with a Lycomig 170 hp engine.
• Cessna 150 Aerobat with a Continental Rolls Royce O-240A 125 hp engine.
• Aisa I-11-B with a Continental C-90 hp engine (first flight in 1953).
• Aisa I-115 with an Emansa Tigre 150 hp engine (first flight in 1952).
• Bücker, German plane of war of Spanish manufacture with an Emmasa Tigre G-IV 125 hp engine, used nowadays for acrobatic flights (first flight in 1950).

External links

• Aeroclub de Menorca
• Aeroclub Menorca http://www.aeroclubmenorca.com/