The Spanish Air Force had, at the end of the sixties of the last century, a problem of obsolescence in its fighter fleet, at that time made up of several squadrons of F-86F Sabres, and a single squadron of F-104G/TF- 104G. The first Mirage IIIEE/DE began arriving in 1970, but it needed more fighters, so the F-4C Phantom II (albeit second-hand) was chosen to replace the Starfighter and a Saber squadron at Torrejón airbase.

Thus began a policy of acquiring combat aircraft from two sources, American and European, which continues to this day with the F-18 Hornet and the Eurofighter Typhoon. The first of 36 initial aircraft arrived in 1971, and a total of 40 fighters (C.12) and 17 reconnaissance (CR.12) were received during the following years. The former were withdrawn from service in 1990 and the latter in 2002. This special deals with their interesting history over the Iberian skies.