Navia

43°22'46"N 006°44'46"W

runway: SW/NE - 550x50m - concrete
runway: E/W - 350x50m - tar

Air field Navia (Aeródrimo de Navia, also known as Aeródrimo de Jarrio) was an airfield near Navia, 430kilometers northwest of Madrid, Spain.
The airfield was built during the Spanish civil war and served with the Nationalist forces.
Although Spain was neutral during World War II it had strong ties with Nazi-Germany.
The Luftwaffe had sharpened its claws and teeth during that time with the Condor Legion.
This may have been the reason for an incident at Navia that violated Spains neutrality in the days following 15 June 1941.





Undated aerial view of Navias two runways.


On 15 June 1941 the inhabitants of the area heard the noise of a landing large aircraft at Jarrio.
The aircraft, a Focke-Wulf Fw-200 Condor, managed to land on the 550m long runway in spite of visible battle damage.
The aircraft, F8+FH of I./KG40 and based in Bordeaux had suffered the damage during an English attack off Cape St. Vincent.
The attack (amongst others) had resulted in the loss of almost all fuel and the death of the flight engineer.
The next day the Mililtary Attachee of the German Embassy arrived at the airfield, followed by a Ju-52/3m from Bordeaux, with fuel, spares and technicians.
The technicians worked at exceptional speed to repair the aircraft, and on 17 June the aircraft was capable to return to its home base at Bordeaux.
The Fw-200 and the Ju52/3m took off on 18 June, with the Junkers carrying the remains of the flight engineer of the Fw-200.


Jarrio airfield was last used on 30 July 1957 by a Spanish Air Force Ju-52, piloted by Felipe de Madariaga and Esteban Francos.
It was formally closed on 24 July 1961, and in 1963 the Spanish Air Ministry agreed to dismantle the airfield.
The lands were returned to the original owners.


Although the airfield seized to exist ove 50 years ago, parts of it still remain.
Two large sections of its concrete runway can still be seen in aerial photography, such as Google Earth.
The northeast section is now used by a local business to park vehicles.
The southwest section seems to be without any function.
Some aviation activity remains: today much of the terrain is occupied by the Hospital de Jarrio.
The hospital has a small helipad.





The remains of the airport in 2003 with in Red the remains of the concrete runway
and in Yellow the remains and faint outlines of the tar runway (Google Earth)






Remains of the northwest section of the runway, now in use to park vehicles.