Los Ejércitos de España y Estados Unidos vuelven a intercambiar sus alas

A US Armed Forces Hercules aircraft flies overhead at an altitude of 400 metres. It is making a reconnaissance pass, but returns after a few minutes. This time, it leaves in its wake a trail of what looks like paratrooper figurines, the kind that children played with in the 1970s, which unfolded as they were thrown into the air. One, two, three... a score of tiny silhouettes seem to float in the sky as the plane flies off into the horizon.

We are on a military exercise field south of Madrid and, although the plane and its crew are American, the paratroopers who have jumped out of it are from the Spanish Army. And they are conducting a joint exercise known as "wing swapping".

After several years without exchanging wings, Spain and the United States are resuming a tradition that is more than half a century old, and which was interrupted by the pandemic.

The coronavirus has wreaked havoc on military activities. In the case of the Parachute Brigade (BRIPAC), its jumps were halved because the Air Force reduced aircraft capacity by 50 per cent. And international contacts practically disappeared.

For this reason, the importance of this joint jump, beyond representing a return to normality, lies in reestablishing contact with an allied army. And also with its material and its way of working. We then meet them on NATO and UN missions, and familiarity with them increases security.

The Americans are a step ahead of the Spanish Armed Forces in terms of the equipment used by their paratroopers. While the T-10 model of parachute is still used here, with the classic round green dome-shaped canopy, the Americans are currently using a curious grey parachute with a square canopy and four windows in the corners.

It was precisely these openings (which round parachutes do not have) that caused the anecdote of the day, when one of the jumping parachutists "slipped" through the window of a colleague's parachute. Despite the fact that they orbited in a tangle (and capturing the attention of all present) they landed without mishap.

Alongside them, a total of 120 members of the BRIPAC jumped out of two Hécules and two Osprey Y-22 convertiplanes, which were flown in from the US base at Morón de la Frontera for the occasion.

Wing exchanges are a tradition that is almost as old as the parachute corps itself, and are performed by armies all over the world as a sign of twinning.

The first time Spain and the US exchanged wings was in 1967. But since the 1990s, these exercises have been held less frequently due to deployments on international missions. Paratroopers are characterised by their very high readiness and first-responder status, so they deploy on missions very frequently. This complicates "scheduling" among several countries.

In addition to exchanging wings with the United States, BRIPAC conducted annual exercises with France and Portugal. And there was also a tradition with the United Kingdom. All suspended at the moment.

By the way, for those who are still wondering what the "wings" are, they are nothing more than the metal insignia that paratroopers wear on the lapel of their uniform. A badge that, in this type of manoeuvre, the participants of the two countries exchange at the end of the manoeuvre.

The Parachute Brigade confesses that the Spanish insignia is an object of desire among foreign armies. And when wings are exchanged, they fight over it.

This insignia is known as "Rokiski". It was named after the Polish-born Spanish engraver Luis Rokiski, who worked in Madrid from 1939 to 1965 to make each of the insignia and badges that airmen wore on their chests. The craftsman signed the front of the pieces with his own surname, and thus became popularly known by this name.

However, it was not Luis Rokiski who designed it. The original sketch was drawn in 1913 by the Infanta Beatrix of Saxony, wife of the Infante Alfonso of Orleans and Bourbon, who was very fond of Egyptian culture. It seems that the Infanta Beatrix wanted to include symbols of protection in her design, which in the end consisted of two silver wings on a red circle with a crown on top. According to this theory, the red circle on which the two wings rest represents the eye of the god Ra, while the wings are those of the god Horus.

As a curiosity, the first Rokiski was made at the Ansorera jewellers in Madrid, and was given as a gift to King Alfonso XIII. Today, this insignia is also worn by members of the Army, Navy and Guardia Civil who have passed the parachuting course. 

As for parachutes, the models currently in use, which allow a controlled fall, have their origins in the inventions of the Andalusian Abbas Ibn Firnas - born in Ronda, Malaga, around 810 AD - and in the sketches of the Florentine artist Leonardo da Vinci.

But the first prototypes were not produced until a few years before the First World War (1914-1918), where they were used as a lifeline for pilots in case their planes were hit. However, visionaries soon emerged who anticipated new military applications for parachutes and troops specialised in their use, whose golden age came during the Second World War (1939-1945).

In the case of Spain, the Parachute Brigade was created in 1954 by the then commander Tomás Pallás Sierra, who founded the First Bandera (the Roger de Flor). They were presented in the Murcian town of Alcantarilla, where the Military Parachute School is still located today. At that time, 153 soldiers (mostly from the Legion) together with officers and NCOs jumped from old Junkers JU-52 and Savoia S-81 aircraft. In that jump, they orbited with T-6 parachutes, which have little to do with the equipment used today.

The Parachute Brigade today is made up of some two thousand troops divided between the Headquarters, the Naples IV Regiment (which groups the I and II Parachute Infantry Flags), the Headquarters Battalion (where the NBC Company is located), the Zaragoza 5 Infantry Regiment (III Flag), the Lusitania 8 Cavalry Regiment, the Sappers Battalion, the Artillery Group and the Logistics Group.

Paratroopers belong to the Spanish Army, and are considered to be highly available, multipurpose light units. When deployed, they have the necessary means to work autonomously, although they always work with the Air Force (with its pilots and aircraft) to make jumps.

Together with the Special Operations Command and the Legion Brigade, they form the elite of the Spanish Army units.

Another curiosity: the Parachute Brigade has seen such unexpected personalities as the photographer Alberto García-Alix, who spent 18 months as a Knight Legionnaire Parachutist during the course of 1978, before becoming famous for his portraits of La Movida. Also the politician Alberto Ruiz Gallardón, former mayor of Madrid; or the essayist Íñigo Moré, who taught Constitutional Law at the NCO Academy during his service in 1989.

The presence of paratroopers in international missions in which Spain participates is a constant. The BRIPAC has deployed in the Balkans, Mozambique, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Lebanon, Iraq and Mali. Currently, there is a Force Protection Unit deployed in Iraq, and the Zaragoza Regiment of the III Bandera returned from the Lebanon mission about a year ago.

Its presence abroad dates back to 1975, during the Sahara campaign (which led to the Green March). In 1991, the Ist Flag, together with other army units, took part in the PROVIDE COMFORT operation in aid of the Kurdish people. And two years later, the BRIPAC deployed to Bosnia and Herzegovina, where they stayed for seven months in the United Nations mission.

All post-1991 missions in which paratroopers have participated have been under the umbrella of NATO, the European Union or the United Nations. Although their work on national territory has also been outstanding.

In 2005, after the London bombings, they were in charge of reinforcing the security of underground and train stations. And more recently, during the COVID-19 confinement, they were one of the most active forces in Operation Balmis.