In Sintra, thousands of Portuguese people, heartened by the daily contemplation of sea and hills, have experienced aeronautics through serving in the Air Force. Many forged their military career there, gaining a specialisation or unique command skills. Some, as crew members, have soared through the skies, making their dream of flying a reality.
This stamp issue, dated 12 October 2020, marks the centenary of the start of the first piloting course at Granja do Marquês. From 20 February 1920, the Military Aviation School, transferred from Vila Nova da Rainha, got ready to revive the noble activity of flight instruction.
The Military Aviation School was thus able to evolve, organisationally and structurally, and went by a series of different names according to the diverse aspects that characterised it over the course of a century. In 1939, as a result of the reorganisation of the Air Force, it was named Air Base No.1 and continued to embrace, sentimentally and professionally, all “aviators” from the various specialities.
The School combined experience, knowledge and aeronautic know-how across its multiple facets, contributing to the training of the first civil pilots in Portugal and representing an added value for the Military Aeronautics in its transformation into the Portuguese Air Force, in 1952.
The initial small runway, just 400 metres long in 1920, was extended and, by the end of the 1930s , it was being used as Lisbon International Airport. From the 1960s, it evolved into an exceptional aeronautical infrastructure in which modern jet aeroplanes were used for pilot instruction.
Over 100 years, Granja do Marquês has kept pace with the prodigious developments in aviation, becoming a point of reference in terms of the specificity of its instruction and teaching, operations and heritage. Moving forwards, following the reformulation of the national strategy during the 1970s, technical and technological developments, the acquisition and use of new capacities, as well as the need to increase and enhance aeronautical knowledge in an across-the-board approach to the role of Air Authority, led to a concentration, in Granja do Marquês, of areas of innovation related to the teaching and military training of personnel through the creation of the Institute of Higher Studies and the Air Force Academy.
Operational air activity was at the forefront during the challenging 30s and 40s, with the assigning, albeit for only a few years, of modern night bombers and a fighter squadron, whilst responsibilities were also maintained in the context of elementary, basic and advanced pilot training. Later, missions such as the transport of VIPs or the reconnaissance and research of natural resources, among others, were assigned to the Unit.
The historical and built heritage of this Air Force Unit include the Palace, the Chapel and the old buildings, which have become an icon of the Portuguese Air Force. The Palace, purchased by descendants of the Marquis of Pombal, is a typical 18th-century manor house, successively enlarged to satisfy functional requirements but always respecting the original architecture.
In parallel, the development of the aeronautical collection held within the Unit and the need to create new museological spaces led to the extension, in 2011, of the facilities of the Air Museum, which includes the main collections of the Portuguese Air Force as well as a civil aviation component.
Granja do Marquês, with its noble past and honourable activity, is an irrefutable example of intangible heritage, for its wealth of principles and value chain, the referential standards that characterise the Air Force, with Air Base No.1 as a faithful custodian of the historical heritage and legacy of the aeronautical traditions of Military Aviation / the Portuguese Air Force in Sintra, as well as the Air Force Academy and Air Museum. As a celebrated aeronautical space that continues to shape the mission spirit of new generations, it upholds and promotes all that unites and distinguishes, ensuring a transcendental value that can be carried into the future.
António Mimoso e Carvalho
