Pacs-Vilobí Republican Aerodrome.

The field of Pacs del Penedès (also called Vilafranca) was located between the municipalities of Pacs del Penedès and Vilobí del Penedès. Its construction, carried out between May and June 1938, consisted of a single rectangular track, parallel to the road between the villages of Pacs and Vilobí and with the Llitrà stream, the town of Vallformosa de Vilobí and with the mountains of Sant Pau and Sant Jaume.

There are still some heritage elements of the old aerodrome with 5 elementary shelters, two of which are located on the road between the villages of Pacs and Vilobí, the large shelter of Can Mayol and the farmhouses of Can Mayol, Cal Via, Cal Miró, Cal Patró and Maset d’en Queralt. Around the Can Mayol farmhouse were located all the elements of the aerodrome’s mobile fleet such as cars, start-up trucks, tanker truck, ambulance … and an alarm space reusing the bell. the parish church of Sant Genís de Pacs.

The refuge of Can Mayol had a capacity for 120 people and was accessed inside through two entrances and went down about 8 meters, a construction made of cement and brick with a barrel vault. Inside there were 3 bedrooms.

The activity of the republican aviation in this aerodrome was effective from the month of August of 1938 to the month of January of 1939. During this time the 7th squadron of Group 21 of Flies stayed there, that was the one that has been there the longest since it was constituted in this field. The 4th squadron of Group 21 of Super Mosques and the 2nd and 3rd squadron of Group 26 of Xatos were also stationed there for some specific periods of time.

The airfield was bombed on November 5, 1938, an attack that also affected the aerodromes of Els Monjos, Sabanell and Santa Oliva. In this attack a plane Polikarpov I-16 Fly was damaged without serious damage being easily repaired. The liaison motorcyclist corporal, Lluís Zamora, left the Monjos aerodrome as soon as the attack began in order to alert the Pacs camp personnel of a possible air attack, with the bad luck that when just when he arrived, the bombing of the Italian legionary aircraft began, and a bomb that fell nearby caused his death. On January 12, the Condor Legion machine-gunned the airfield with its Messerschmitt aircraft, setting fire to three aircraft and damaging others in wings and engines.