Despite the small size of the facilities (700 x 350 meters)[5] it became a key element in the Spanish military effort on the West front of the Rif War, even if it was prone to flooding in winter.

[4] On 1 July 1927 civilian operations started in the airfield, which became a stopover in the postal flight route between Larache and Seville for some months that year.

In the early morning of 18 July 1936, the commander of the military air base, Ricardo de la Puente Bahamonde (Francisco Franco's cousin), refused to join the uprising against the government of the Republic.

Nevertheless, lacking reinforcements from Madrid, he had to surrender to the rebels after a few hours of combat (he would be subsequently executed in August by the new Nationalist authorities in the Mount Hacho Fortress in Ceuta; Franco did nothing to prevent it).

On the following day, 19 July, the de Havilland Dragon Rapide flying Francisco Franco from the Canary Islands landed in Sania Ramel, where the senior rebel officers welcomed him.

On 23 July a German Lufthansa plane, which had been requisitioned by the rebels, took off from Sania Ramel taking Franco's delegation to Berlin.

[10] On 28 July, the Ju 52 that took the delegation back to Tetouan started the airlift into the Tablada airfield in Seville, running four flights a day.

[11] Together with the Italian Air Force Savoia-Marchetti SM.81 supplied by Mussolini, the airlift carried about 13,000 soldiers and 270 tons of cargo until the operation was completed in November.