Helwan

Order of Battle · Aircraft manufacturers · Egypt

Helwan

Helwan Air Works · Factory No. 36 · Egyptian General Aero Organisation (EGAO)

Nasser hired Willy Messerschmitt and an engineer from the Soviet bomber programme to give Egypt its own supersonic fighter; the HA-300 went Mach 1.13 before the money and the politics ran out.

1959Founded
Defunct 1969Status
2Aircraft on record
2Air forces flying its types
Photo: Ralf Roletschek / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)
CountryEgyptFounded1959HeadquartersHelwan, CairoStatusDefunct 1969
The story

Helwan: the company and the aircraft that made its name

Messerschmitt on the Nile

After 1945 Willy Messerschmitt, barred from building aircraft at home, went to Spain and Hispano Aviación. There he designed the HA-200 Saeta jet trainer and began a tiny supersonic fighter, the HA-300, which Spain abandoned in 1960. Egypt’s President Nasser wanted both. In 1959 Egypt took a licence for the trainer, built at the Helwan works south-east of Cairo as the HA-200B Al-Kahira, and Flight International reported 65 built there between 1960 and 1969.

A fighter and an engine

The fighter followed. Messerschmitt’s team moved to Factory No. 36 at Helwan, under the Egyptian General Aero Organisation, and the initials now stood for Helwan Aircraft. Nasser did not want to depend on a British engine after Suez, so the Austrian Ferdinand Brandner, who had led work on the Soviet NK-12 turboprop, designed the E-300 turbojet. India helped fund it for its HF-24 Marut. The first HA-300 flew on 7 March 1964, on an Orpheus, and reached Mach 1.13.

Cancelled in silence

A second prototype flew on 22 July 1965. The third, with the E-300, never got beyond taxi tests. More than E£135 million had been spent when the programme was cancelled in May 1969, without public explanation. Egypt turned to Soviet fighters instead, and the Helwan fighter became a might-have-been.

Nasser hired Willy Messerschmitt and an engineer from the Soviet bomber programme to give Egypt its own supersonic fighter; the HA-300 went Mach 1.13 before the money and the politics ran out.Helwan · verified 2026-10-03
At a glance

Helwan in numbers

The company

In short
Programme from 1959

  • Factory No. 36 at Helwan, south-east of Cairo
  • Run by the Egyptian General Aero Organisation
  • German design team led by Willy Messerschmitt
  • Fighter programme cancelled May 1969

Production

Best known for
HA-200B, HA-300

  • HA-200B Al-Kahira jet trainer: about 65 built under licence
  • HA-300 supersonic fighter: 3 prototypes
  • E-300 turbojet by Ferdinand Brandner

Today

Now
Defunct programme

  • HA-300 cancelled May 1969
  • Egypt turned to Soviet fighters instead

The numbers

HA-200B built at Helwan
about 651960–1969
HA-300 programme cost
over E£135 million
HA-300 top speed achieved
Mach 1.131964
The aircraft

Every notable Helwan aircraft

Helwan HA-300Light supersonic interceptor · first flight 1964 · 3 built

Photos: André Gerwing / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Aircraft Role First flight Built Status Note
Helwan HA-200B Al-Kahira Jet trainer (licence-built Hispano Saeta) about 65 Retired Airframe and engines made locally
Helwan HA-300 Light supersonic interceptor 1964 3 Retired Third prototype with E-300 engine never flew
Who flies them

Helwan aircraft in the world’s air forces

2 air forces in the Order of Battle fly or flew Helwan types. 0 of them still have one in service.

Air force In service Formerly flown
Algerian Air Force Helwan Gomhouria
Egyptian Air Force Helwan HA-300
Places, people, records

Where Helwan built, who led it, what it achieved

Factories

  • Factory No. 36 · Helwan, south-east of Cairo — Test facilities and workshops of the HA-300 programme

People

  • Willy Messerschmitt · chief designer — Led the HA-300 team from Spain to Egypt
  • Ferdinand Brandner · engine designer — Austrian; designed the E-300 turbojet
  • Gamal Abdel Nasser · President of Egypt — Backed an indigenous fighter and engine
Timeline

Helwan, year by year

1959

HA-200 licence agreed; HA-300 work officially begins at Helwan

1960

Spain abandons the HA-300; Egypt takes over the design

1963

E-300 engine first runs

1964

HA-300 first flight, Mach 1.13

1965

Second HA-300 prototype flies

1967

E-300 flies in an HF-24 Marut test-bed

1969

HA-300 programme cancelled

The family tree

Before and after Helwan

Came beforeHispano AviaciónHA-200 licence and HA-300 design acquired, 1959–1960Read the Hispano Aviación page
Questions & Answers

Everything people ask about Helwan

What was the Helwan HA-300?
A small delta-wing supersonic interceptor designed by Willy Messerschmitt and developed in Egypt in the 1960s. It flew in 1964 but was cancelled in 1969.
Why did Egypt build its own jet engine?
Nasser did not want the fighter to depend on a British engine after the 1956 Suez crisis, so Ferdinand Brandner’s team designed the E-300.
Did India take part in the HA-300?
India helped finance the E-300 engine, hoping to use it in the HF-24 Marut; an E-300 flew in a Marut in 1967.
What other aircraft were built at Helwan?
The HA-200B Al-Kahira, a licence-built Spanish Saeta jet trainer; about 65 were built between 1960 and 1969.

Continue the tour

Around Helwan

EgyptHeliopolis Aircraft WorksEgypt’s first serious aircraft factory built a wartime German trainer by way of Czechoslovakia, turning out at least 300 Gomhourias for air forces across the Arab…Read the Heliopolis Aircraft Works pageThe indexAll aircraft manufacturersEvery company that built an aircraft flown by the air forces in the Order of Battle, current and historic.Open the list
Sources & Further Reading

Every fact, checked

Verified 2026-10-03.