Hispano-Suiza’s Andalusian outpost

Hispano Aviación grew out of the Hispano-Suiza aircraft factory in Seville, which Franco’s Nationalists took over during the Civil War in 1939; it operated as Hispano Aviación S.A. from 1943. The plant stood at Tablada in the Triana district, and the Swiss engineer Marc Birkigt, Hispano-Suiza’s great designer, was associated with it. Its first big job was to build the Messerschmitt Bf 109G under licence, and the engines proved the hard part.

The Merlin-engined Messerschmitt

The answer was improvisation. The HA-1109 flew on 2 March 1945 with a Hispano-Suiza 12Z engine, and on 29 March 1954 the HA-1112-M1L Buchón flew with a British Rolls-Royce Merlin, the last Bf 109 derivative ever built. Sixty-five three-bladed K1L Tripalas and 172 Buchóns were produced, and the Spanish Air Force flew them until 27 December 1965. Retired Buchóns found a second career as film stars, playing Luftwaffe fighters in Battle of Britain.

Messerschmitt in Seville

In 1951 Hispano signed a development agreement with Willy Messerschmitt, and his HA-200 Saeta, flown on 12 August 1955 by Major Fernando de Juan Valiente, became the first Spanish jet aircraft. Spain bought 30 HA-200As and 55 HA-200Ds, about 65 were licence-built in Egypt at Helwan, and 25 HA-220 Super Saeta attack versions followed. Messerschmitt’s supersonic HA-300 went to Egypt too. CASA absorbed Hispano Aviación in 1971.

מפעלים

• עבודות טאבלדה · Triana, Seville — Main factory

אֲנָשִׁים

• Marc Birkigt · engineer, technical director
• וילי מסרשמיט · designer — Development agreement signed 1951; designed HA-200 and HA-300
• Fernando de Juan Valiente · test pilot — Flew the HA-200 on its maiden flight, 1955

שיאים וראשונות

• HA-200 Saeta: first Spanish jet aircraft, 12 August 1955
• HA-1112-M1L Buchón: last Bf 109 derivative built