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The Hispano HA-200 Saeta (English: ''Arrow'') was a twin-seat jet advanced trainer designed and produced by
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
aircraft manufacturer Hispano Aviación. It has the distinction of being the first Spanish aircraft to harness jet propulsion. The
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
aircraft designer
Willy Messerschmitt Wilhelm Emil "Willy" Messerschmitt (; 26 June 1898 – 15 September 1978) was a German aircraft designer and manufacturer. In 1934, in collaboration with Walter Rethel, he designed the Messerschmitt Bf 109, which became the most important ...
can be largely credited for his role in designing the HA-200, which reused a substantial portion of the earlier piston-powered HA-100 Triana. On 12 August 1955, the first prototype conducted its
maiden flight The maiden flight, also known as first flight, of an aircraft is the first occasion on which it leaves the ground under its own power. The same term is also used for the first launch of rockets. The maiden flight of a new aircraft type is alw ...
. It was not until 1962 that the first production aircraft performed its first flight. That same year, deliveries of the trainer aircraft commenced to the Spanish Air Force. It would be used in this capacity by the service for multiple decades. The HA-200 was later further developed into the Hispano Aviación Ha-220 "Super Saeta", which functioned as a dedicated
ground attack In military tactics, close air support (CAS) is defined as air action such as air strikes by fixed or rotary-winged aircraft against hostile targets near friendly forces and require detailed integration of each air mission with fire and movement ...
platform, armed with
rocket A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...
s, bombs, and other munitions. The HA-220 served in the Spanish Air Force throughout the 1970s, seeing action during the Polisario uprisings against insurgents. The HA-200 was also
export An export in international trade is a good produced in one country that is sold into another country or a service provided in one country for a national or resident of another country. The seller of such goods or the service provider is an ...
ed, the type being produced under license by
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
, where it was designated as the ''Helwan HA-200B Al-Kahira''. During the 1980s, the more capable
CASA C-101 The CASA C-101 Aviojet is a low-wing single engine jet-powered advanced trainer and light attack aircraft designed and manufactured by Spanish aircraft company Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA). The C-101 was developed in response to a ...
was introduced to Spanish service, supplementing and eventually succeeding the older HA-200 in both trainer and light attack roles.


Development


Background

The origins of the ''HA-200 Saeta'' are heavily intertwined with the
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
aircraft designer
Willy Messerschmitt Wilhelm Emil "Willy" Messerschmitt (; 26 June 1898 – 15 September 1978) was a German aircraft designer and manufacturer. In 1934, in collaboration with Walter Rethel, he designed the Messerschmitt Bf 109, which became the most important ...
, who was responsible for producing a significant proportion of its design. Following the end of the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, Messerschmitt emigrated from Germany and begun offering his services to various other nations, including
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
. During 1951, he had settled in
Francoist Spain Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...
and shortly thereafter begun to design aircraft for the government in conjunction with local aircraft manufacturer Hispano Aviación. During the early 1950s, Messerschmitt worked on the HA-100 Triana, a piston-powered prototype trainer aircraft; while never attaining production, this design would subsequently serve as the basis for the HA-200. In fact, the two aircraft directly shared many design features, including the wing, tail unit, and
tricycle undercarriage Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or ''landing gear'', arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has a single nose wheel in the front, and two or more main wheels slightly aft of the center of gravity. Tricycle g ...
; original elements were largely confined to the area forward of the cockpit.Forsgren 2017, p. 25. As early as 1951, Messerschmitt had promoted the idea of Spain developing its independent aviation industry, as well as suggesting the pursuit of both an indigenous jet fighter and jet engine. Throughout the 1950s, progress on the HA-200 programme was supervised by Messerschmitt from Hispano's office in
Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...
.Hirschel, Prem and Madelung 2012, p. 342. It would be Spain's first indigenously-developed aircraft to be powered by the
turbojet The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine which is typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet which includes inlet guide vanes, a compressor, a combustion chamber, an ...
engine. On 12 August 1955, the first prototype conducted its
maiden flight The maiden flight, also known as first flight, of an aircraft is the first occasion on which it leaves the ground under its own power. The same term is also used for the first launch of rockets. The maiden flight of a new aircraft type is alw ...
, flown by Major Fernando de Juan Valiente, the company's chief test pilot. Valiente later praised the prototype's handling qualities, stating them to be light and responsive, including "viceless and straightforward" stall characteristics.Lambert 3 February 1956, p. 131. Early on, the French
Turbomeca Marboré The Turbomeca Marboré is a small turbojet engine that was produced by Turbomeca from the 1950s into the 1970s. The most popular uses of this engine were in the Fouga CM.170 Magister and the Morane-Saulnier MS.760 Paris. It was also licensed fo ...
turbojet engine had been selected to power the type; Spain had successfully negotiated a license to locally produce this engine."Military Aircraft of the World..."
''Flight International'', 20 June 1958. p. 862.
Development was protracted, the first production aircraft, which was designated by the manufacturer as ''HA-200A'', first flew during October
1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...
. Shortly thereafter, the initial version of the aircraft were delivered to the Spanish Air Force; in service, it was operated under the service designation ''E.14''.


Further development

The initial trainer model of the aircraft was shortly followed on by a single-seat version, designated as the ''HA-220'', which was designed to perform ground attack missions. On 25 April 1970, this new model made its first flight. During the early 1970s, the ground attack-orientated HA-220 entered into service with the Spanish Air Force, which designated the type as ''C.10''. It remained in service for barely a decade, all of the C.10s being withdrawn from Spanish service by the end of 1981. During the late 1950s, the emerging HA-200 had drawn the attention of
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
ian
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
Gamal Abdel Nasser;Hirschel, Prem and Madelung 2012, p. 339. around this time, Nasser was passionate on the subject of developing Egyptian industrial and military capabilities alike, which included the domestic production of modern jet aircraft. Negotiations between Spain and Egypt were facilitated by Messerschmitt, who acted as a key go-between for the two parties. During 1959, an arrangement was reached that led to the HA-200 being produced under license in Egypt at the Helwan Air Works. Hispano provided documentation pertaining to the aircraft's design and manufacture to support these efforts. Both the airframe and the engines were locally manufactured."Egypt: development spearhead."
''Flight International'', 13 March 1975. p. 417.
According to aerospace periodical
Flight International ''Flight International'' is a monthly magazine focused on aerospace. Published in the United Kingdom and founded in 1909 as "A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport", it is the world's old ...
, a total of 65 HA-200s were reportedly constructed at Helwan between 1960 and 1969."Saudia Arabia axes Egypt's aerospace plans."
''Flight International'', 26 May 1979. p. 1716.
In Egyptian Air Force service, the type was commonly referred to as the ''Helwan HA-200B Al-Kahira''.
''Flight International'', 11 April 1963. pp. 488-489.
According to Flight International, during the early 1960s, Egypt and Spain were collaborating on the development of a six-seater
business jet A business jet, private jet, or bizjet is a jet aircraft designed for transporting small groups of people. Business jets may be adapted for other roles, such as the evacuation of casualties or express parcel deliveries, and some are used by pu ...
directly derived from the HA-200. Around this time, the two nations jointly worked on various aviation projects, including the
Helwan HA-300 The Helwan HA-300 ( ar, حلوان ٣٠٠) was a single-engine, delta-wing, light supersonic interceptor aircraft developed in Egypt during the 1960s. At various stages, Spain and India were involved in the development program. Spain was fina ...
, a cancelled supersonic fighter aircraft.


Design

The HA-200 Saeta is a jet-powered trainer aircraft. In terms of its configuration, it is a low-winged
monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...
, featuring all-
metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...
construction and a retractable
tricycle undercarriage Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or ''landing gear'', arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has a single nose wheel in the front, and two or more main wheels slightly aft of the center of gravity. Tricycle g ...
arrangement. Structurally, it was relatively conventional for the era, using semi-
monocoque Monocoque ( ), also called structural skin, is a structural system in which loads are supported by an object's external skin, in a manner similar to an egg shell. The word ''monocoque'' is a French term for "single shell". First used for boats, ...
lightweight
alloy An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is a metal. Unlike chemical compounds with metallic bases, an alloy will retain all the properties of a metal in the resulting material, such as electrical conductivity, ductilit ...
construction. The cockpit of the HA-200 accommodated a crew of two in a
tandem Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which a team of machines, animals or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. The original use of the term in English was in ''tandem harness'', which is used for two ...
seating configuration; however, the ground-attack orientated HA-220 was furnished with a single-seat cockpit instead. For greater crew comfort, this cockpit was pressurised, the HA-200 being the first Spanish aircraft to possess this facility. The HA-200's propulsion consisted of a pair of
Turbomeca Marboré The Turbomeca Marboré is a small turbojet engine that was produced by Turbomeca from the 1950s into the 1970s. The most popular uses of this engine were in the Fouga CM.170 Magister and the Morane-Saulnier MS.760 Paris. It was also licensed fo ...
turbojet The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine which is typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet which includes inlet guide vanes, a compressor, a combustion chamber, an ...
engines, which were installed in a side-by-side arrangement inside the forward fuselage and mounted on a stressed-skin structure that forms the outer surface of the fuselage's underside. Air was fed to the engines via a large intake on the front of the nose; this particular intake arrangement has been described as being unique amongst jet aircraft."Hispano HA-200 Cairo."
'' Smithsonian'', Retrieved: 20 August 2019.
The engine's exhaust nozzles were located upon the lower fuselage, just aft of the
trailing edge The trailing edge of an aerodynamic surface such as a wing is its rear edge, where the airflow separated by the leading edge meets.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 521. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 199 ...
of the wing.Lambert 3 February 1956, pp. 131-132. A maximum of 261 gallons of fuel could be carried across a pair of fuselage tanks, two wing tanks and two permanently-attached tip tanks; provisions were made for jettisoning fuel in emergency situations.Lambert 3 February 1956, p. 132. For weapons training purposes, the HA-200 featured provisions for the carriage of armaments.


Operational history

In 1970, the HA-200 replaced the aging
CASA 2.111 The CASA 2.111 was a medium bomber derived from the Heinkel He 111 and produced in Spain under licence by Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA). The 2.111 models differed significantly in details from Heinkel's wartime He 111H design while using ...
(a Spanish development of the Heinkel He 111) in Escuadrón 462 on the Canary Islands. From there, they frequently flew on detachments to
Spanish Sahara Spanish Sahara ( es, Sahara Español; ar, الصحراء الإسبانية, As-Sahrā'a Al-Isbānīyah), officially the Spanish Possessions in the Sahara from 1884 to 1958 then Province of the Sahara between 1958 and 1976, was the name used f ...
. Late in 1974, during the Polisario uprisings, the HA-200 conducted its first combat missions against the
Polisario Front The Polisario Front, Frente Polisario, Frelisario or simply Polisario, from the Spanish abbreviation of (Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro), (in ar, rtl=yes, الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير الس ...
. In one instance,
guerilla Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run t ...
s ambushed a
police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...
patrol from higher ground and caves, keeping them pinned from their protected positions. In response, several T-6D fighters and
UH-1 The Bell UH-1 Iroquois (nicknamed "Huey") is a utility military helicopter designed and produced by the American aerospace company Bell Helicopter. It is the first member of the prolific Huey family, as well as the first turbine-powered helic ...
helicopters strafed the Polisario positions with
machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) ar ...
fire, but had little effect; additional air strikes by a pair of Saetas, armed with 2.75" FFARs, were more successful. Diving at a 45 degree angle at the cave entrances, the HA-200's qualities proved itself most suitable for the role. Following these rocket attacks, ground troops attempted to take the caves but were pushed back. The next morning, the Saetas returned to perform more air strikes in the company of more T-6s and UH-1 troop carriers. The attack pattern was repeated with success again, aided by a
Forward Air Controller Forward air control is the provision of guidance to close air support (CAS) aircraft intended to ensure that their attack hits the intended target and does not injure friendly troops. This task is carried out by a forward air controller (FAC). ...
that directed ground fire to where it would be most effective. Multiple rockets entered the caves through the 5–10 foot entrances, few reported missed their target. It is believed that one of the rockets set off some stored mortar rounds, as there were several large explosions. Afterwards, ground troops advanced upon the caves again, this time facing hardly any resistance as most of the guerillas had been killed by the rockets from the Saetas.


Variants

;HA-200R Saeta :Two prototype aircraft ;HA-200A Saeta :Initial production version with, 30 built. ;HA-200B Saeta :Ten pre-production aircraft with Turbomeca Marboré IIA engines for delivery to Egypt, another 90 built under licence in Egypt. ;HA-200D Saeta :Improved version for the Spanish Air Force with updated systems, 55 built. ;HA-200E Super Saeta :HA-200D re-engined with Marbore VI engines, updated avionics and provision for air-to-ground rockets, 40 conversions. ;HA-220 Super Saeta :Ground attack version of the HA-200E for Spanish Air Force, 25 built. ;E.14 Saeta:Spanish military designation of the two-seat versions of the HA-200. ;C.10 Super Saeta: Spanish military designation of the single-seat ground-attack HA-220D & HA-220E versions. ;Helwan HA-200B Al-Kahira: Designation of 90 Egyptian licence built aircraft.


Operators

; * Egyptian Air Force ; * Spanish Air Force


Specifications (HA-200E)


See also


References


Citations


Bibliography

* * * * * * Forsgren, Jan. ''Messerschmitt Bf 109.'' Fonthill Media, 2017. . * Hirschel, Ernst Heinrich., Horst Prem and Gero Madelung. ''Aeronautical Research in Germany: From Lilienthal until Today.'' Springer Science & Business Media, 2012. . * * Lambert, C.M
"Made in Spain."
''Flight International'', 3 February 1956, pp. 130–133. *


External links

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