Special lettering for the HA-200 ‘Saeta’
70th ANNIVERSARY OF ITS MAIDEN FLIGHT
NEWS / 28.08.2025
Special lettering for the HA-200 ‘Saeta’ on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of its maiden flight
On 12 August 1955, an aircraft – the Hispano Aviación HA-200 – took off for its maiden flight with Juan Valiente in the cockpit, accompanied by the characteristic shrill screech of the two installed Marboré engines.
The flight was not open to the public, with no press or official photographers present. It went smoothly and lasted ten minutes. A second test flight followed on 15 August, which flew over Seville Cathedral, among other landmarks.
One day later, the HA-200 was officially presented to the public for the first time by the two factory pilots Pedro de Santa Cruz and Juan Valiente. In the meantime, this aircraft, which was now soaring through the skies of Spain, had also been given a fitting nickname: ‘Saeta’ (arrow).
Official maiden flight of HA-200 at 16 Aug. 1955 © Airbus Heritage
This first prototype of the HA-200 was designed and built in Seville starting in 1955.
On 2 August 1955, the aircraft was transported to San Pablo Airport, where taxiing tests began four days later. And on 12 August 1955, after only 18 months of development and construction, the maiden flight took place. It was the work of Prof. Willy Messerschmitt and his development and production team in Spain for the Spanish Air Force
After the end of the Second World War in Europe, Germany's aviation industry was in ruins and aircraft construction was initially banned altogether. But German aeronautical engineer Prof. Willy Messerschmitt was first and foremost an aircraft designer, so he seized the first opportunity that presented itself to return to his old profession. At the end of 1950, he received an urgent request for technical support from the Hispano Aviación (HASA) company in Seville. They were having major problems converting the Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-4 fighter aircraft, built under licence, to English Rolls-Royce ‘Merlin’ engines.
Two subsequent trips to Spain and the experience gained there led Messerschmitt to set up his own development office on site. On 1 January 1952, the ‘Oficina Technika Prof. Messerschmitt’ opened in Seville, a separate department within the HASA project office. The first task of its mixed development team was to create a modern training aircraft with a piston engine, the later HA-100 ‘Triana’, of which four prototypes were built. For HASA, this marked the introduction of all-metal aircraft construction and modern design standards. The design of the HA-100, in which Messerschmitt was often involved down to the last detail, bore his unmistakable signature – such as the single-spar wing. The aircraft was light, robust, simple in design and inexpensive to manufacture.
It was primarily designed according to Messerschmitt's (at that time) preferred principle of the ‘standard cell’, so that it could be further developed into a jet aircraft without too much effort. This led to the creation of Spain's first jet, the HA-200, in mid-1952.
First Prototype HA-200 in flight © Airbus Heritage
** The main difference to the HA-100 was the replacement of the piston engine and propeller with two Turbomeca Marboré II jet engines with 3.9 kN (400 kp) thrust, which were located side by side in the fuselage nose.**
The exhaust gases were conducted through two thrust tubes within the wing roots, exiting below the trailing edge of the wings. Although this arrangement was unusual, it meant that the aircraft's centre of gravity remained virtually unchanged, so the design costs for the new jet aircraft remained within reasonable limits as planned, and numerous components from the ‘Triana’ production could be adopted almost unchanged. Over the course of the following months, a number of design changes emerged. The final design was then significantly heavier, but also had a considerably greater range and payload. Messerschmitt was often personally involved in the design process.
In addition to further developments in subsequent years concerning the engine and weight – version and export series designations: A to D – HASA also pursued numerous plans to further develop the ‘Saeta’ into a pure fighter aircraft.
This initially resulted in the HA-200 E test vehicle, which made its maiden flight on 16 May 1965 and, despite extensive and successful testing, met with little official interest. Nevertheless, between 1967 and 1971, all 55 HA-200 Ds were retrofitted to this standard.
HA-200 of the Spanish Airforce © Airbus Heritage
On 25 April 1970, the prototype of the significantly improved HA-220 ‘Super Saeta’ (XC-10C) fighter aircraft, equipped with Marboré VI engines (each with 4.7 kN (480 kp) thrust), took off on its maiden flight. The aircraft was designed as a single-seater – the rear cockpit now housed an additional fuel tank – and could carry an impressively extensive weapon load. With the delivery of 25 production aircraft of the ‘Super Saeta’ by 1972, production of the HA-200 in Seville finally came to an end.
The ‘Saetas’ and ‘Super Saetas’ proved themselves extremely well throughout their service with the Ejercito del Aire, which only ended in 1982. Their operational reliability in particular was exemplary. Many aircraft were scrapped after being taken out of service, but an equally impressive number of ‘Saetas’ have been preserved to this day. Many of them ended up in the USA, while others are now in European museums. Some of these aircraft are still flying, such as the HA-200 D of the Willy Messerschmitt Foundation and Airbus, which is stationed at the Messerschmitt Aviation Museum in Manching. It has now been given a special lettering to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the maiden flight of the legendary arrow from Seville.
HA-200 of Flugmuseum Messerschmitt with special lettering © Airbus Heritage
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