Hispano

Hispano Aviación was established when a Hispano-Suiza car and aircraft parts factory complex in southern Spain was taken over by Franco led "Nationalist" forces in 1939, during the Spanish Civil War.
Located in Tablada in the Triana district of Seville, the Hispano factory produced several aircraft designs, including the HA-1109 (also named Me-109J, Spanish licence-built version of the Messerschmitt Bf-109G) equipped with a 1,300 hp Hispano-Suiza 12Z engine, the HA-1112 (license-built, HA-1109 re-engined with Rolls-Royce Merlin), the Hispano HA-100 Triana, the Hispano HA-200 Saeta jet trainer and light attack aircraft designed by Willy Messerschmitt.
Hispano Aviación was taken over by Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA) in 1972, which is now part of Airbus.

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Hispano Aviación HA-1112

The Hispano Aviación HA-1109 and HA-1112 are license-built versions of the Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2 built in Spain during and after World War II.
The final variant was the HA-1112-M1L Buchón (male dove). It first flew on 29 March 1954 with a 1,600 hp Rolls-Royce Merlin 500-45 engine and Rotol propeller, both purchased as surplus from the UK. This engine had a chin intake, that altered the lines of the Bf 109's airframe. It was an improvised assembly of outdated components but this was appropriate for the intended purpose of controlling Spanish colonial territories in Africa, where more sophisticated technology was both unnecessary and unavailable in isolated Spain at the time. It carried two 20 mm Hispano-Suiza 404/408 cannons and two Oerlikon or Pilatus eight-packs of 80 mm rockets and remained in service until 27 December 1965.
Due to their longevity, Buchóns have appeared in several war films masquerading as Bf 109Es and Gs (Battle of Britain (alongside CASA 2.111 bombers, a Spanish-built version of the Heinkel He 111), Der Stern von Afrika, Memphis Belle, Dunkirk, and The Tuskegee Airmen). Remarkably, Buchóns also played the Bf 109's opposition, the Hawker Hurricane, in one scene in Battle of Britain.

Hispano HA-1112-MIL Buchón, registration G-AWHK, built 1959, serial number 172
Ede, Netherlands, 23 August 2019

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