Messerschmitt HA 200

HA 200 D ‘Saeta’ (English: ‘Arrow’)

Jet trainer aircraft

HASA in Spain started development work on the two-seater HA 200 ‘Saeta’ trainer aircraft in mid1953, with technical support provided by the ‘Oficina Técnica Prof. Messerschmitt’.

The all-metal low-wing aircraft was almost a direct derivative of the HA 100 ‘Triana’ propeller trainer aircraft, which had also been produced under Messerschmitt’s guidance. He had deliberately designed the HA 100 as an ‘all-purpose airframe’ so that it could then be further developed as a jet aircraft with minimum effort and as cost-effectively as possible. The engine and propeller of the ‘Triana’ were simply replaced by two parallel-mounted Turbomeca Marboré jet turbines.

It took a mere 18 months to complete the first HA 200 prototype. Taxi trials started on 6 August 1955, with the maiden flight taking place six days later. The aircraft was taken on an extensive demonstration tour of Europe in the early summer of the following year. Although it was also demonstrated to the German Armed Forces during the tour, this ultimately did not lead to a procurement order for the Luftwaffe. Following an extensive series of tests, series production of the HA 200 A was started in 1959. In the same year, a licence agreement for the construction of the HA 200 B version was successfully negotiated with the United Arab Republic. In Spain, the remodelled HA 200 D version were produced between 1963 and 1967. In April 1970, the last series-production version – the ‘Super Saeta’ single-seater HA 220 with more powerful engines – took off for its maiden flight. Production of this aircraft finally came to an end in 1972. These aircraft were best known for their high level of operational safety. It was not until 1982 that the Spanish armed forces took the last of its ‘Saetas’ and ‘Super Saetas’ out of service. In Egypt, some of these aircraft were even still flying in the 1990s.