Spain's Arrow — the Hispano Aviación HA-200 Saeta (Arrow)

Spain's Arrow — the Hispano Aviación HA-200 Saeta (Arrow):
Spain’s Arrow — the Hispano Aviación HA-200 Saeta (Arrow)
35º 44′ 30″ N / 81º 23′ 22″ W

Hispano Aviación HA-200 Saeta (Arrow) at the  Hickory Aviation Museum — photo by Joseph May

Willy Messerschmitt left Germany after WW II’s end to continue what he did best — design advanced aircraft — as treaty limitations did not allow him to work on military aircraft in his home country. Spain, no stranger in using German aircraft designs, quickly engaged Messerschmitt and soon the Hispano Aviación HA-200 Saeta (Arrow) flew into Spanish skies during the 1950s. The HA-200 is Spain’s first domestic turbojet powered aircraft.

Closer  view showing the Saeta’s tandem cockpit (which was pressurized) — photo by Joseph May

Saeta’s served as a training aircraft as well as a strike aircraft. Twin side-by-side engines mounted in the mid fuselage receive air from an unusual oval shaped nose intake with exhausts at the trailing portion of the wing roots. The pressurized cockpit has two crew positions in tandem with a pair of 20mm nose mounted cannon.

The Saeta has a clean aerodynamic shape with both engines nestled closely together as well as  a 20mm cannon mounted  above each engine intake — photo by Joseph May

The solid design of the HA-200 with wing tip tanks supplementing fuel for the always thirsty turbojet engines — photo by Joseph May

This Saeta is exhibited at the Hickory Aviation Museum and is in Spanish Air Force livery — quite an unusual site to see in the USA.

Quarter on view of the Saeta — photo by Joseph May