Hispano HA-1112

## [Source]

The **Hispano Aviación HA-1109** and **HA-1112** were license-built versions of the Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2 developed in Spain during and after WWII.

# Design and development

The Spanish government in 1942 arranged a manufacturing licence with Messerschmitt AG to build the Bf 109G-2, with Daimler-Benz DB 605A engines, propellers, instruments, and weapons to be supplied from Germany. This proved impossible, as Germany was incapable of meeting her own needs, let alone Spain's; in the event, only twenty-five airframes (minus their tails) and not even half the necessary drawings were delivered.

As a result, Hispano substituted the 1,300 hp Hispano-Suiza 12Z-89 engine, which flew at Barcelona in 1944, while the first HA-1109-J1L made its maiden flight 2 March 1945 at Seville, using a VDM prop and lash-up engine mounting. The other twenty-four airframes were flown during 1947-9 with Escher-Wyss props, but never became operational.

A developed version, with an improved installation for the Hispano-Suiza 12Z-17 engine, appeared in May 1951 as the **HA-1112-K1L**. Fitted with a three bladed DH Hydromatic propeller, it was nicknamed *Tripala* ("three blades"). Its armament consisted of one or two 12.7mm Breda Meccanica Bresciana machineguns and Pilatus eight-packs of 80mm rockets.

It first flew in 1951, and although 200 units were planned, only 65 were ever built. The Hispano engine was an upright V12 in contrast to the inverted V12 Daimler-Benz DB 601 & 605 engines used in the Bf 109. Being of compact design, it fitted the airframe of the Bf 109 well, representing it in the German 1957 film *Der Stern von Afrika* (*The Star of Africa*) about Luftwaffe ace Hans-Joachim Marseille. In the original design, an asymmetric vertical fin with an airfoiled profile had been introduced starting with the Bf 109F to produce a slight left movement of the tail, which counteracted the left-side torque reaction from the Daimler-Benz engine's *counterclockwise* rotation. Since this was left unchanged in the Buchón, and the Hispano V12 powered a clockwise-turning propeller instead, the combination of the airfoiled fin and the *clockwise*-turning propeller created a hard-to-counteract right swing on takeoff, since the fin and the propeller essentially worked in the same direction.

A second version, the **HA-1110-K1L**, was a two-place tandem trainer model.

# HA-1112-M1L

 File:Me109 at Airpower11 02.jpg
The final variant was the **HA-1112-M1L *Buchón*** (Pouter), which is a male dove in Spanish. It first flew 29 March 1954. The 1112-M1L was equipped with the 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 visually. As such, this plane was an improvised assembly of outdated components for the specific purpose of controlling Spanish colonial territories in Africa where a higher level of technology was unnecessary, and moreover not available in isolated Spain at the time. Its armament consisted of two 20 mm Hispano-Suiza 404/408 cannons and two Oerlikon Contraves or Pilatus Aircraft eight-packs of 80 mm rockets. It remained in service until 27 December 1965.

HA-1112-M1Ls remained in flying condition until the mid-1960s. This made them available for theatrical use, masquerading as Bf 109Es and Gs in movies like *Battle of Britain*, *Der Stern von Afrika*, *Memphis Belle*, and *The Tuskegee Airmen*. Remarkably, *Buchons* also played the Bf 109's opposition, the Hawker Hurricane, in one scene in *Battle of Britain*.

The HA-1112 have also flown in the film *Battle of Britain* alongside the CASA 2.111 bombers. which were a Spanish-built version of the Heinkel He 111 German bomber. They had the same engines, the Rolls Royce Merlin 500.

# Variants

 File:Hispano Aviación Ha 1112 Buchon.jpeg
HA-1109-J1L
1945 - the initial 25 Bf109 G-2 aircraft, from German production, with Hispano-Suiza 12Z-89 engines fitted, in lieu of Daimler-Benz DB 605A's, using Vereinigte Deutsche Metallwerke or Escher-Wyss propellers. Not used operationally. 25 built.
HA-1109-K1L
1951 - first production of HA-1112-K1L. Fitted with a Hispano-Suiza 12Z-17 engine and a de Havilland Hydromatic propeller in an improved installation, this version appeared in May 1951 armed with two Hispano HS-404 20mm cannon and 80mm rockets. 25 conversions from a HA-1109-J1L.
HA-1109-M1L
prototype of HA-1112-M1L. A single aircraft modified with a Rolls-Royce Merlin 500-45 engine. One conversion from a HA-1112-K1L.
HA-1110-K1L
Hispano powered two-seat trainer version. Used operationally. One built.
HA-1110-M1L
RR Merlin powered two-seat trainer version. Project only.
HA-1111-K1L
Hispano powered two-seat trainer version with wingtip mounted fuel tanks. Project only.
HA-1112-K1L "Tripala"
1951 - used operationally. 65 built (25 conversions from a HA-1109-K1L).
HA-1112-M1L "Buchon"
1954 - the final variant fitted with a RR Merlin engine and armed with two Hispano HS-404 20mm cannon and 80mm rockets. Used operationally. 172 built.
HA-1112-M4L
Merlin engined two-seat trainer. Used operationally. One built and one conversion from a HA-1110-K1L.

# Aircraft on display

* Canada Aviation and Space Museum - Hispano HA-1112-M1L Buchón
* Museo del Aire - Hispano Aviación HA-1112-M1L Buchon
* Kalamazoo Aviation History Museum - Hispano Aviación HA-1112 Buchón
* Experimental Aircraft Association - Hispano HA-1112-M1L Buchon

# Sources

1. ↑ Infobox image shows C4K-102, one of the last **HA-1112-M1L Buchóns**, repainted to represent a German Bf109, with Luftwaffe markings, and still flying. It can be recognized by the exhaust pipes at the top of the nose, like the Spitfire
2. ↑ Fitzsimons, Bernard, ed. *Illustrated Encyclopedia of 20th Century Weapons and Warfare* (London: Phoebus, 1978), Volume 11, p.1193, "HA-1109/1112".
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Fitzsimons, p.1193, "HA-1109/1112".
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Fitzsimons, p.1194, "HA-1109/1112".
5. ↑ Hispano HA-1112-M1L Buchón Accessed 5 September 2012

# External links

* *Original pictures and data of this article were taken from Museo del Aire, Cuatro Vientos, Madrid, Spain*
* Fitzsimons, Bernard, ed. *Illustrated Encyclopedia of 20th Century Weapons and Warfare* (London: Phoebus, 1978), Volume 11, p. 1193-4, "HA-1109/1112".
* http://simviation.com/fsdcbainmm.htm
* http://www.xs4all.nl/~tozu/me109/foreign/109-spain.htm - Monográficos Aéreos: H.A. 1112-M1L "Buchón" - Pedro Miguel Paniagua Magán - ISBN 978-84-921179-0-1
* Hispano HA-1109