Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA
| Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA
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|---|---|
 |
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| legal form | Sociedad Anónima |
| founding | 1923 |
| resolution | 1999 (part of EADS ) |
| Seat | Seville , Spain |
| Branch | Aircraft manufacturer |
Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA) was an aircraft manufacturer founded in Seville in 1923 , which in its early days mainly manufactured foreign aircraft types under license, but later also developed and built its own machines. In 1972 CASA took over the second large Spanish aircraft manufacturer Hispano Aviación SA and has been operating under the name EADS-CASA since 1999 as the Spanish part of the multinational European aviation group EADS - today Airbus Group .
history
CASA (1923-1999)
The Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA) was founded by José Ortiz Echagüe on March 3, 1923 as a stock corporation in Seville / Spain . The new company immediately began servicing the mostly imported aircraft from various manufacturers. In May 1928 a new factory with the most modern electrotechnical systems in Spain was built in Cádiz in the south of the country and at the same time the company began developing its first own type of aircraft. Three years later, the first aircraft developed independently by CASA appeared , the CASA I presented in 1930 . In the same year King Alfonso XIII visited. the factory in Cadiz.
During the Spanish Civil War , which broke out in 1936 , CASA maintained and repaired the Spanish nationalists' aircraft under the command of General Francisco Franco . Even during the civil war, license production of the three-engine Junkers Ju 52 / 3m from Germany as the CASA 352 began , the production of which was to continue for many years and which is probably one of the most famous CASA aircraft ever. In the following years several new landplane and seaplane projects appeared, some of which were built as prototypes , but ultimately did not go into series production.
During the Second World War , in which Spain was not involved, CASA began manufacturing the CASA 2.111 bomber in 1940 as a license for the Heinkel He 111 . In addition, the now greatly enlarged company maintained and repaired the aircraft of the new Ejército del Aire, which emerged from the victorious air forces after the civil war in 1939 . In the summer of 1943, the Spanish government bought a total of 33% of CASA and began gradually transforming the company into a state-owned company . In April 1945 a four-engine Junkers Ju 290 from Lufthansa that landed in Barcelona was handed over to CASA for testing and overhaul ; a replica of the large Ju 290 that was being considered could not be realized for various reasons (collapse of the German Reich and other logistical inadequacies), but this machine was used by the state airline Iberia and the air force for several years.
In 1945, after the end of the fighting in Europe, a new plant specializing in model making and manufacturing of mechanical components was opened in the capital Madrid . As a result, the development department was re-established in 1946 in order to develop its own aircraft types with its own technology , as the company had developed into an aircraft manufacturer under a foreign license as a result of the past. In addition, the foreign aircraft manufacturers no longer had their own technology base for their own projects and therefore lost a lot of ground in an international comparison. In the post-war years and the political isolation of Franco-Spain by the Allies and especially the USA , CASA was mainly engaged in the maintenance and servicing of aircraft from various manufacturers in addition to the license production of German machines from Bücker Flugzeugbau , Heinkel and Junkers for their own air forces. which were still in use in Spain, but at the same time began again as planned with the development of new aircraft types of their own.
In the 1950s, various new commercial aircraft appeared , such as the C-201 Alcotán , the C-202 Halcón and the C-207 Azor . These three machines, which were developed according to a new program to restart the production of their own types, were, however, not quite up to date with US types such as the Douglas DC-4 or DC-6 when they were first introduced Time so that they couldn't find any buyers outside of Spain. By approaching the United States to Spain during the Cold War got CASA in 1957 a contract for the maintenance and servicing of as part of the NATO in Europe (itself and also in Spain) stationed combat aircraft of type F-100 Super Saber of the US Air Force ( USAF ), which secured the economic situation and thus the company's long-term existence.
Later received CASA in the 1960s by the Spanish government an order that built in the US training aircraft type Lockheed T-33A Shooting Star modernize. Also in the 1960s the license production of foreign aircraft began again, whereby according to German and US licenses the CASA C-127 (licensed version of the Dornier Do 27 ), CASA SF-5A (licensed version of the Northrop F-5A - also as a two-seater version SF-5B built) and CASA C-223 Flamingo (licensed version of the MBB 223 Flamingo ) for the Spanish Air Force and Spanish Navy .
Financially strengthened by new orders in the 1970s, Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA took over Spain's second major aircraft manufacturer Hispano Aviación SA in 1972 and joined the Airbus consortium founded that year with other manufacturers from France , Germany and Great Britain . Despite the takeover of Hispano Aviación, the company name was not changed and kept the name CASA .
In the mid-1970s, when the Spanish Air Force needed a new trainer aircraft to replace the aging Hispano Aviación HA-200 Saeta , Lockheed T-33A Shooting Star, and North American T-6 Texan , the first truly modern CASA aircraft was featured in 1975 Support from MBB from Germany and Northrop from the USA developed and built the C.101 Aviojet . This small jet aircraft can also be used as a light ground attack aircraft . As a Spanish aircraft, it also found some buyers abroad for the first time and still flies with the Spanish aerobatic team Patrulla Águila today .
In the 1980s, the development of the C-212 Aviocar began , from which a whole family of light transport aircraft for military or civilian use emerged, which was very successful on the international market. The Spanish state has increased its financial stake in CASA since 1943 and in 1992 owned a total of 99.2% of the shares or company shares. After the C-212, the larger transport aircraft, also with two turboprop engines, the C-235 and C-295 , emerged, which are also successful worldwide.
In 1999 CASA became a member of the newly founded multinational European aviation group EADS - today Airbus Group .
EADS-CASA (since 1999)
Since 1999, CASA a part of European aerospace group EADS ( E uropean A eronautic D efence and S pace Company) - Today Airbus Group - together with Aerospatiale-Matra of France , Dornier GmbH and DASA of Germany . Since 1999, the now Spanish division of EADS, as is EADS-CASA called, is the largest Spanish company in the aviation and aerospace -sector. The company is focused on three major areas: aircraft construction , maintenance and aerospace engineering ( CASA Espacio ) and has around 7500 specialized employees. Around 80% of the production is exported abroad and ensures the reinvestment of 15% of the operating profit every year. The current CEO of CASA is Francisco Fernández Sainz .
Military Transport Aircraft Division
The Military Transport Aircraft Division (MTAD) was part of EADS-CASA and was based in Madrid. On April 15, 2009, MTAD became part of Airbus and henceforth operates under the name Airbus Military SL ( Sociedad Limitada ), also based in Madrid. One of the aircraft produced is the modified Airbus A330-200 as a tanker for air-to-air refueling mainly of combat aircraft . One variant was delivered to the Australian Air Force ( RAAF ), another to the British Royal Air Force via AirTanker . Airbus Military's main business area is the market for light to medium-sized transport aircraft with a payload of between 3 and 9 tons. There are currently more than 700 C-212 , C-235 and C-295 aircraft manufactured by the MTAD division of CASA in service worldwide . The Airbus A400M with a maximum payload of 37 t is currently under development .
Known planes
Before 1945
- CASA I
- CASA III
- CASA 352 ( licensed version of the Junkers Ju 52 / 3m - built until 1957)
- CASA 1.131 Jungmann (licensed version of the Bücker Bü 131 - built until 1957)
- CASA 1,133 Jungmeister (licensed version of the Bücker Bü 133 )
- CASA 2.111 (licensed version of the Heinkel He 111 - built until 1948)
After 1945
- CASA C-201 Alcotán
- CASA C-202 Halcón
- CASA C-207 Azor
- CASA C-127 (licensed version of the Dornier Do 27 )
- CASA SF-5A (licensed version of the Northrop F-5A - also built as a two-seat version SF-5B)
- CASA C-223 Flamingo (licensed version of the SIAT 223 Flamingo )
- CASA C-101 Aviojet
- CASA C-212 Aviocar
- CASA C-235 (also: Airtech CN-235 , CASA-Nurtanio CN-235 , CASA CN-235 )
- CASA C-295
- CASA C-401
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Airbus integrates MTAD as the new "Airbus Military" division ( Memento of the original from May 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . EADS press release, April 15, 2009.
