Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA) was a Spanish

aircraft manufacturer An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of designing, building, testing, selling, and maintaining aircraft, aircraft parts, missiles, rockets, or spacecraft. Aerospace is a high technology industry. ...

that was founded in 1923 and began manufacturing aircraft the following year. In 1999 it became a subsidiary of the

EADS Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate defence and space and helicopter divisions. Airbus has long been th ...

(European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company) under the name ''EADS CASA'' and in 2009 was absorbed into Airbus Military. CASA is noted for designing and producing military transport aircraft such as the CASA C-212 Aviocar, the CASA CN-235, the CASA C-295 and the CASA C-101 trainer/ground attack aircraft.

History

Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA) was founded by

José Ortiz-Echagüe José Ortiz-Echagüe (2 August 1886 in Guadalajara – 7 September 1980 in Madrid) was a Spanish entrepreneur, industrial and military engineer, pilot and photographer, founder of Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA) and Honorary lifetime Presi ...

in 1923 and began work on a factory in

Getafe Getafe () is a municipalities in Spain, municipality and a city in Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 180,747, the region's sixth most populated municipality. Getafe is located 13 km south of Madrid's city c ...

in May 1924, building Breguet aircraft under license. The first order covered 26 19 A.2s; total production of this type eventually reached 400 units. CASA built a second factory in Cadiz in 1926 to construct a licensed copy of the German Dornier Do J Wal seaplane. They built 17 aircraft for the Spanish Air Force, 12 for the Naval Aviation branch of the Spanish Navy and two for commercial use. CASA also operated several branch facilities in Spain for the repair and overhaul of aircraft. In 1929 the CASA-1 flew - the first CASA designed aircraft. King

Alfonso XIII Alfonso XIII (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Alfonso León Fernando María Jaime Isidro Pascual Antonio de Borbón y Habsburgo-Lorena''; French language, French: ''Alphonse Léon Ferdinand Marie Jacques Isidore Pascal Antoine de Bourbon''; 17 May ...

visited the main factory in 1930. CASA also built the French Breguet 19, two of which would be made especially famous. One, was the Breguet XIX GR (Grand Raid) named the ''Jesus del Gran Poder'', currently preserved in the Museo del Aire de Cuatro Vientos (Madrid), which flew between

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

and

Bahia Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...

(in Brazil), in 1929. This aircraft was piloted by Captains Ignacio Jiménez and Francisco Iglesias and covered 6746 km in 43 hours 50 minutes. The other was the Breguet XIX Super Bidon, named ''Cuatro Vientos'' (''Four Winds''); it was flown by Mariano Barberán and Joaquín Collar Serra to Havana in Cuba in 1933. In 1932 CASA obtained a license from the UK aircraft company,

Vickers Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in 18 ...

, to build 25 Vickers Vildebeest land-based torpedo bombers, which were powered by French Hispano 600 hp engines. CASA- Heinkel He111

During the Spanish Civil War, the CASA Getafe factory was located in the Republican zone. It was moved to

Alicante Alicante (, , ; ; ; officially: ''/'' ) is a city and municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean port. The population ...

, and another opened in

Sabadell Sabadell () is a city and municipality in Catalonia, Spain. It is in the south of the ''comarca'' of Vallès Occidental, where it is one of the two capitals, the other being Terrassa. It is located on the River Ripoll, north of Barcelona, a ...

. At the end of the war, production returned to Getafe. CASA manufactured the Russian Polikarpov I-15 biplane fighter, producing 287 aircraft before the end of the civil war. After the Spanish Civil War, CASA opened a new plant in Tablada in Seville, after obtaining various aircraft licenses from Germany and built 25 Gotha Go 145A as the CASA 1145, 25 Bücker Bü 133 as the CASA 1133 and 555 Bücker Bü 131 as the CASA 1131. Production of these aircraft continued until the late 1950s. The CASA 201, is a twin-engine transport, (its engines were the Spanish-made ENMASA VAT Tigre G-125). In 1940 CASA began the licensed manufacture of 200

Heinkel He 111 The Heinkel He 111 is a German airliner and medium bomber designed by Siegfried and Walter Günter at Heinkel Flugzeugwerke in 1934. Through development, it was described as a wolf in sheep's clothing. Due to restrictions placed on Germany a ...

twin-engine bombers with imported Rolls-Royce Merlins, as the CASA 2.111. (These are the aircraft that were used as World War Two German Luftwaffe He 111s in various movies such as ''

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain () was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defended the United Kingdom (UK) against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's air force ...

'' and '' Patton''.) Starting in 1943, the Spanish government began investing in CASA, first obtaining a 33 per cent share of the company, by 1992 this had increased to a controlling 99.2 per cent. In 1945 CASA opened a factory in Madrid dedicated to manufacturing the parts and sub-assemblies of their various aircraft and those that they had contracts to repair and overhaul. In 1946 CASA re-established the Projects Office and resumed the design of aircraft based on the firm's proprietary technology. In 1957 CASA won a contract from the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

for the maintenance of the F-100 Super Sabres based in Europe and Turkey and a contract from the Spanish Air Force to overhaul T-33s in the Spanish Air Force. They began the manufacture of the

Northrop F-5 The Northrop F-5 is a family of supersonic light fighter aircraft initially designed as a privately funded project in the late 1950s by Northrop Corporation. There are two main models: the original F-5A and F-5B Freedom Fighter variants, and th ...

A fighter-bomber under license in 1962. In 1971, CASA merged with Hispano Aviación. CASA was one of the original members of the

Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

Consortium with France, Germany and the United Kingdom in 1972. In 1977, CASA was awarded the contract to design and build the C-101, a trainer and attack aircraft for the Spanish Air Force. CASA joined the Eurofighter 2000 project in 1996. CASA has been a part of EADS, the European aerospace corporation, with

Aérospatiale-Matra Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate defence and space and helicopter divisions. Airbus has long been th ...

of France, Dornier GmbH and

DASA DASA (officially Deutsche AeroSpace AG, later Daimler-Benz AeroSpace AG, then DaimlerChrysler AeroSpace AG) was a German aerospace manufacturer. It was created during 1989 as the aerospace subsidiary arm of Daimler-Benz, Daimler-Benz AG (later D ...

of Germany since 1999. From then, the Spanish branch of EADS is called EADS-CASA. The current CEO and

Chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

of EADS-CASA is Domingo Ureña-Raso. EADS-CASA currently employs around 7,500 workers.

was formed in July, 2000 following the merger of Aerospatiale

Matra Matra (an acronym for Mécanique Aviation Traction) was a major French industrial Conglomerate (company), conglomerate. Its business activities covered a wide range of industries, notably aerospace manufacturer, aerospace, defence industry, def ...

of France,

DaimlerChrysler Aerospace DASA (officially Deutsche AeroSpace AG, later Daimler-Benz AeroSpace AG, then DaimlerChrysler AeroSpace AG) was a German aerospace manufacturer. It was created during 1989 as the aerospace subsidiary arm of Daimler-Benz AG (later DaimlerChrysle ...

of Germany and Construcciones Aeronáuticas S.A. from

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. It is the third largest aerospace company in the world with approximately 100,000 employees. In July 2001 EADS-CASA Military Aircraft marked the beginning of the Eurofighter Typhoon Final Assembly Phase at Getafe. It is one of four assembly lines for the Eurofighter (the other three are at Warton in the United Kingdom,

Manching Manching () is a municipality in the district of Pfaffenhofen, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the river Paar, 7 km southeast of Ingolstadt. In the late Iron Age, there was a Celtic settlement, the Oppidum of Manching, on the locati ...

in Germany and

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

in Italy). Production was expected to be up to seven Typhoon wings per month and 12 aircraft per year. EADS CASA is producing the right wing for the Eurofighter and assembling 87 aircraft for the Spanish Air Force. First delivery was realized together with the other partner air forces in the second half of 2002.

Military Transport Aircraft Division

EADS CASA's Military Transport Aircraft Division (MTAD) was based in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. One of the aircraft it produces is the Airbus A330-200, which has been modified to provide air-to-air refuelling. It has provided one variant to the

Royal Australian Air Force The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal Air force, aerial warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. Constitutionally the Governor-Gener ...

and another to the UK's

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

via the ''AirTanker'' company. MTAD's main focus is in the light to medium end of the military transport market covering three to nine tonnes. The MTAD managed the industrial and technical activities of participating companies for the A400M project. This responsibility is now managed by Airbus Military.

Products

* CASA I prototype of the CASA III *

CASA III The CASA III was a 1920s Spain, Spanish two-seat monoplane, designed by Luis Sousa Peco and built by Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA) at Getafe near Madrid. Design and development In 1929 using experience from the production of licence-bu ...

1929 two-seat sporting monoplane * CASA 1.131 Jungmann license-built version of the Bücker Bü 131 * CASA 1.133 Jungmeister license-built version of the Bücker Bü 133 * CASA 2.111 license-built version of the Heinkel 111 * CASA 352 license-built version of the Junkers Ju 52 * CASA C-101 Aviojet * CASA C-102 * CASA C-112 two-seat trainer * CASA C.127 license-built version of the Dornier Do 27 * CASA C-201 Alcotán * CASA C-202 Halcón * CASA C-207 Azor * CASA C-212 Aviocar * CASA C-223 Flamingo license-built version of the MBB 223 Flamingo * CASA CN-235 regional airliner and military transport. ** EADS CASA HC-144 Ocean Sentry * CASA C-295 regional airliner and military transport. * Eurofighter Typhoon * CASA SF-5A; license-built version of the Northrop F-5A * CASA SF-5B; license-built version of the Northrop F-5B * CASA SRF-5A; license-built version of the Northrop RF-5A *

unmanned aerial vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Dron ...

(UAV) * Polikarpov I-15 * Polikarpov I-16

Others

; as

subcontractor A subcontractor is a person or business which undertakes to perform part or all of the obligations of another's contract, and a subcontract is a contract which assigns part of an existing contract to a subcontractor. A general contractor, prime ...

supplying parts for Airbus series of civilian passenger aircraft * Airbus Military; Subcontractor for Airbus A400M Atlas *

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

; as subcontractor supplying parts for Boeing series of civilian passenger aircraft *

Eurofighter GmbH Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH () is a German-headquartered multinational company and joint venture that coordinates the design, production and upgrade of the Eurofighter Typhoon military jet. Founded in 1986, it has its head office in Hallbe ...

; as subcontractor for the right wing of all production Eurofighter Typhoon

References

;Notes ;Bibliography *

Jane's Janes is a global open-source intelligence company specialising in military, national security, aerospace and transport topics, whose name derives from British author Fred T. Jane. History Jane's Information Group was founded in 1898 by Fred ...

Encyclopedia of Aviation {{DEFAULTSORT:CASA Airbus Defence and Space Defunct aircraft manufacturers of Spain Defence companies of Spain Companies based in the Community of Madrid Former Airbus subsidiaries and divisions Aerospace companies of Spain Getafe