EADS CASA

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EADS-CASA

Predecessor	CASA
Successor	EADS-CASA
Founded	1926
Headquarters	Spain
Key people	Domingo Ureña-Raso
Industry	Aviation
Products	Military transport Aircraft
Employees	7500

EADS-CASA is a Spanish aircraft manufacturer, previously Construcciones Aeronáuticas, S.A. (CASA). It has been the Spanish branch of EADS since 1999. CASA was a Spanish aircraft manufacturer, with numerous landmark military transport aircraft designs such as the CASA C-212 Aviocar, CASA C-295 or the CASA C-101 trainer/ground attack aircraft.

History

CASA

Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA(CASA) was founded by Jose Ortiz Echague in 1923 and began work in May 1924 that opened the factory in Getafe, and built Breguet aircraft under license. The first order covered 26 Breguet 19 A.2 and total production of this type eventually reached 400 pieces.

In 1926 CASA built a second factory in Cadiz to build a licensed copy of the Dornier Do J Wal seaplane. CASA built 17 for the Spanish Air Force, 12 for Naval Aviation and two for commercial users. This factory had unique facilities in Spain. King Alfonso XIII visited the facilities in 1930. In 1929 presented the first the CASA designed prototype aircraft the CASA-I. CASA also built the Breguet XIX, 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), who conducted in 1929 an epic flight between Seville and Bahia (Brazil). This aircraft was piloted by Captains Ignacio Jiménez and Francisco Iglesias and covered 6746 km in 43 hours 50 minutes of flight. The other was the Breguet XIX Super Bidon named the Four Winds and was flown by Mariano Barberan and Collar Joaquin Serra to Havana (Cuba) in 1933. In 1932 CASA obtained from Vickers license to build 25 Vickers Vildebeest, these were powered by Hispano 600 hp engines.

During the Spanish Civil War the CASA Getafe factory was located in the Republican zone, it was relocated to Alicante and then opened another in Sabadell (at the end of the war CASA production returned to Getafe). CASA manufacture of the Soviet Polikarpov I-15 biplane fighter totaled 287 aircraft.

After the war, CASA opened a new plant in Tablada, Seville, after getting licensed production of some German models, and built 25 copies of the Gotha Go 145A as the CASA 1145, 25 Bücker Bü 133 Jungmeister as the CASA 1133 and 555 Bücker Bü 131 Jungmann under the name CASA 1131. Production continued until the late fifties. It should be noted that from 201st motor apparatus was used ENMASA Spanish VAT Tigre G-125 hp. In 1940 CASA began the licensed manufacture of 200 Heinkel He 111s as CASA 2111.

From 1943 the Spanish government invested in this company. Government participation began at 33%, although by 1992 it controlled 99.2% of the company. In 1945 CASA opened a factory in Madrid dedicated to machining. In 1946 CASA re-established its Project Office and resumed its own aircraft design with proprietary technology. In 1957 CASA won the contract for the maintenance of the F-100 Super Sabre of the United States Air Force in Europe, and renovation plans of Spanish Air Force T-33s. In 1962 CASA starts to build Northrop F-5 fighter under American license. In 1971 authorizing the merger of Hispano, SA. In 1972 CASA became a member of the Airbus Consortium together with France, Germany and the United Kingdom. In 1977 CASA won the contract to design and build the C-101 a trainer and attack aircraft for Spanish Air Force. In 1996 CASA joins to Eurofighter 2000 projet. In 1972, CASA becomes a member of the Economic Interest Group Airbus. In 2008 EADS-CASA starts Airbus A400M final assembly at Seville.

EADS-CASA

Since 1999 CASA has been a part of EADS, the European aerospace corporation, with Aérospatiale-Matra of France, Dornier GmbH and DASA of Germany. Since then, the Spanish branch of EADS is called EADS-CASA. The current CEO and Chairman of EADS-CASA is Domingo Ureña-Raso^[1]. Currently EADS-CASA employs around 7,500 workers.

On July 2001 EADS-CASA Military Aircraft marked the beginning of the Eurofighter Typhoon Final Assembly Phase at Getafe facilities.^[2] It is one of 4 assembly lines for the Eurofighter (the other 3 lines are at Warton in United Kingdom, Manching in Germany and Turin in Italy). Production was expected to be up to 7 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 to the Spanish Air Force was realized together with the other partner air forces in the second half of 2002.

EADS was formed in July, 2000 following the merger of Aerospatiale Matra of France, DaimlerChrysler from Germany and Construcciones Aeronáuticas S.A. from Spain. EADS is the third largest aerospace company in the world. It has approximately 100,000 employees.

Military Transport Aircraft Division (MTAD)

The MTAD is part of EADS-CASA and is based in Madrid. One of the planes it produces is the Airbus A330-200 modified to provide air to air refuelling. They have provided one variant to the Australian air force and are providing another variant to the UK's Royal Air Force via the company AirTanker. MTAD's main focus is in the light to medium end of the military transport market covering 3 to 9 tonnes. It has over 700 aircraft flying of the types C-212, C-235 and C-295.

EADS CASA’s Military Transport Aircraft Division managed the industrial and technical activities of participating companies for the Airbus A400M project. This responsibility is now managed by Airbus Military.^[3]

The A400M assembly at the Seville plant of EADS-CASA Spain started in Q1 2007. Airbus plans to manufacture thirty aircraft per year. The major assemblies arrive by Airbus Beluga transporters. The four EuroProp TP400-D6 flight test engines have been delivered in late February 2008 for the first A400M. According to EADS the first "static tests" of a dedicated A400M complete structure were started on 14 March in Spain.

CASA aircraft

• CASA 352; license-built version of the German Junkers Ju 52 trimotor transport
• CASA 2.111; license-built version of the German Heinkel 111 bomber
• 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 C-201 Alcotán
• CASA C-202 Halcón
• CASA C-207 Azor
• CASA C.127; license-built version of the Dornier Do 27
• CASA SF-5A; license-built version of the Northrop F-5A (also built two seater version as SF-5B)
• CASA SRF-5A; license-built version of the Northrop RF-5
• CASA C-223 Flamingo license-built version of the MBB 223 Flamingo
• CASA C-101 Aviojet
• CASA C-212 Aviocar
• CASA CN-235
• CASA C-295

Others

• Airbus; as subcontractor supplying parts for Airbus series of civilian passenger aircraft
• Airbus Military; Subcontractor for Airbus A400M
• Boeing; as subconbtractor supplying parts for Boeing series of civilain passenger aircraft
• Eurofighter GmbH; as subcontractor for the right wing of all production Eurofighter Typhoon

Gallery

CASA Jungmann, built 1957.	CASA 2.111 a licenced version of He-111-H Bomber was engined in Spain with imported Rolls-Royce Merlin at the end of WWII, CASA built 236 of this aircraft between 1940 and 1956.	CASA C-212 of the Swedish Coast Guard.	CASA C-295 of Polish Air Force
CASA CN-235M-100 of the Spanish Air Force.	CASA C-101 Aviojet of Patrulla Aguila Aerobatic Team.	The Eurofighter Typhoon is assembled in Spain by EADS-CASA for the Spanish Air Force	The first A400M, surrounded by EADS employees, during the aircraft's roll-out in Seville, Spain on 26 June 2008.

See also

• CASA Espacio
• EADS

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Taylor, Michael J. H. (1993). Studio Editions. ed. London: Studio Editions. ISBN 1-85170-324-1.  Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: CASA

• EADS-CASA official site