{"id":58370,"date":"2025-01-13T20:20:22","date_gmt":"2025-01-13T19:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/?p=58370"},"modified":"2026-01-13T02:02:51","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T01:02:51","slug":"the-testimony-of-a-casa-2111-pedro-pilot-the-last-bomber-manufactured-in-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2025\/01\/13\/the-testimony-of-a-casa-2111-pedro-pilot-the-last-bomber-manufactured-in-spain\/","title":{"rendered":"The testimony of a CASA 2111 Pedro pilot, the last bomber manufactured in Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we saw here last year<\/a>, Spain was one of the operators of the Heinkel He-111 medium bomber, manufactured in Germany.<\/p>\n

CASA 2111 'Pedro', la historia del \u00faltimo bombardero de la aviaci\u00f3n militar espa\u00f1ola<\/a><\/rel>
\nThe HA-1112 Buch\u00f3n fighter on display at a Michigan museum with its Spanish roundels<\/a><\/rel><\/p>\n

This aircraft made its first flight on 24 February 1935 and was one of the main German bombers of World War II<\/strong>, playing a prominent role in the invasions of Poland, Norway and France and in the Battle of Britain. The National side received some of these aircraft during the Spanish Civil War.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The CASA 2111 T.8B-97 (462-04) preserved at the Cuatro Vientos Air Museum in Madrid, in a photo taken in 2011 (Photo: Elentir<\/a>).<\/div>\n

In 1940, the Spanish aeronautical company CASA signed an agreement with Heinkel to manufacture 200 He-111s under license for Spain<\/strong>, which would be called CASA 2111 and nicknamed \"Pedro\" in the Air Force. The first ones, called CASA 2111A, were equipped with German Junkers Jumo 211F-2 engines, but in 1956 Spain obtained British Rolls-Royce Merlin 500-20 engines<\/strong> to equip 70 CASA 2111s that had been stored due to lack of engines. Some of these aircraft were used in the film \"The Battle of Britain\" (1969)<\/strong>, together with Spanish HA-1112 fighters, playing the role of, respectively, German He-111 and Bf-109 aircraft.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
Heinkel He-111 E-1 \"Pedro\" bomber (B.2-82, 25-82), an original aircraft built in Germany and on display at the Cuatro Vientos Air Museum in Madrid (Photo: Elentir<\/a>).<\/div>\n

The CASA 2111 bomber (2111A) and reconnaissance (2111C) aircraft were in service until 1974,<\/strong> while the personnel transport version (2111E) was withdrawn from service in 1975. Today, within the interesting series that it has been publishing on historical Spanish aircraft, the Association of Friends of the Air Museum<\/a> has published a video with the testimony of the Colonel of Aviation (R) Adolfo Rold\u00e1n Vill\u00e9n,<\/strong> a leading figure in Spanish military aviation, born in 1939 and who was one of the Spanish pilots of CASA 2111, a video in which we see this aviator next to the CASA 2111 T.8B-97 (462-04)<\/strong> preserved in the Cuatro Vientos Air Museum, in Madrid (the video is in Spanish, you can activate automatic English subtitles in the bottom bar of the player):<\/p>\n