Buchon Me-109

Don’t miss the awe-inspiring celebration of the 80th anniversary of the liberation operations in Western Europe during the International Sanicole Airshow at Hechtel-Eksel on 21 & 22 September, which will include a terrific historic aircraft representing the axis forces: the Ha1112 Buchón, the license-built Spanish version of the renowned Messerschmitt Bf109.

The Buchón, which is a kind of pigeon in Spanish, differs quite a bit from the original Me-109. The Spanish air force order 200 Me-109s in 1943 but war losses in Germany meant some critical components such as propellers didn’t arrive so the Spanish had to find another solution. They decided to use a different engine than the original Daimler Benz and surprisingly, turned to the British who delived their outstanding Rolls Royce Merlin engines to power the Buchóns. This required a redesign of the bulged shape of the engine cowling to house the different engine. This also results in a different sound when the aircraft flies. It served in the Spanish airforce in the 1940s and 1950s, but it gained most fame as a filmstar in large-scale war films during the 1960s. The Spanish air force even had a unit at the time dedicated to flying axis-aircraft in film productions.

The base aircraft, the Bf109, was in use throughout the Second World War and remained in constant development throughout. Yellow 10, which will buzz the sky over Sanicole this year, belongs to the Duxford-based Aircraft Restoration Company and starred in such blockbusters as Battle of Britain, Dunkirk and Valkyrie. With its paintscheme to represent a typical German Bf109e, the same one it wore during the filming of the Battle of Britain in 1969, it will no doubt offer a rare and striking impression of the most famous German fighter of the Second World War as it joins the battle to control the skies over Sanicole in September!