what is it?
The Hispano HS-42 and its derivative, the HA-43, were advanced military trainer aircraft produced in Spain in the 1940s. The basic design was that of a conventional, low-wing, cantilever monoplane with seating for the pilot and instructor in tandem. The HS-42 had fixed, tailwheel undercarriage with spatted mainwheels, while the HA-43 had retractable main units.
How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 10 m wingspan
base stats
Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).
fun facts
- First flew 84 years ago, in 1942.
- Top speed is 2.6× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- Wingspan of 10 m: about 2 cars parked nose to tail.
- Range of 1,200 km: 7× Amsterdam to Brussels.
piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.
spec sheet
- first flight
- 1942-04-05
- number built
- 100
- role
- military trainer
- origin
- 🇪🇸 Spain
- makers
- Hispano Aviación
- engines
- 1× Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah 27
- crew
- 2
- length
- 8 m
- wingspan
- 10 m
- height
- 2.6 m
- max take-off weight
- 2,050 kg
- top speed
- 335 km/h
- cruise speed
- 295 km/h
- range
- 1,200 km
- ceiling
- 6,000 m
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q5772864, Wikipedia: Hispano HS-42 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.