Pilot Report: Getting to know ‘Pedro’

Until its tragic loss in 2003, the Confederate — later Commemorative — Air Force’s CASA 2.111 was among the most characterful warbirds around. For its pilots, the Spanish Heinkel with the British engines had its challenges

History has tended to do the Rolls-Royce Merlin-engined CASA 2.111 a disservice. As with the Hispano HA-1112 Buchón’s relationship to the Messerschmitt Bf 109, it has often come to be seen as an ersatz Heinkel He 111, a glorified movie prop, rather than receiving the recognition it deserves in its own right. Yet the 2.111 — the ‘Pedro’, as it was nicknamed locally — was an important operational aeroplane, used in anger by the Spanish Air Force years after the German original had been consigned to the scrapheap. And it has played a significant role in the recollection of the past, too.

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