Egypt's First Jet Fighter

**Spinners** · September 12, 2015

Helwan Ha-280 - 1st Squadron, 101st Fighter Brigade, Egyptian Air Force, 1951

The Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936 required the UK to withdraw all of its troops from Egypt, except those deemed necessary to protect the Suez Canal and its surroundings. Although the treaty was not welcomed by Egyptian nationalists (who wanted full independence) it was generally observed - initially due to fears of Egypt being dragged into the Second Italo-Abbyssinian War and then by the rising tensions preceding World War Two and the outbreak of war itself followed by the turmoil of the North African campaign. But even before the end of World War Two, King Farouk and the Egyptian government had demanded the end of a British military presence and a war-weary United Kingdom quickly let go of it's remaining interests before the end of 1945. Riding on the wave of public opinion and popularity King Farouk immediately announced ambitious plans to build up the Egyptian armed forces and these plans included the development of an indigenous jet fighter for the Egyptian Air Force.

Meanwhile back in Germany, Dr. Ernst Heinkel and Robert Lusser (Heinkel's Chief Designer) were frustrated by the restrictions placed on German citizens from undertaking any research or development work related to the any military activity and after being overlooked by British and American aircraft manufacturers both men sought employment elsewhere. By the Spring of 1946 Heinkel and Lusser had been approached by Egyptian Air Force officials and accepted King Farouk's offer of employment to design and build a new jet fighter to enter service before 1950. Both men immediately moved to Helwan in Egypt and were soon joined by Ferdinand Brandner, an Austrian jet engine expert, who had also been approached to develop a new turbojet engine for the new fighter. Right from the start, Heinkel and Lusser knew that a completely new design could not possibly meet the 1950 deadline and quickly agreed to dust off their He-280 design from 1940. This was unfinished business for both men who firmly believed that their design would have been the equal of the Me 262 given the same powerplant and resources. Brandner, who had escaped from the Soviets in Prague during the Spring of 1945, had a design for a slim axial-flow jet engine with a pressure ratio of nearly 5:1 and a projected thrust of 10kN (2,250lbs) and this promised to unlock the He-280's potential.

The 'new' design was officially designated as the Helwan HA-280 and was to be produced by the Egyptian General Aero Organisation from the new test facilities and workshops in Factory No. 36 in Helwan, southeast of Cairo. With an essentially proven airframe the design focus centred on the engine, although in early 1949 the main armament was changed to three of the new Nudelman-Rikhter NR-23 cannon supplied by the Soviet Union. There were no prototypes as such and production airframes began to roll off the Helwan production line in February 1949 but it was to be another two months before the first Brandner E-280-A engines could be installed due to problems with the six-stage axial compressor. Ground running and testing took up the remainder of the Spring of 1949 before the first production HA-280 took to the air in June 1949, with No.1 Squadron of the Egyptian Air Force being the first Squadron to equip with the type in September 1949. Production continued until 1952 with a total of 87 HA-280's being produced before production switched to the swept-wing HA-288.