Heinkel He 118
| He 118 | |
|---|---|
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| Role | Dive bomber |
| National origin | Germany |
| Manufacturer | Heinkel |
| Designer | Siegfried and Walter Günter |
| Number built | 15 |
The Heinkel He 118 was a German dive bomber design that competed with the Junkers Ju 87 for production, but was never ordered for the Luftwaffe. Designed by the Günter brothers, it was a conventional cantilever monoplane with an inverted gull wing of elliptical planform mounted mid-way up the fuselage. It was considerably more streamlined than Junkers' competitor, with retractable landing gear and an internal bay for its bombs. It was also more an attack bomber than a Stuka, the second crew member acting as a bomb aimer.
In trials, however, it was discovered that its maximum dive angle was only 50°, and after Ernst Udet destroyed one of the prototypes in the air, by flying it outside its design limits, it was judged unsuitable and dropped from the competition.
On 27 June 1936, Ernst Udet arrived at the Heinkel manufacturing company to try out the aircraft (Heinkel He 118). Soon after he commenced his first dive from about 13,000ft the propeller suddenly feathered, shearing off the reduction gears, and the He 118 disintegrated around the pilot. Once again, Udet's parachute saved his life, but interest in the Heinkel dive bomber had gone for good. Immediately afterwards the Ju 87 was officially declared winner of this contest and the Luftwaffe-controlled Junkers manufacturing company was awarded a production contract.
Only 15 He 118s were built and two of these were given to Japan, where they were given the designation DXHe and provided the inspiration for the Yokosuka D4Y naval dive bomber.
One of the other examples was used by the Heinkel company as a flying testbed for the Heinkel HeS 3 turbojet, with the jet engine slung under its fuselage. Although its pilot took off and landed using the He 118's piston engine, he started the turbojet engine in flight and flew under its power in July 1939, the first time any aircraft made any part of a flight under jet power. The following month the Heinkel He 178 would us the engine to make history's first flight powered entirely by a turbojet engine.[1]
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[edit] Variants
- He 118 : Dive bomber prototypes.
- He 118A-1 : Eight production aircraft, powered by a 634 kW (850 hp) DB 600C engine.
- DXHe1: Two He118s supplied to the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service for evaluation in 1938.
[edit] Specifications (He 118A-01)
Data from Warplanes of the Third Reich[2]
General characteristics
- Crew: Two
- Length: 11.81 m (38 ft 8¾ in)
- Wingspan: 15.10 m (49 ft 6½ in)
- Height: 4.19 m (13 ft 8¾ in)
- Wing area: 37.71 m² (405.8 ft²)
- Empty weight: 2,705 kg (5,952 lb)
- Loaded weight: 4,128 kg (9,082 lb)
- Powerplant: 1 × Daimler-Benz DB 600C 12-cylinder liquid-cooled supercharged piston engine, 679 kW (910 hp) at 4,000 m (13,120 ft)
Performance
- Maximum speed: 394 km/h (213 knots, 245 mph) at 6,000 m (19,685 ft)
- Cruise speed: 335 km/h (181 knots, 208 mph) at 4,000 m (13,120 ft)
- Range: 1,050 km (567 nmi, 652 mi)
- Climb to 2,000 m (6,560 ft):
Armament
- Guns:
- 2 × fixed forward-firing 7.9 mm MG 17 machine guns
- 1 × flexible rearward-firing 7.92 mm (.323 in) MG 15 machine gun
- Bombs: Up to 500 kg (1,100 lb) of bombs
[edit] See also
- Related development
- Related lists
[edit] References
- Green, William. Warplanes of the Third Reich. New York: Doubleday, 1972. ISBN 0-385-05782-2.
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