Heinkel HE 8

HE 8, HE 31 and HM.II
	Orlogsvaerftet HM.II of the Royal Danish Navy
Role	Reconnaissance floatplane
National origin	Germany
Manufacturer	Heinkel
First flight	1927
Primary user	Danish Navy
Number built	22

The Heinkel HE 8 was a reconnaissance floatplane built in Germany in the late 1920s. It was developed at the request of the Danish Navy, which had noted the success of the HE 5 in Swedish service, and wished to purchase a similar aircraft as well as licensed production as the Orlogsvaerftet HM.II.^{[citation needed]} Apart from its new Armstrong Siddeley engine, the HE 8 also differed from the HE 5 and previous members of the HE 1 family in having a conventional empennage. 22 aircraft were operated until the German invasion in 1940, after which one example was impressed into Luftwaffe service and the remainder placed in storage.^{[citation needed]}

A single HE 8 was built with a Packard 3A-2500 engine and designated HE 31.

Operators

Denmark

Royal Danish Navy

Yugoslavia

Royal Yugoslav Navy (One)

Specifications (HM.II)

Data from Jane's all the World's Aircraft 1931 ^[1]

General characteristics

Crew: 3
Length: 11.65 m (38 ft 3 in)
Wingspan: 16.8 m (55 ft 1 in)
Height: 4.4 m (14 ft 5 in)
Wing area: 45 m² (480 sq ft)
Empty weight: 1,675 kg (3,693 lb)
Gross weight: 2,650 kg (5,842 lb)
Powerplant: 1 × Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar 14-cylinder two-row air-cooled geared radial piston engine, 320 kW (430 hp)
Propellers: 2-bladed fixed-pitch metal propeller

Performance

Maximum speed: 212 km/h (132 mph, 114 kn)
Range: 1,290 km (800 mi, 700 nmi)
Service ceiling: 5,600 m (18,400 ft)
Rate of climb: 2.8 m/s (550 ft/min)
Time to altitude: 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in 3 minutes 12 seconds: 5,000 m (16,000 ft) in 28 minutes'
Wing loading: 61.8 kg/m² (12.7 lb/sq ft)
Power/mass: 14.2 lb/hp (8.6 kg/kW)

Armament

Guns: 1 × fixed, forward-firing 8 mm (0.315 in) Madsen machine gun, 1 × trainable, rearward-firing 8 mm (0.315 in) Madsen machine gun
Bombs: 12 × 0.5 kg (1.1 lb) bombs

References

^ Grey, C.G., ed. (1931). Jane's all the World's Aircraft 1931. London: Sampson Low, Marston & company, ltd. p. 97c.

Bibliography

Ledet, Michel (March 2002). "Le Heinkel HE 8". Avions: Toute l'Aéronautique et son histoire (in French) (108): 36–45. ISSN 1243-8650.
Ledet, Michel (April 2002). "Le Heinkel HE 8". Avions: Toute l'Aéronautique et son histoire (in French) (109): 30–38. ISSN 1243-8650.

External links

Danish Naval Air Service

[JAWA1931-1] Grey, C.G., ed. (1931). Jane's all the World's Aircraft 1931. London: Sampson Low, Marston & company, ltd. p. 97c.

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