Heinkel He-111H-6

From The Air Combat Wiki

Contents 1 Fighter Ace Screenshots 2 Fighter Ace Ratings 3 Fighter Ace Performance 4 Historical Statistics 5 Strengths 6 Weaknesses 7 History 8 Sources 9 See Also

Fighter Ace Screenshots

Fighter Ace museum screenshot by Doug@HQ	Fighter Ace museum screenshot by Doug@HQ	Fighter Ace museum screenshot by Doug@HQ	Fighter Ace museum screenshot by Doug@HQ
Fighter Ace museum screenshot by Doug@HQ	Fighter Ace museum screenshot by Doug@HQ	Fighter Ace museum screenshot by Doug@HQ

Fighter Ace Ratings

Durability: 6

Speed: 4

Maneuverability: 4

Firepower: 1

Climb Rate: 2

Ground Attack: 5

Fighter Ace Performance

Top Speeds						Climb Rates
	Sea Level	4921' 1500m	9843' 3000m	19685' 6000m	Best Speed	Best IAS	to 1000m	to 3000m	to 6000m
mph	226	242	252	255	258@ 16404	140 mph	3:46	10:15	24:05
kph	363	390	405	411	415@ 5000m	225 kph

Historical Statistics

Service Date: October 1941

Defensive Guns: 1x MG15 7.92mm flex with 1000 rpg in nose, 1x MG15 flex with 1000 rpg in dorsal position, 1x MG15 flex with 1000 rpg in rear gondola position, 1x MG FF 20 mm flex with 180 rpg in forward gondola position, 1x MG15 flex with 1000 rpg in starboard waist position, 1x MG15 flex with 1000 rpg in port waist position

Ordnance: 32x 121 lb (55 kg) or 8x 551 lb (250 kg) bombs in bomb bay, or 4x 551 lb (250 kg) or 2x 2205 lb (1000 kg) bombs or 2x 1790 lb (812 kg) F5b torpedo on external racks

Engine(s): 2x Junkers Jumo 211 F-1 in-lines rated for 1,340 hp each at sea level

Int Fuel Capacity: 5,479 lbs (2,484 kg)

Ext Fuel Capacity: none

Maximum Speeds: 258 mph (415 kph) at 16,390 ft (5,000 m)

Ceiling: 25,010 ft (7,780 m)

Loaded Weight: 25,011 lbs (11,340 kg)

Wing Area: 941.7 sq ft (87.6 sq m)

Wing Loading: 26.6 lbs/sq ft

Strengths

Ordnance Load: With a load capacity of well over 5,500 lbs., the ability to carry up to thirty-two 110 lb. bombs and able to carry two torpedoes, the He-111 is an extremely versatile attack plane.

Weaknesses

Defensive Firepower: Despite the addition of a few more gun positions, the flexible mounting and small caliber of the defensive guns mean that many He-111s will fall to enemy guns.

Speed: With a maximum unloaded speed of only 258 mph, the He-111 needs fighter escort to survive.

History

Although it was commonly believed that the He-111 was originally conceived as a passenger liner, in fact the first prototype was a bomber version and pre-production bomber variants were coming off the assembly line at the same time the civil version was introduced to the public. The initial production version He-111A was capable of carrying 2,200 lbs. of bombs mounted vertically in what was the smoking section of the civil variant and was equipped with a retractable "dustbin" gun position under the fuselage. Ernst Heinkel obtained permission to sell the He-111A to the Chinese government, bringing some much needed foreign currency to Germany's economy. The He-111C soon followed as a dedicated passenger liner equipped with the same underpowered engines as the "A" model.

Meanwhile, the He-111B was introduced with a pair of Daimler-Benz DB-600C engines. A new "D" version followed with even more powerful DB-600Ga engines rated for 1,050 hp at take-off. A civil version of the "D" model was made as the He-111G.

DB-600 engines were desperately needed for Bf-109 and Bf-110 production so the He-111E was introduced. Equipped with a pair of Junkers Jumo 211A engines, the E model offered many aerodynamic improvements and was able to reach a top speed of 267 mph. The He-111F introduced a simplified, tapered wing design, which permanently replaced the elegant elliptical wings fitted to preceding variants.

From their combat experience in Spain, German air leaders concluded that their fast bombers would always get through enemy air defenses, a theory that would prove disastrously wrong in the skies over Britain. As a result no effort was made to increase the inadequate defensive armament of the He-111 other than to replace the retractable ventral "dustbin" position with a more streamlined "bathtub" position on the new He-111P model.

The "P" model differed radically from previous versions. The standard "stepped" cockpit arrangement was replaced by a glazed and streamlined nose section, which housed the pilot, bombardier and forward gunner. To provide better forward visibility, the pilot was seated off to left side and the gun position was situated to the right, resulting in the planeís characteristic asymmetrical appearance. The "P", which was based on the earlier "D" model was equipped with DB-601A and was capable of carrying up to eight 550 lb. bombs.

However, once again the needs of the Messerschmitt fighters took precedence and the definitive He-111H model was introduced with the same Junkers Jumo 211 engines used on the E and F models. Subsequent sub-variants introduced more powerful Jumo engines, additional defensive gun emplacements, and external bomb racks. The He-111H-6 was the first variant equipped to carry torpedoes for anti-shipping attacks, a role to which it took like a duck to water.

Kampfgruppe 88 of the Legion Condor was reequipped with the first He 111 Bs, the first of 30 bombers of this type reaching Spain in Feb 1937, performing their first operational sortie on 9 March with an attack on the Republican airfields at Alcalá and Barajas. Combat attrition was remarkably low despite the technique of unescorted daylight sorties evolved by the 2 Staffeln. In March 38, Kgr 88’s B-1 and B-2s were replaced with E-1s and were soon emulating the success enjoyed by the earlier model. Of the 75 He 111 B-1s, B-2s and E-1s sent to Spain, 58 aircraft were still in service when hostilities terminated. These aircraft were subsequently used by the Spanish airforce.

The Lufthansa used the civil He 111s between 1937 and 1939 over a dozen routes (even in the South Atlantic mail service), but the type was generally considered being too expensive and insufficiently economical for normal airline service. Many of these aircraft were passed to the Kommando Rowehl. Operating directly under the orders of Göring and commanded by Oberstleutnant Theodor Rowehl, this was a special photographic reconnaissance unit, whose aircraft, bearing civil registrations and ostensibly engaged in route-proving, performed clandestine photographic sorties over British, French and Soviet territory.

On 1 Sep 1939, the Luftwaffe posessed 349 He 111 P bombers, 400 Hs, 38 Es and 21 Js. Major targets during the Polish campaign were airfields, harbors and communications in deep penetration raids. Combat attrition over Poland was markedly higher than had been anticipated, and efforts were made immediately to increase the He 111s weak defensive armament.

In late 39 He 111s were the first aircraft used against the British in anti-shipping strikes over the Firth of Forth and Scapa Flow. The first Luftwaffe aircraft brought down on British soil was an He 111 P of KG 26 which force-landed near Dalkeith on 28 Oct 39.

During operation Weserübung He 111s dropped leaflets over Copenhagen and flew raids in the Oslo Fjord and against the British Home Fleet off Bergen where they, together with Ju 88s, damaged 3 cruisers and sank the destroyer Gurkha. They also supported ground operations of the German army.

For the onslaught on France and the Low Countries, the Luftwaffe possessed about 1 120 twin-engined bombers of which approximately half were He 111s. During the Battle of Britain the He 111s suffered heavy attrition, and from the 16 Sep they were largely confined to nocturnal sorties.

In the autumn of 1940 a number of H-3s were supplied to the Rumanians, this type was also produced in license at Bucharest starting in 1942. By Aug 1941, only 128 He 111s were operating in Russia, 19 in the Mediteranean, 6 in France and 30 in Norway. Thus there were only 190 serviceable front-line He 111 bombers in Luftwaffe service at this time.

In the spring of 1942, several H-6s equipped with FuG 203 Kehl guidance transmitters were used for trials with Fritz guided bombs at Foggia, but although some successes were achieved, the Heinkel did not prove entirely suitable as a carrier for this weapon.

One noteworthy employment of the He 111 came with the delivery of the H-6 type suitable for torpedo attack to KG 26 in Norway by April 1942. The aircraft, based of Banak and Bardufoss attacked together with Ju 88s of KG 30 the famous PQ Murmansk convoys.

Although the He 111 H served mainly in the bombing role, it had been extensively used for transport tasks on the Eastern Front since KG 4 had used its aircraft to drop supplies to units caught in the Cholm pocket in the spring of 1942. Later in the year, 2 special transport Gruppen, KGr zbV 5 and 20, had been formed on obsolete models , and as the situation deteriorated, more and more He 111s were relegated from bombing to transport tasks. By the end of 1942 the major proportion of the He 111s in Russia were undertaking transport tasks in support of the attempted relief of Stalingrad. 165 He 111s, representing more than half the He 111s employed, were lost in this operation. The He 111 was also introduced as a tug for Go 242 gliders with Luftlandegeschwader 1.

A famous night attack was performed on 22 June 1944 by all four remaining He 111 Geschwaders (KG 4, 27, 53 and 55) against US 'Shuttle bombers' at Poltava. The He 111 achieved some prominence once more from summer 44 to Jan 45, when He 111 H-22s and converted H-16s and H-20s of III/KG 3 and KG 53 air-launched V-1s against England, although 80 aircraft were lost in the process.

When the war ended, almost all remaining He 111s had been relegated to the transport role, the last major missions were dropping parachuters during the Ardennes offensive and supplying the besieged channel ports.

Postwar Spain built He 111s with R.R. Merlin engines as the Hispano HA-1112. These Spanish He 111s remained in service until the early 60s.

Sources

Green, William; Famous Bombers of the Second World War; Doubleday & Company, Garden City, New York; 1959.

See Also

Fighter Ace Planes Inventory

Ernst Heinkel, A.G.

Aircraft Manufacturers During World War II