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If there was an aircraft that had done more
damage regarding strategic bombing during the Battle of Britain, it was
the Heinkel He 111. But, unlike many of Britain's bombers, the He 111 was
not specifically made for the Second World War. As we know, Germany was
not allowed to have a military air force under the terms of the Versialles
Treaty, so many aircraft were being built under strict secrecy, often under
the guise of Lufthansa Airlines. The He 111 was no exception. The Luftwaffe
had requested that a large commercial airliner be constructed way back
in 1934, but it should be designed in such a way that it could be easily
and cheaply converted into a bomber adhering to German military specifications.
Walter and Siegfried Günter based
their design on the He 70 'blitz' current at the time. Because, as a military
aircraft capable of carrying a bomb load, the payload weight would be far
greater so the overall size of the aircraft had to be increased. as did
the engines powering the aircraft. The first He 111 was to fly in February
1935, and with a few modifications a number of He 111A's were constructed
which at the time it was considered that the aircraft performed exceptionally
well. But by 1936, it was considered that the He 111 was under powered
and those aircraft that had been constructed were sold to China. Heinkel
swapped the twin 600hp BMW engines for the far more powerful 1,000hp Daimler-Benz
DB600A engines for the next variant the He 111B. Not only would the additional
power be more suited to a bomber, but it also increased the top speed to
225 mph. A number of changes took place from 1937, mostly in trying to
get the power unit correct. In fact, the number
of variants of the Heinkel He 111 reads like a book index.
The variants came, and went using the letters
of the alphabet, and a number of experimental or temporary versions were
given the letter "V". These variants, were not necessary in alphabetical
order, although by looking at the variant listing, it was very close, but
the variant used in the battle of Britain was the He 111H. But the variant
that laid the foundations to this was in fact the He 111P. Up until the
"P" version, the nose of the aircraft was round, but all metal and the
pilots cockpit stepped almost Dakota fashion. It was with the "P" that
the nose took on the popular look as we know the He 111 to be with its
all glazed nose that housed the nose gunner and above him the pilot and
the observer. The He 111P was in production in late 1938 and within two
months was supplied to KG157 and was used extensively in the build up to
the Polish campaign and continued service well into 1940.
The He 111H entered service with the Luftwaffe
just prior to the invasion of Poland and made up a total of 810 He 111's
of differing variants when war was declared in September 1939 comprising
400 He 111H, 349 He 111P, 40 He 111E and 21 He 111J. Of these it is believed
that nearly 100 aircraft had been declared unserviceable which in effect
the total Heinkel He 111 strength was only just over 700 aircraft. Those
that took part in the Polish campaign claimed many successful missions,
and construction was far greater than losses meant that the build up of
the He 111 meant that in future campaigns the Heinkel bomber force would
be one of great strength. Where there were seven Kampfgeschwadern operating
He 111 bombers in Poland, only three operated during the Norwegian campaign,
mainly due to the fact that there were no suitable airfields in Norway
at the time. It was a formation of 100 He 111 bombers that attacked Rotterdam
on May 14th 1940.
By the time that the Battle of Britain
had commenced, nearly all bombing missions were carried out by the Heinkel
He 111H (and the Dornier 17Z.) most of the other variants had disappeared
although records show that one of the Heinkels shot down over Middle Wallop
as late as August 14th 1940 was in fact a He 111P which only shows that
older variants were still being used in raids against Britain. The Heinkel
He 111H variant itself also had a number of supplementary variants being
designated by a number following the variant designation. These were He
111H-1, He 111H-2, He 111H-3 and He 111-4. The modifications were mainly
in the power unit used, although a few other modifications were made. The
original He 111H-1 based on the He 111P used Junkers Jumo 211 engines,
an improved Jumo 211A-3 engine was put into the He 111H-2, the He 111H-3
used a Jumo 211D-1 engine and was equipped with a forward firing 20mm cannon
and used as an anti-shipping strike aircraft. later models of the He 111H-4
used Jumo 211F-1 engines. The Junkers Jumo 211F-1 engine that produced
1350 hp each replaced the older 211D-1 engine that only produced 1100 hp
and was used continuously until the Jumo 213 was introduced on the He 111H-23
much later in the war.
One of the most common variants used was
the He 111H-5. The modification here was that additional fuel tanks were
installed where the wing bomb cells were, and this extended the normal
range of the aircraft to 1,212 miles (1950 kms). Two external bomb racks
were fitted with each one capable of holding a 2,205lb (1000kg) bomb. The
all up weight of the He 111H-5 was now increased to 30,985 lbs (14055kg)
and obviously was to slow the aircraft when under a full load, but these
aircraft were filled to capacity during the night raids on London during
the 'Blitz" and caused devastating results.
The next variant was the He 111H-6, and
although not used during the Battle of Britain, it was used in great numbers
in bombing raids on London and all major British cities from early 1941.
This variant as well as the He 111H-5 and other German bombers continued
night attacks on British targets to which Britain really had no answer.
The He 111H-6, equipped to carry torpedoes, although it was mostly used
in normal bombing missions, was used as a shipping strike aircraft from
Bardufoss and Banak in Norway against shipping convoys plying the North
Cape route from mid-june 1942 onwards with great success.
As the later models of bomber was introduced
by such aircraft as the He 177 and Do 217 the role of the He 111 was becoming
outdated and the aircraft was reverted to the role of a transport although
later variants of the He 111 still continued to serve in the
Middle East and along the Eastern Front in a bomber role. It was during
the move on Stalingrad between November 1942 and February 1943 that in
the role of a supply aircraft flying in food and ammunition to the German
6th Army that under the extreme cold conditions the Luftwaffe was to lose
a total of 170 He 111 bombers of different variants. This was to place
an additional strain on other bombers and pilots, and on the Luftwaffe
itself, as it meant pulling other aircraft away from important duties,
or ceasing supply operations at Stalingrad, the latter was really out of
the question.
In 1944, Germany had developed the V-1
flying-bomb. These early versions were launched from aircraft and not rocket
launchers as they were later in the war. The idea was for an aircraft to
carry the V-1 at extreme low level to avoid detection from British radar,
then as they approached the British coast they would sharply increase their
altitude to about 1,500ft (450m) before releasing the V-1, then generally
using cloud cover or low level flying to make good their escape back to
their bases. The aircraft chosen to carry out this task was the He 111H.
A number of these including the He 111H-6, the He 111H-16, the He 111H-21
and the He 111H-22, were modified to carry the new projectile which actually
was a Fieseler Fi 103 flying bomb, but known as the V-1. All these aircraft,
after modification became the He 111H-22. They were delivered to III/KG3
that was based in the Netherlands, and for the next six or seven weeks
it has been reported that the He 111H-22 carried and launched over 300
V-1 rockets against London, 100 against Portsmouth and Southampton and
20-30 against Bristol. The use of the He 111H-22 and the V-1 rocket was
such a success, that over 100 He 111H aircraft were modified to He 111H-22
standards and delivered to KG53 for the sole purpose of launching the V-1
at British targets.
But the success was no where near the great
height achieved on the initial missions. In the next six months, only 20%
of 1,200 V-1 rockets reached their intended targets, many of then falling
and exploding in empty fields or in out of the way suburbs, and some eighty
He 111H-22 aircraft were destroyed either by the RAF or by AA gunfire.
Later, the rockets were launched from specially constructed launch pads.
One of the great success stories of the
He 111 comes from the Soviet airfield of Potavia on June 21/22 1944 where,
after the bombing of Berlin by B17s and their P-51 escorts the U.S were
using the airfield at Potavia. The Luftwaffe sent a formation of He 111
bombers to make a surprise attack on the airfield. Some forty-five B17
bombers and 15-20 P-51 fighters were destroyed. Through German eyes,
a glittering finale to the workhorse of the Luftwaffe. An aircraft that
could take a lot of punishment and still be able to fly, possibly one of
the reasons that so many damaged He 111 bombers made it back to their base.
An aircraft that took on many roles, not all of them successful, but it
was against London in 1940 to 1942 that the bomber will best be remembered.
Heinkel 111H Specifications
| Type |
Long Range Medium Bomber/Night
Bomber/Glider Tug |
| Crew |
Five |
| Power Plant |
2 x Junkers Jumo 211F-1
1350 hp engines |
| Fuel Capacity |
765 gallons |
| Unladen weight |
19,136 lbs (8680kg) |
| Laden weight |
30,864 lbs (14000kg) |
| Max Speed (19,685 ft) |
270 mph (435 km/h) |
| Max range (Normal Load) |
1,212 miles (1950 km) |
| Max range (Full Load) |
760 miles |
| Max range (with wing tanks) |
2,640 miles (with normal
load) |
| Service Ceiling |
27,890 ft (8500m) |
| Armament |
1 x 20mm MG FF Cannon
1 x 13mm MG 131 Machine
Gun
7 x 7.92mm MG 15 and/or
MG 81 Machine Guns
1 x 4,409 lb bomb (carried
externally) and
1 x 1,102 lb bomb (carried
internally) or
8 x 551lb bombs (all carried
internally) |
| Wingspan |
74ft 1¾in (22.60m) |
| Length |
53ft 9½in (16.40m) |
| Height |
13ft 1¼in (4.00m) |
| Wing Area |
931.1 sq ft (86.50 m²) |
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HEINKEL He 111 VARIANTS
He 111a (He 111 VI): 1st prototype,
two 600-hp (448-kW) B.M.W. V16,OZ with two-blade propellers
He 111 V2: 2nd prototype (D-ALIX)
He 111 V3: 3rd prototype (D-ALES)
He 111 V4: 4th prototype (D-AHAO)
He 111C-0: six aircraft (D-ABYE.
-AMES. -AQUY. -AQYF-ATYL-AXAV); two delivered to Kommando Rowehl for clandestine
reconnaissance
He 111A-1: 10 aircraft based
on V3; rejected
He 111 V-5: DB 600A power
plant; all-up weight 18,959 lb (8600 kg)
He 111B-0: pre-production
version accepted by Luftwaffe: one aircraft with Jumo 21Ga
He 111B-1: production bombers;
early aircraft with 08 iOOAa. later 08 60CC; all-up weight 20.536 lb (9323
kg); maximum bombload 3.307 lb (1500 kg)
He 111B-2: supercharged DB
600CG engines, all-up weight increased to 22.048 lb (10000 kg)
He 111 V-7: prototype with
straight tapered wing
He 111G-01: also termed He
111 V12 (D-AEQU) B.M.W. VI 6.OZu. passed to DLH
He 111G.02: also termed He
111 V13 (D-AYKI)
He 111G-3: two aircraft V14
(D-ACBS) with B.M.W.132Dc and V15 (D-ADCF) with B.M.W. 132H-1; both
passed to DLH and re-styled
He 111L
He 111G-4: also termed He111
V16 (D-ASAR); D8 600G; used by Milch as personal transport
He 111G-5: four aircraft with
DB 600Ga engines, sold to Turkey
He 111 V-9: modifIed from
B-2 airframe with DB 600 Ga; became He 111D prototype with wing
radiators
He 111D-0: pre-production
batch with DB 600Ga and radiators moved to engine nacelles
He 111D-1: small number of
production aircraft. abandoned due to shortage of DB engines
He 111 V-6: prototype
(D-AXOH) from modifIed B-0 with Jumo 610 Ga
He 111 V-10: prototype He
111E (D-ALEQ) from modified D-0 with Jumo 211A-114.
He 111 E-0: pro-production
aircraft 3.748-lb (11700-kg) bombload; all-up weight 22,740-lb (10315-kg)
He 111 E-1: production
bombers. 4.400-lb (12000-kg) bombload all-up weight 23,754 lb (10775 kg)
He 111 E-3:
minor intemal alterations. internal bombload only
He 111 E-4: half bombload
carried externally
He 111 E-5: as E-4
with extra internal fuel tanks
He 111 V-11:
prototype He 111F with straight-tapered wing; Jumo 211A-3 engines
He 111 F-0: pm-production
aircraft, all-up weight 24.250 lb (11000 kg)
He 111 F-1: 24 aircraft sold
to Turkey in 1938
He 111 F-4:
40 aircraft for Luftwaffe with E-4 bombload
He 111 J-0:
pm-production aircraft. 08 EOOCO; extemal bombload only
He 111 J-1: 60 production
aircraft intended as torpedo bombers but saved as bombers only
He 111 W: modified 10-ADUOI
with stepped cockpit profile
He 111 P-O: pre-production
batch similar to V1, following J-1 in factory
He 111 P-1:
production 08 601A-1; maximum speed 247 mph (398 km/h)
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The Battle of Britain - 1940
website © Battle of Britain Historical Society 2007
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