Heinkel He 118
Heinkel He 118 | |
---|---|
Type: | Dive fighter |
Design country: | |
Manufacturer: | |
First flight: |
February 14, 1936 |
Number of pieces: |
5 |
The Heinkel He 118 was a German dive bomber that was developed by Ernst Heinkel Flugzeugwerke in the late 1930s.
history
The machine emerged from a design competition for a dive fighter aircraft announced in 1936 by the Technical Office in the Reich Aviation Ministry , following a suggestion by Ernst Udet . In addition to the He 118, the Arado Ar 81 and the Junkers Ju 87 , which won the tender, were also involved in the comparison flight . In contrast to its competitors, the He 118 already had a retractable landing gear and an aerodynamically optimized shape. The aircraft was a cantilever low-wing aircraft in all-metal - shell construction designed. The two crew members sat behind one another under a closed sliding hood.
The first two prototypes received English Rolls-Royce Kestrel V-engines with 695 hp each. The third prototype - the He 118 V3 - received a Daimler-Benz DB 600 V with 910 hp. This aircraft took part in the comparison flight at the end of 1936, but in contrast to all other aircraft, it could not complete a dive because it had not yet been fully developed. This fact and the crash of the V3 were the end of the project. The last prototype received the Daimler-Benz DB 601 A engine with 1070 hp in 1937 .
use
The He 118 was approved for export to Japan. The V4 (D-OMOL, factory no. 1296) was dismantled in February 1938 and shipped to Japan, upgraded in the Yokosuka naval aviation arsenal and flown by several pilots. The type designation was DXHel. It was supposed to be mass-produced at Hitachi Seisakusho, but it crashed and series production was abandoned. Months later, the army aviators also received their He 118 (V5, serial number 1850). Here, too, there was no series production. Nevertheless, the experience served as the basis for the construction of the Yokosuka D4Y .
Technical specifications
Parameter | Data He 118 V1 |
---|---|
span | 15.00 m |
length | 11.80 m |
Altitude in flight attitude | 3.10 m |
Wing area | 56.2 m² |
Empty mass | 2450 kg |
Top speed | 395 km / h |
Landing speed | 115 km / h |
Service ceiling | 8500 m |
Range | 1650 km |
fuel | 475 kg |
Engine | a Daimler-Benz DB 600 C with 800 PS (588 kW) |
Armament | two MG 17 firing forward a MG 15 for the gunner |
See also
literature
- Hans Redemann: Flight Revue. May 1971
- Volker Koos: Ernst Heinkel Flugzeugwerke 1933–1945. Heel Verlag, Königswinter 2003.