Heinkel HD 55

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Heinkel HD 55
Heinkel HD 55.jpg
Catapult launch of a KR-1 from board the "Parischskaja Kommuna"
Type: Board-supported catapult - flying boat
Design country:

German EmpireGerman Empire German Empire

Manufacturer:

Ernst Heinkel Flugzeugwerke

First flight:

January 30, 1930

Commissioning:

1930

Production time:

1930

Number of pieces:

30-40

The Heinkel HD 55 was a German catapultable flying boat from the 1930s. It was Heinkel's first flying boat to be built in series and was developed exclusively for the Soviet Navy (WMF). There it was used under the designation KR-1 (for Korabelni Raswedtschik, Russian Корабелний разведчик = ship reconnaissance ). HD stands for Heinkel double decker

history

In order to increase the combat value of the battleships and cruisers taken over from the Imperial Russian Navy after the revolution , the Soviet leadership decided to equip them with catapults and the associated aircraft. However, the domestic aircraft industry had no experience in building seaplanes and their launch devices. So you were forced to buy foreign types. Since the aircraft manufacturer Heinkel had already carried out tests with a catapult flying boat with the HD 15 in 1927 , the Deputy Chief of the Soviet Air Force Jakow Alksnis spoke to Ernst Heinkel personally in early 1930 to commission the development of a model. The aircraft was to have a native Bristol Jupiter M-22 licensed engine, which is why the order did not include the propulsion units.

Heinkel based the construction on the HD 15 and completed the construction in a very short time. The biggest difference to this was a modified structure. Since the Soviet side required folding wings, the staggered, continuous wings of the HD 15 connected by N-stems were discarded. Instead, a middle piece was developed, to which the outer surfaces connected with vertical I-posts were attached at the top and bottom. For the tests carried out in Germany, a Siemens-Halske engine (370 kW), also a Bristol-Jupiter license, but somewhat more powerful than the M-22, was installed. At the same time, the corresponding operated with compressed air catapult K 3 was built and on a specially acquired barge installed. On January 30, 1930, the prototype carried out its first successful catapult launch. The prototype designated as HD 55 and the catapult were then approved by a Soviet commission. The pilot K. N. Ganulitsch was instructed in the handling. At the same time, an order was placed for 20 machines, which was increased by another 20 a short time later. Other sources speak of a total of 30 aircraft ordered.

The HD 55 was brought to the Soviet Union, where testing by the pilot Germichev began in March 1930 after the installation of an M-22 in the port of Leningrad , but with a ski undercarriage due to the not yet ice-free harbor basin. The delivered HD 55 / KR-1s were used on ships of the Black Sea Fleet and the Baltic Fleet until 1938. They were replaced by the KOR-1 and KOR-2 . The first and only of two originally ordered K-3 catapults was also purchased and installed in October 1930 on the battleship Parishskaya Kommuna (Paris Commune) and later on the cruiser Krasny Kawkas (Red Caucasus). It turned out to be not very reliable, so that the aircraft on board had to be landed with a crane more often to take off. The KR-1 was decommissioned in 1938 and replaced by the KOR-1 .

The KR-1 was the first airborne aircraft used by the Soviet Navy. With it and the K 3, valuable experience was gained for developing our own seaplanes and on-board catapults.

construction

The KR-1 was a braced, two-spar double - decker built in a composite construction . The hull had a two-tier keel and was made entirely of wood. There were two auxiliary swimmers under the fabric-covered wings . A ski chassis could be installed in winter. The engine was splash-proof on a frame above the cockpit. The horizontal stabilizer was braced .

The K-3 catapult was operated with compressed air stored in steel cylinders, which accelerated the aircraft attached to a launch vehicle to a speed of 110 to 130 km / h.

Technical specifications

Parameter Data
crew 2 (pilot / gunner)
length 10.35 m
span 14.00 m
height 4.28 m
Wing area 56.9 m²
Empty mass 1520 kg
Takeoff mass 2270 kg
Engine an air-cooled Neunzylinder- four-stroke - radial engine M-22
Take-off power
Combat and climb
power Rated power
Continuous power
530 PS (390 kW)
510 PS (375 kW) on the ground
470 PS (346 kW) on the ground
350 PS (257 kW) at an altitude of 1000 m
Top speed 194 km / h near the ground
Cruising speed 170 km / h
Landing speed 80 km / h
Rise time 4.0 min at 1000 m
Summit height 4800 m
Range 800 km
Flight duration 5.5 h

See also

literature

  • Volker Koos: Ernst Heinkel Flugzeugwerke 1922–1932 . Heel, Königswinter 2006, ISBN 3-89880-502-6 , p. 115/116 .
  • Vladimir Kotelnikow: Heinkel HD 55 / KR-1 . Heinkel for the Black Sea Fleet. In: Aviation Classics . No. 4/16 . Motor Presse, Stuttgart 2016, p. 28-33 .
  • Dimitri Alexejewitsch Sobolew: German traces in Soviet aviation history . Mittler, 2000, ISBN 3-8132-0675-0 .
  • Fred Gütschow: The German flying boats . Motorbuch, Stuttgart 1978, ISBN 3-87943-565-0 , p. 201 ff .
  • Andrei Alexandrow, Gennady Petrow: The German aircraft in Russian and Soviet service. Volume 1 1914-1951 . Flugzeug Publikations GmbH, ISBN 3-927132-43-8 .
  • Helmut Stützer: The German military aircraft 1919–1934 . Mittler, Herford 1984, ISBN 3-8132-0184-8 , pp. 79, 149 and 205 .

Web links

Commons : Heinkel HD 55  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
  • HD.55 (KP-1). Retrieved August 25, 2016 (Russian, Heinkel HD 55 at airwar.ru, illustrated).

Individual evidence

  1. Volker Koos: Aviation between the Baltic Sea and Breitling . Transpress, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-344-00480-8 , pp. 121/122 .
  2. Flieger Revue 3/84, section Who? When? What ?, p. 93