Heinkel He 280

Heinkel He 280
Type:	Fighter plane
Design country:	German Empire
Manufacturer:	Ernst Heinkel Flugzeugwerke
First flight:	September 22, 1940 (towed by He 111) March 30, 1941 (under its own power)
Production time:	1940-1943
Number of pieces:	9

The Heinkel He 280 was a twin- engine fighter aircraft made by the German manufacturer Heinkel and made its first flight with jet engines on March 30, 1941 (He 280 V2).

history

The flight tests of the He 280 V1 began on September 22, 1940 at the Rechlin test center . The He 280 V1 was tested without a motor in the tow plow, since the completion of the HeS-8 engines was not yet completed. Instead of the engines, streamlined displacement bodies were attached under the wings. The pilot of the He 111 tow machine was Hans Deutschmann , while the He 280 towed was piloted by master flight engineer Paul Bader. Bader flew the unpowered He 280 V1 back to its home airfield without any problems after it was released at an altitude of 4000 m.

The HeS 8 A engines of the He 280 were tested under an He 111, but never reached series production. Initially, a series production of nine V-models and a subsequent A-1 or B-1 series (from the V3) with 300 aircraft was planned. The good results of testing the V2 and V3 also contributed to this. However, problems arose here for the first time. The Heinkel works were busy with the He-111 production and the Siebel works under consideration were not up to the task. Heinkel meanwhile put his development focus on a jet bomber ( P 1068 ) and pursued the He 280 against the already more modern Messerschmitt Me 262 only half-heartedly.

The He 280 was the first aircraft in the world to have an ejection seat . With this, the first emergency exit in aviation history was carried out on January 13, 1943, when captain Schenk had to leave his plane with the ejector seat during a towed test flight in Rechlin. He landed unharmed with the parachute while the driverless machine fell into a forest.

When testing the He 280, problems arose at higher flight speeds due to vibrations on the tail unit. Major changes to the airframe would have been necessary to increase the airspeed to over 800 km / h. Another disadvantage was the lack of an arrow shape on the wings, as featured on the Me 262. This was able to achieve a higher critical Mach number than the He 280.

The greatest problem turned out to be the development of powerful engines for the Heinkel 280. The difficulties with the new technology were so great that the development lagged far behind the cell development and thus prevented series production. With the Jumo 004 , the Me 262 reached a speed of 820 km / h at an altitude of 5000 m; due to its size, however, the Jumo engine could not be easily installed in the He 280. The ground clearance was too low. In addition, the HeS-8 engine did not achieve the operational reliability required for front-line use.

Alternative drives were tested with the He 280 V4 (first flight on January 15, 1943). It flew with the BMW 003 jet engine , but the engine was not ready for series production at the time. A retrofitting to the Argus As 014 pulse jet engine led to enormous vibration problems.

The He 280 V5 flew with HeS-8-A and BMW-003 engines. The He 280 V6 and V9 also had BMW 003 engines, the He 280 V7 flew both engineless and with Jumo 004. The He 280 V8 had Jumo 004 engines and was used for high-speed flight research just like the V7. The V7 reached a top speed of 750 km / h, while the V5 carried out incline flights of up to 820 km / h.

Heinkel tried to revise the He 280 in order to stay in business. For a greater range, the hull should be thickened so that larger tanks can be installed. The H-tail should be replaced by a less resistant normal tail. The wing should be swept. This was practically the same as a new design and was rejected by the Reich Aviation Ministry (RLM).

These problems, the competition with the Me 262 and the war situation caused the RLM to stop promoting the further development of the He 280.

Technical specifications

Three-sided tear

Parameter	Data (He 280 V5)
crew	1
length	10.40 m
span	12.20 m
height	3.06 m
Wing area	21.50 m²
Wing loading	200 kg / m²
Empty mass	3,055 kg
Takeoff mass	4,300 kg
drive	two Heinkel HeS 8A jet engines with 750 kp static thrust each
Top speed	780 km / h near the ground 820 km / h at an altitude of 6,000 m 760 km / h at an altitude of 10,000 m
Landing speed	140 km / h
Climb performance	19 m / s near the ground 9.6 m / s at a height of 6,000 m, 1.6 m / s at a height of 10,000 m
Range	400-1,000 km
Summit height	11,500 m
Take-off run	850 m
Takeoff route	1,100 m at a height of 15 m
Landing route	970 m from a height of 15 m
Armament	three 20-mm machine guns MG 151 cannon / 20

See also

• List of aircraft types

literature

• OV: Heinkel He 280. In: Aviation international. No. 7, January / February 1975, pp. 1071-1099.

Web links

Commons : Heinkel He 280  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Heinkel He 280. In: LuftArchiv.de. Bert Hartmann, accessed on August 24, 2010 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Pilot Schenk tests the first ejection seat , BR, January 13, 2020
2. ^ Herbert Ringlstetter: The He 280 - alternative to the Me 262. World premiere. In: Flugzeug Classic Extra: Messerschmitt Me 262, part 1. Geramond, Munich 2019, ISSN  2194-7120 , p. 21