In In the mid-1930s, after Hitler's rise to power and Germany's effective departure from the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles, the aircraft manufacturer Ernst Heinkel Fleugzeugwerke developed the successful He 111 twin-engine medium bomber. Initial versions of the design had an elliptical wing shape and a classic fuselage layout, but later versions such as the He 111P were built from the outset with a simpler and better engineered trapezoidal wing, as well as a new fuselage to improve aerodynamic performance and optimizing the location of the crew inside the aircraft.
In 1938, there was a problem with a shortage of the Daimler Benz engines installed on the He 111P and so the designers had to replace them with another type, the Jumo 211, while leaving the rest of the structure unchanged. This modification of the type was designated He 111H. At the beginning of 1939, the production of the He 111H first equaled that of the He 111P and then surpassed it. By September 1939, and the initiation of full-scale combat operations, the numbers of the H variant was already half of all available He 111 aircraft.
In the spring of 1941, the release of the He 111H-6 subtype began, which had even more powerful Jumo 211F engines. The main differences were new wide-bladed propellers, individual exhaust manifolds, in addition to significantly strengthened protective weaponry.
He 111H-6 was used as a night and day bomber, however, due to the expansion of the theaters of war including those over water surfaces, it was quite often used as a torpedo aircraft. It was used in this role both in the European and in the North African theater, with considerable success. The He 111H-6 was a significant threat to naval vessels as it had a good level of aiming speed and precision, and its armament of two torpedoes significantly increased the chances of hitting the target.
In 1942, with the advent of the new He 177 aircraft, it was planned to cease production of the He 111H-6, but problems with the engines of the He 177 forced the Luftwaffe management to extend production of the He 111H-6. In total, 1,775 aircraft of this variant were built, a considerable number of which continued in military service in the following years, thus proving the success of the design and its excellent flight performance characteristics.
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Heinkel He 111H-6
Performances:
- Wingspan: 22.6 meter
- Overall length: 16.60 meter
- Overall height: 44 meter
- Wing area: 87.7 sq.m
- Own weight: 67,185 gk
- Weight: 8,690 kg
- Takeoff Weight: 14,000 kg
- Max Speed: 430 km/h
- Range: 2,000 km
- Ceiling maximum: 8,500 m
- Engine: 2 х Jumo 211F-1
- Capacity: 1,350hp
- Arming: 2 torpedoes or up to 2,500 kg bombs, 5 х MG15 machine guns, 1 x MG17, 1 x MG FF
- Crew: 5 persons