X-Nico

2 unusual facts about Heinkel He 111


Peter Ayerst

After a spell instructing, when he shared in the destruction of a He111 with two other instructors, he had postings with both 145 and 243 Squadrons.

Rocket engine

During the late 1930s, German scientists, such as Wernher von Braun and Hellmuth Walter, investigated installing liquid-fueled rockets in military aircraft (Heinkel He 112, He 111, He 176 and Messerschmitt Me 163).


Double-Cross System

However, when V-1s launched from Heinkel He 111s at Southampton on July 7 were inaccurate, British advisor Frederick Lindemann recommended the agents report that the attack caused "heavy losses" in order to save hundreds of Londoners each week at the expense of only a few lives in the ports.

Elliptical wing

The German Heinkel He 70 of the early 1930s was a fast mail plane and reconnaissance bomber, and the predecessor to the Heinkel He 111 bomber, early models of which used an elliptical wing.

Ernst Kupfer

He visited Oberstleutnant Kurt Kuhlmey, commander of Schlachtgeschwader 3, in early November 1943 and was killed when his Heinkel He 111 crashed returning to his base in bad weather on 6 November 1943.

Gran Sasso raid

then taking off with Mussolini and Skorzeny (even though the weight of an extra passenger almost caused the tiny plane to crash) to the military airport of Pratica di Mare (near Rome) then embarked in an Heinkel He 111 on to Vienna, where Mussolini stayed overnight at the Hotel Imperial and was given a hero's welcome.

Lotfernrohr 7

In most installations, like those in the Junkers Ju 88 or Heinkel He 111, the tube ended in a fairing under the fuselage with a protruding flat window in front.

Phoney War

Spitfires of 602 and 603 Squadrons succeeded in shooting down two Ju 88s and a Heinkel He 111 over the firth.


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