He 112 V6 armed with 20mm ant-aircraft canon?

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Old_Fossil
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He 112 V6 armed with 20mm ant-aircraft canon?

#1

Post by Old_Fossil » 22 Mar 2013, 23:59

According the the Wikipedia entry for the He 112, the He 112 V6 sent to Spain was at one point armed with a 20mm C/30L anti-aircraft canon mounted to fire through the propeller hub. This seems unlikely due the huge size of what is essentially a flak 38 canon. I can't find any other sources online that support this. Can anyone confirm this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinkel_He ... al_service
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Orwell1984
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Re: He 112 V6 armed with 20mm ant-aircraft canon?

#2

Post by Orwell1984 » 23 Mar 2013, 00:12

http://mundosgm.com/aereo/heinkel-he-112/15/
From this page (translated)
a cannon was installed Motorkanone type (engine mounted cannon) 20mm MG C/30L longitudinally in the engine, firing using the spinner. This aircraft was nicknamed Kanonenvogel (bird gunboat)

The Kanonenvogel was assigned to Oberleutnant Günther "Fips" Radusch, an experienced flight officer of the Luftwaffe. Radusch offered as a pilot volunteer to travel to Spain and arrival in the country in September 1936 in civilian disguise. Its first flight with the He 112 V6 was on 9 December 1936y field tests began immediately. The 112V6 I recently arrived next to Ju 87A and 123 Angelito I undertook missions (some successful) attack against Republicans objectives.

When started Batalle of Jarama, the February 6, 1937, and I 112V6 Radusch were deployed in Villa del Prado, a small airfield near Madrid where was I based a squadron of 51 of the Condor Legion. There Radusch joined another famous German pilot, Hannes Trautloft. Trautloft was in charge of testing the performance of BF 109V3 (code 6 • 1) in combat. Both aircraft carried out many combat missions without significant results. However, the main objective of testing aircraft battlefields had been a success. Both fighters were tested throughout combat missions and their performance properly registered. During these trials the Bf 109 flew missions together with the rotten I 51mientras Kanonenvogel the He 112, armed with armor-piercing explosive ammunition was used in the ground attack role

The He 112 in Spain (Part 2)

In March 1937 I was transferred to the second 112V6 Staffel of Jagdgruppe 88 under Oberleutnant Günther Lützow controls. The unit operated from Almorox (Toledo region). On March 16 Oberleutnant Wilhelm Balthasar, an Official Observer I 45C biplane pilot who was in Almorox due to an emergency landing, heard a report on an armored train approached Republican to the area. Balthasar Heinkel spotted the prototype of the base commander and convinced it was an experienced pilot Heinkel. After some brief instructions authorized him to take off and flew to Aranjuez where he operated an armored train. Soon overtook slower fighters, who had already left for the area, and attacked the train was in Seseña railway station. In his third run achieved a direct hit from his 20mm cannon ammunition bandwagon which exploded and led to another series of explosions that destroyed the target completely. During his return to the base Balthasar Republican destroyed a tank in its path. Tremendous achievement for an inexperienced pilot in combat.

Upon reaching the base, Balthasar was greeted with a warm welcome by his teammates. Later he was assigned as Commanding Officer (C / O) of a experimental combat unit equipped with three 45C and I've only 112V6. The new Rotte was assigned to tactical reconnaissance, artillery positions location and ground attack. This small unit, with Balthasar, was sent to Bilbao to support the Nationalist offensive in the north, where it operated until mid-June 1937. On June 6, 1937, during the Battle of Brunete, the 112V6 I went back into battle, this time piloted by Max Schulze Unteroffizer. While flying to Escalona (in the region of Toledo) managed to destroy three armored Republicans.

But Kanonenvogel days were numbered. On July 19, 1937, as he prepared to land at the aerodrome of Escalona, ​​the Jumo engine stood, forcing Schulze to make an emergency landing at a speed close to the stall. The pilot was not injured but I was given low-112V6. The remains of the aircraft were immediately shipped to Germany to investigate the causes of the accident. The V6 never again soar
Page also includes some photos of the He 112 Kanonenvogel


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Ironmachine
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Re: He 112 V6 armed with 20mm ant-aircraft canon?

#3

Post by Ironmachine » 23 Mar 2013, 11:23

Not an "on-line" source, but this comes from the book He 112 in Action:
In order to call attention on his fighter program, Ernst Heinkel offered to the RLM its V6 as a flying test bed for the development of a new concept in aircraft armament: the cannon armed fighter plane, precursor of the Zerstörer [...] The offer was finally accepted and the He 112 V6 was modified according to the Technisches Amt's request to take an engine-mounted 20mm Rheinmetall-Borsig MG C/30L type cannon. Ansious to evaluate the Motorkanone's operational feasibility, the RLM approved the V6's deployment to Spain, where the civil war had just commenced. It arrived in Spain during early December of 1936, (contrary to sources which state the V5's deployed to Spain. The fifth prototype was still present at Rostock in March of 1937 and was eventually sold and shipped to Japan.) along with three Bf 109 prototypes. The He 112 V6 finally met its fate in Spain where it was destroyed in a force landing on 19 July 1937.

Sergio Uno
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Re: He 112 V6 armed with 20mm ant-aircraft canon?

#4

Post by Sergio Uno » 07 May 2013, 15:26

The Waffen-Arsenal He 112 volume (Bd. 159) says essentially the same thing. Some sources, such as Luftwaffe Colours Vol.1, Section 2 (p.120), appear to confuse the V6 (aka W.Nr. 1952, D-IQZE) with the V3 (W.Nr. 1292, D-IDMO) which, like the V5, did not fly in Spain either.

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