Heinkel He111Z "Zwilling"

[dosydos]

I was quite surprised when i first saw some pictures of the
Heinkel He111Z "Zwilling". Seems like two bombers just have been screwn together, an extra engine added and ready to fly...
Has anyone some further information in terms of flight quality,
operational area, missions, shut downs...
thank you...!

p.s.: http://www.luftwaffepics.com/lhe1113.htm[/url]

[Xavier]

operational use was as a tug for the big gliders (Me 321 giant) mainly in the mediterranean and norht africa.

It could also tow a couple small gliders like the DFs 230 too.

check this link:

http://www.eagle19.freeserve.co.uk/aircraft.htm

or the master site:

http://www.eagle19.freeserve.co.uk/index.html

also, please check this very interesting site:

http://www.mundoaer.hpg.ig.com.br/ww2/me323.htm

and its heinekel specific page:

http://www.mundoaer.hpg.ig.com.br/ww2/he111.htm



Xavier

[dosydos]

Thank you Xavier..!
Astonishing! I thought the plane was concepted to carry a huge amount of bombs. I heard about these heavy gliders, but i don´t know so much about them. But your links were exactly what i was looking for...!
bye, dosy

[Stahlhelm]

http://204.50.25.179/features00/zwillin ... ntjv_1.htm

That article should tell you the whole story dos. Hope this helps. My understanding is that the plane was used only for towing and pulling the Gigant, and I am unaware of any point at which the Z was used for delivering ordnance. However, I suppose it could be possible, though the bombload would have to be exactly the same for both planes or it would be extremely hard to level.

Eric Burke

[Korbius]

The Zwilling surely needed extreme air cover from fighters due to the fact that it was vulnerable, but once the soviets gained the upper hand in 43, the Zwillings and Giants became easy prey.

[sturmfxr]

what is the range of the He 111Z?

nowarra says 1500km,
i read somewhere it was 6h with 9000l of fuel and cruising speed was more like 350km/h i believe,

who has the figure?

thanks, matt

[Kurt_Steiner]

As a plane, was the He111Z a good plane or a nightmare for the pilots? I've read it was quite good, Any ideas?

[Ome_Joop]

Acording to Unrealaaircraft, it was enjoyed/liked by it's crew but not very easy to fly

http://www.unrealaircraft.com/hybrid/He111Z.php

http://www.machtres.com/he111z.htm

[Davide Pastore]

Does anyone knows, with some precision, the production figures per month/year?

(I've checked the suggested URLs but I haven't found figures precise enough)

[phylo_roadking]

Davide, everywhere I look I get the same figure - 2 prototypes and ten production aircraft only

[Davide Pastore]

Davide, everywhere I look I get the same figure - 2 prototypes and ten production aircraft only

Yes, thank you, but I asked about "the production figures per month/year".

So, I'm looking forward to answers like "so many in 1942, so many in 1943" (as a minimum) or like "so many in January 1942, so many in February 1942, etc." (as an optimum).

Anyone?

[phylo_roadking]

Davide, I don't know when they were delivered, but there were only two production batches, I believe 5 including the two prototypes being converted H-6s, and the rest being brand new H-16s off the production line. From first flight of the prototypes to the full production entering service was only three months, the prototypes did their testing "in very late 1941" - so I assume the rest reached units in February or March 1942 at the latest. remember, about 90% of these could be assmebled using "prefab'd" sections lifted straight off the H-16 production line.

[Davide Pastore]

Yes, this is what some internet sources say.

OTOH another internet source (apparently a reliable one) tells a different story:

After a suggestion by Udet, in spring 1942 four He 111R-6 were converted into two He 111Z prototypes.
After scarcely three months of test flights at Reichlin, the machines were handed over to the air units.
Threafter, ten additional machines were built.

This might indicate the two prototypes were delivered from factory in April or May 1942, and handed over to the air units in July or August 1942, with series production starting only at this time (and reaching air units at the end of the year).

(caution: since my German is more or less zero I used Altavista Babelfish, so there is the chance I got the wrong meaning)

In any case, as a rule I prefer to rely more upon the worst book than the best website, so I don't trust blindly any of the above stories. Does anyone here own some printed source about the matter?

[phylo_roadking]

Davide, just one caveat on that, at the very beginning, a logic one - "After a suggestion from Udet, in spring 1942..." - by which point he was dead four or five months. Either someone thought it was a FAR better suggestion than the final execution of the idea showed, or else that second timing is way out by several months.

He's recorded as making the suggestion direct to the design staff during a factory visit at Mareinehe, so that pushes the date of starting development work back before November 17th, 1941...

[phylo_roadking]

Pual Sinnott's "Luftwaffe: the Allied Intelligence files" mentions an He111Z was photo-recce'd at Rostock on the 1st of May, 1942, so the production models were in active service with LLG2 there by that date at least. Which pushes the date back more towards my timings than the Lexicon's, which has the prototypes - one of which crashed, after all, and had to be replaced - only in testing around May of 1942.