Operational He 100?

[daveh]

I have read that 12 He 100D-1 fighters were used to form a Heinkel-Rostock factory defence unit, flown by Heinkel pilots.

Any further details? Successes? Any pilot comments on the He 100's effectiveness or comparisons with the Bf 109?

Did the He 100's sold to the Soviets have any influence on their aircraft designs?

[Eric]

Check this site.

http://www.geocities.com/lastdingo/aviation/he100.htm

[gabriel pagliarani]

.....It had no normal cooling system with additional drag, but a condensation system which used parts of the wing and fuselage surface to cool down it´s oil and water and it had a full retractable landing gear....

RLM testers were not "idiots" like reported in the above site: the science-fictionary condensation cooling system never worked in 1939. Replacing alcohols with halogens such a device is currently used by SSTs Space Shuttles to cool the external wing-frame after the high-Mach roasting dive just outing the orbit. He 100 in 1939, STS-1 in 1981... 42 years more! 8)

[Matt Gibbs]

Th3 He 100 D did not have the evaporatative cooling system because the He 100D airframe was using a semi retractable ventral radiator. It also had enlarged tail surfaces to improve control. Their armament comprised one nose mounted 20mm MG FF cannon and 2 wing mounted 7.9mm machine guns. Because it was designed around the DB601 engine it was not ordered for production because the Me109 was already using huge numbers of these and RLM did not want more. The 12 He100 D's produced were used as a Rostock factory defence scheme and apeared also in propaganda films with fictional markings and unit codes. I have no details on their use, if any, in action. The book I have mentioes they were used "For a while".
Regards
Matt Gibbs

[Grünherz]

As far as operational, I only know what you posted regarding the factory. There is a static replica at the Planes of Fame museum in Chino, California and you can take a look at it online.
Tom
(Search "planesoffame" and get some great 360 degree--and other--views. Of the museum not of the Heinkel!).
--Does one still exist? Smithsonian??

[gabriel pagliarani]

Th3 He 100 D did not have the evaporatative cooling system because the He 100D airframe was using a semi retractable ventral radiator. It also had enlarged tail surfaces to improve control. Their armament comprised one nose mounted 20mm MG FF cannon and 2 wing mounted 7.9mm machine guns. Because it was designed around the DB601 engine it was not ordered for production because the Me109 was already using huge numbers of these and RLM did not want more. The 12 He100 D's produced were used as a Rostock factory defence scheme and apeared also in propaganda films with fictional markings and unit codes. I have no details on their use, if any, in action. The book I have mentioes they were used "For a while".
Regards
Matt Gibbs

Obviously they were 2 different airframes having the same name...an attempted and failed commercial swindle! 8) RLM testers (Hanna Reisch was one of them..) definitevely were not as much idiots as reported on the above mentioned site. Funny cheat in 3rd Reich..

[Aufklarung]

I have also a book that mention sales of three He 100's to Japan in addition to the six to Russia.

He 112 had a more varied career and saw combat with Romanian forces.

regards
A

[varjag]

The efficient Goebbels propaganda machine promoted these as the 'new German He 113 fighter' in text and pictures and it did not take long before RAF pilots reported having encountered He 113's (mistaken id of course) as the 'He 113' appeared in all reputable a/c identification manuals after 1940.

[gabriel pagliarani]

Not only, Varjag. There must be a link between Ernst Udet's suicide and the complete failure of He 100 project. Was it a "secret scandal"?

[Grünherz]

Not only, Varjag. There must be a link between Ernst Udet's suicide and the complete failure of He 100 project. Was it a "secret scandal"?

I think that his suicide was more related to the failure of the Luftwaffes' relying on short-range "Blitzkrieg" aircraft (his decisions, I believe) instead of longer-range, more strategic, aircraft. Not necessarily the failure of the He-100 program. Perhaps I am wrong.
Tom

[gabriel pagliarani]

.....I think that his suicide was more related to the failure of the Luftwaffes' relying on short-range "Blitzkrieg" aircraft (his decisions, I believe) instead of longer-range, more strategic, aircraft. Not necessarily the failure of the He-100 program. Perhaps I am wrong.
Tom

mmmhhh...I feel skeptical.Udet was a real "junker", a sort of "prussian samurai" ready to kill himself "extrema ratio" to preserve the honour of his own family if involved in a scandal. But he was really involved only in Jagdwaffe's leadership. "He 100 affair" was therefore under his own direct responsability. Not the same about bombers even if the later failure of He 177 project may share too many links with the He 100 similar previous failure. But effectively there are a lot of such links. Althought Udet never took any part about He 177.

[Juha Tompuri]

Eric,

A little late but, THANKS for your link.

Regards, Juha

[Kugelblitz]

Gabriel, Udet did that because for his desitions-suggestions all bomber aircraft was equiped with dive bombing equipment, that made them more heavy (due of the reinforced for hig speed diving) and complex. Personally I think that the idea wasn`t bad, but Udet was under heavy preasure and all responsability go on him.

[Robert Hurst]

Hi Daveh

I hope you like the pics. Out of interest Heinkel's first customer for the He 100 was the Imperial Japanese Navy. Not only did they purchasen three of the pre-production He 100D-0 fighters for the sum of 1.2m Reichmarks, they also acquired a manufacturing licence for a further 1.6m Reichmarks. The three fighters reached Japan in May 1940, and after assembly at Kasumigaura, were delivered to the Navy under the designation AXHe1. The performance of the He 100D so impressed the Imperial Japanese Navy that plans were immediately formulated for the quantity production of the type as a standard land-based interceptor, production being assigned to Hitachi, and work commenced on a new factory specifically for He 100D manufacture at Chiba. By this time, however, the war situation prevented Heinkel supplying the promised jigs and tools, and AXheI production had to be abandoned.

The photos were taken from The Warplanes of the Third Reich, by William Green.

Regards

Bob

[Grünherz]

.....I think that his suicide was more related to the failure of the Luftwaffes' relying on short-range "Blitzkrieg" aircraft (his decisions, I believe) instead of longer-range, more strategic, aircraft. Not necessarily the failure of the He-100 program. Perhaps I am wrong.
Tom

"extrema ratio" . But he was really involved only in Jagdwaffe's leadership. "He 100 affair" was therefore under his own direct responsability. Not the same about bombers

Sorry, I don't speak Latin/Italian ("extrema ratio") but to change the subject...
Wasn't Udet responsible for promoting the Ju-87 and the short-range close support type tactical operations of the Luftwaffe? (I once more stand to be corrected by the more knowledgeable people on the Forum).
Tom

--I guess that I'm pushing this thread away from the He-100 (but I love this aircraft!).
--Anyway, don't most threads get way out of context?