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Aviation History
1939
1939-1- - 0771.PDF
FLIGHT, September 14, 1939. MACHINES of the LUFTWAFFE Some Notes on German Air Force Equipment EXCEPTING possibly Russia, Germany has been more reticent on the subject of her air force than any of the great Powers. Despite this, Flight has managed to collect and correlate a good deal of information on cur rent types of German military aircraft. A certain amount of this is published in this issue in company with a unique set of recognition drawings which show the characteristic features of most of the Service types in use. Germany appears to favour the high-speed, twin-engined lightly armed bomber, as typified by the Heinkels (He in and its derivative type), the Dornier Do 17, and the 215 which has been developed from it, and the new Junkers Ju 88. This formula is also being followed by certain other countries, which, like Germany, now regard with disfavour slower machines with heavier turret-mounted armament. Despite her partiality for aircraft of this sort, Germany is known to have a number of Junkers Ju 89s with four Junkers inverted, vee-twelve, liquid-cooled engines. The Ju 89 may be considered as the Service ver sion of the Ju 90 commercial machine. It is possible that this type is regarded as a bomber transport; the familiar Ju 52 is now a standard machine in this category, and is known to be used for the transport of parachute troops. It would appear likely that the Ju 89 has gun turrets, possibly with power drive, though simple manually oper ated mountings are used on the other types of bomber. A new type in a new category is the Messerschmitt Bf no fighter-bomber, which is believed to be armed with shell-firing guns and large-bore machine guns. This type is already in service in considerable numbers. Single- seater fighters include the Heinkel He 112 and Messer schmitt Bf 109, together with modified versions of these designs, which, despite statements made by their manu facturers, are not identical with the machines used to break the world's speed record. For specialised dive-bombing work the standard type is the Junkers Ju 87, which has special flaps to limit its diving speed. The single-seater fighter-bombers made by the Henschel and Blohm and Voss concerns are now obsolescent. A symbolic view of a fly-past of Heinkel bombers (modified He in K type) during the parade before Herr Hitler at Charlottenburg on April 20 this year. For strategical reconnaissance the Luftwaffe employs adaptations of high-speed, twin-engined bombers, while the Henschel Hs 123 (counterpart of our Westland Lysander) is used for artillery spotting and general observation work. Training machines include large numbers of obsolescent Service types, specialised single-seater fighter trainers (several of which are noted for their aerobatic qualities) and large numbers of small twin-engined crew trainers, apart from the normal ab initio two-seaters. For coastal and over-sea work there are Heinkel mono planes on floats, three-engined Dorniers (these, unlike the machines of their type supplied to Holland, are said to have liquid-cooled engines, though our drawing shows an air-cooled installation), and military versions of the twin-engined Dor nier Do 18 with Junkers diesels. It is believed that the single- and twin-engined Heinkel biplanes on floats are now used for training. A type corresponding to our torpedo-spotter reconnaissance aircraft is the Arado Ar 95 biplane, which is regarded as a maid-of-all- work. This machine is powered with a B.M.W. radial. It is not known which types will be selected to equip the new aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin, but warships in service at present are allo cated Heinkel floatplanes, one type being a sesquiplane. Photographs have appeared of monoplanes installed carried on ships' cata pults. The type concerned would appear to be of Arado design, and, in fact, resembles, except for the wing cellule, the Ar 95. The catapults are of Heinkel design. A Messerschmitt Bf 109 single-seater fighter. This machine is said to have fine flying qualities and is fitted with Handley Page slots and flaps.
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