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Aviation History
1940
1940 - 1503.PDF
MAY 23, 1940 471 NOT-SO-NEW HEINKEL The He 113, Developed from the He 112 J PERIODICALLY the German propaganda machine isswitched on to technicalities and churns out eulogiesto new aircraft. Easily beguiled on these subjects, the British Press often attaches undue importance to the Ger- man outpourings ; the latest instance of this concerns the Heinkel He 113 single-seater fighter. This machine was actually illustrated in Flight over a year ago—on April 20, 1939. At that time it was considered a development of the He 112 and was, in fact, stated by the Germans to be the He 112U which had just broken the world's speed record by attaining 463.9 m.p.h. The design of the He 113 has been almost entirely revised in comparison with the original He 112 of 1937. The wings, although still of "inverted-gull" formation, are of different plan form, the sweeping curves of the original design having been abandoned in favour of a more severe trape- zoidal shape. It will be remem- bered that the elliptical wing of the He 111 bomber was also superseded by a straight-edged type. The undercarriage of the fighter now retracts inwardly, whereas in the original model the wheels, when raised, were housed in the outer wing panels. The fuselage and tail surfaces have been redesigned and the nose has been altered to take a Daimler-Benz DB 601 engine of the latest series. The radiator, which is apparently Although, as will be seen in the above view,the He 113 is a handy-looking machine, its manoeuvrability may be severely handicappedby a high wing loading. The picture on the left of an He ir3 was first published in Flight of April 20, 1939. retractable, is beneath the pilot's cockpit. Details of armament are unknown, but a German source states that '' light and heavy machine guns are carried." Although the hole in the spinner is not an infallible indica- tion of the presence of a shell-gun mounted on the engine, a small protrusion from the mount of the hole would suggest that an engine-mounted gun is, in fact, installed. There is no evidence of gun ports in the leading edge of the wing outboard of the air- screw arc, but there are holes in the centre section close to the fuselage. Should guns be installed here the object may be to keep the weight centrally massed or to accom- modate the magazines in the fuselage, where space is not so restricted. The earlier He 112 with Daimler-Benz engine was claimed to do 354 m.p.h. at 14,760 ft. A higher degree of supercharging, greater power and cleaner design should have raised this considerably. The wing loading of the new machine may be more than the 31 ib./sq. ft. of the older type with DB engine, and, despite the fact that every effort has apparently been made to centralise the masses of the undercarriage, armament, and even wing markings, manoeuvrability will undoubtedly be inferior to that of our Spitfire and Hurricane. Into the bargain, these machines carry a heavier armament load and should have a longer endurance. The first He 113 to be engaged came off second best to a Hurricane. semi- Whereas the most pronouncedcurve in the cowling of the Rolls- Royce Merlin is below the centreline, the reverse is true of the Daimler-Benz DB 601 installation.
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