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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 0167.PDF
JANUARY I6TH, 1941. FRIEND or FOE? Identify the Raider at a Glance : Second Supermarine Spitfire, Single-seater Fighter Wheeis retract outwards. Exhaust stubs belowcentre - line. Radiator beneath starboard wing, oil-cooler beneath port wing. Ellipticalwings of deep cord set well forward and with fillets at the roots. IN this, the second in Flight's new series of articles designed to simplify the important task of identifying air- craft, the Heinkel HE 113 is compared with the Spitfire which it resembles in several respects. Distinct differences betv/een these two machines which will enable the spotter to recognise the enemy aircraft almost at a glance, are dis- cussed in these notes. Last week's subject was the Hurricane and the ME 109. Article of New Series Heinkel HE 113, Single-seater Fighter Wheels retract inwards. Exhaust belowcentre - line. Radiator beneath cockpit. Inverted gull wings, angular and tapering inplan. No fillets. Angular fin and rudder of fairly high aspect-ratio. T SPITFIRE \HOSE whose duty it is to keep a look-out for hostile aircraft are not primarily concerned to know the exact identity of an approaching machine. One -. German may be taken to be as fair prey as any other enemy type, including an Italian, should such a sur- prising phenomenon ever materialise inside these shores. On the other hand, familiarity with the distinctive features of particular types of enemy machines enable quick recog- ~;-~. nition, which is the object of a spotter. *i:. In comparing, this week, the Heinkel HE 113 with our • own Spitfire, the most marked difference is the former's . inverted gull wings. But the "gulling" is not so exag- gerated as to be readily discernible at any great distance? •'•'. unless the machine is been head-on or very nearly so. At "•' most other angles of approach what will probably be more quickly observable will be the position of the projecting radiator on the HE 113 directly beneath the pilot's cockpit as distinct from that of the - Spitfire, which is below the ;:* starboard wing. The British ttachine, too, has an oil-cooler '~vt>elow the port wing, so that an approaching single-engined fighter seen to possess a bulge under • each wing, the star- board one being the larger, may safely be accepted as a Spitfire. On the other hand, the presence of a single "scoop" below the fuselage will not necessarily guarantee hostile identity unless it is accompanied by inverted gull wings. These two features combined, however, will de- finitely establish the aircraft as an HE 113 and warrant the sounding of the alarm. Under conditions of poor visibility and low cloud the watcher may never get nny- thing approaching a head-on ,.jv>'»ew of the machine he desires to identify. It may appear almost directly overhead or emerge from cloud to present more 01 less of a side view, and HE 113 the inverted gull characteristics of its wings may not be readily apparent. Let us suppose, first of all, that it emerges from cloud almost over the spotter's head. The plan of the wings will immediately indicate its nationality, for. one could hardly mistake the elliptical shape of the Spitfire's wings, with their curved fillets where the trailing edges join the fuselage, for the tapering, angular wings of the German fighter. Such wings, accompanied by an inwardly retracting undercarriage, will stamp it as an HE 113, for the wheels of the Spitfire fold outwards, and immediately behind them are the two scoops or ducts already mentioned. Yet another detail to confirm identi- fication is the length of nose projecting in front of the wings. This is much greater in the case of the Heinkel fighter. Should the machine first present a side view, however, the difference in wing design will probably not be suffi- ciently obvious to provide a quick and certain means of establishing identity. Look instead for the position of the exhaust stubs and the shape of the tail and rudder. The Spitfire has its exhaust above the centre-line, but on the HE 113 it is well below the centre-line of the symmetrical nose. The fin and rudder of the British fighter are grace- fully rounded, but those of the German are square-cut, the rear edge of the rudder itself presenting a straight line slop- ing outwards towards the bot- tom. Yet another point of divergence observed at this angle is that whereas the Spit- fire's nose is fairly fiat on top and rounded beneath and its wings are set well forward, the "snout" of the Heinkel is symmetrical, and projects well ahead of the leading-edge. Next week : The Bristol Beau- fort and the Junkers JU 88.
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