Heinkel He 177/277/274 Variants and Projects

[sienar]

"Stormy Life" by Ernst Heinkel provides an explanation for the dive bombing requirement.

German didn't have the industrial capacity to produce a large bomber force in addition to everything else they wanted. The statisticians realized that dive bombing significantly increased accuracy, which would allow a smaller number of bombers to have the same impact as a much larger formation.

 

[Archibald]

Many thanks @PhR !

 

[Justo Miranda]

"Stormy Life" by Ernst Heinkel provides an explanation for the dive bombing requirement.

German didn't have the industrial capacity to produce a large bomber force in addition to everything else they wanted. The statisticians realized that dive bombing significantly increased accuracy, which would allow a smaller number of bombers to have the same impact as a much larger formation.

Growth in size implies a cubed growth of weight. The structural strength of a dive bomber is not feasible in a heavy bomber, not even in the Junkers Ju 88 could it be successfully applied. A dive bomber must have the solidity of a brick and fly just as badly as this one. The use of the dive bomber requires local air superiority which cannot be obtained with a long-range bomber. The idea was dead from the start.

 

[HoHun]

Hi,

Does anyone have any knowledge on the He-179? Apparently it was a plan for a four separate engines version of the bomber, except from the late 1930's.

This article ...

... does in fact mention the He 179 (my translation):

"On 7 September [1939], it had been decided not to continue construction of the aircraft with surface cooling, additionally the projected production of six prototypes with air-cooled engines was stopped. Probably, this referred to the He 177 variant planned to be engined with four BMW 801. This had the previously unknown designation He 179."

German original:

Am 7. September legte man fest, die Maschinen mit Oberflächenkühlung nicht weiter zu bauen, ebenso wurde die vorgesehene Fertigung von sechs Versuchsmustern mit luftgekühlten Motoren abgestoppt. Wahrscheinlich handelt es sich dabei um die mit vier BMW 801 geplante Variante der He 177. Diese trug die bisher unbekannte Typenbezeichnung He 179[31].

Footnote 31 refers to:

"31 LC 2 Nr. 632/39 gKdos vom 12..9.1939, Verringerung der Entwicklungsvorhaben"

("Reduction of the number of development projects")

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)

 

[Airborne2001]

Hi,



This article ...

... does in fact mention the He 179 (my translation):



German original:


Footnote 31 refers to:



("Reduction of the number of development projects")

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)

Oh my! Thank you! This definitely would've been a better way to go for the bomber, though the BMW 801 usage would've done numbers to Fw-190 production.

 

[RadioTheMan]

Does anyone have any good quality photos of He 177 with 7.5 cm BK cannon?