The Luftwaffe WITHOUT Messerschmitt

[tomo pauk]

Let's pretend! Say Willi Messerschmitt dies before he starts designing powered aircraft. Then in the early days of the Luftwaffe, the RLM is forced to choose the Heinkel He.112 as their front-line fighter. How would that effect the opening stages of the was and particularly the Battle of Britain? Next, to replace the He.112, the Luftwaffe selects a combination of the Focke-Wulf Fw-190 and a refined version of the Heinkel He.100/He.113 (without the surface evaporation cooling system).

How do you this both aircraft would fair in combat with the RAF, USAAF and VVS?

Please note that anything you say may be used in a future alternate history novel, by me.

Thanks

Chuck

(holy necromancing moly )

If the He-112 is chosen as-is, with it's original huge wing (since there is no defeat in the testing, that prompted Heinkel to make the small-wing He 112B), it will be performing with Jumo 210 about as good as the best current biplanes, like the I-153. Meaning it will be criticized by Luftwaffe people during the Spanish civil, further meaning that LW will be hard pressed to re-engine it with DB 601 and to procure a real performer. It should turn better than the 109, be easier to take off and land. Range will be shorter due to greater drag vs. Bf 109 if the same fuel is carried.
With DB 601, we can expect ~500 km/h, ie. the ballpark with Hurricane I. Combined with numbers produced, surprise attack and combat experience it is still more than enough to battle Polish, Danish, Belgian and Dutch. French will be a tad bigger problem, since there is no great disparity in performance of fighters, so even the Potez 60 series and MS.406 are not that in disadvantage, and Curtiss H-75 is the better than the DB-ised He 112. The Hurricanes based in France should be able to give a much better results than it was historically so. Both French and the RAF bombers will have lower losses, so a bridge or two might actually go down, with ... interesting repercussions for the German onslaught.
Absence of Bf 110 is more than covered by emergence of Fw 187?

France still falls, British have easier time to extract from the continent, BoB still ends up same as it did historically.
Luftwaffe is much more pressed to introduce the He 100 with normal cooling, while the lackluster He 112 and a dire need for ever more Fw 187 might mean the Fw 190 never materializes since Fw has their hands full?

 

[Catman]

... Hätte es keine 109 zu fangen gegeben, ...

Dann wahrscheinlich eine echte Dienstversion (nicht nur die Handvoll Propagandaflugzeuge) der He 100
gebaut worden wäre. Es wurde in mehreren Aspekten als der Bf 109 überlegen angesehen, aber benötigt
mehr Arbeitsstunden. Die Verdunstungskühlung wäre wohl durch eine mehr ersetzt worden
herkömmliches System, aber ich glaube nicht, dass dies die Leistung zu stark reduziert hätte.
Am Ende hätte die He 100 aufgrund ihres breiteren Spurfahrwerks "benutzerfreundlicher" sein können
und die bessere Sichtbarkeit, die es von Anfang an

Nach meinen Informationen, allerdings vor 1980 gelesen, war eines der Entwurfsziele der He 100 die Reduzierung der Arbeitsstunden bei der Herstellung des Flugzeuges. Es sollen erheblich weniger Mannstunden nötig gewesen sein, die He 100 zu produzieren, als die Bf 109 zu produzieren. Zur Vereinfachung der Produktion wurde durch Heinkel-Ingenieure das Spreng-Niet-Verfahren entwickelt. Die Luftwaffe beharrte hauptsächlich wegen des Mangels an DB 60 Motoren und der bereits etablierten Produktion der Bf 109 und ihrem Glauben an die Überlegenheit deutscher Luftfahrtingenieure. Das es auch in anderen Ländern fähige Konstrukteure gab hielten die für völlig unmöglich.