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In
In
the mid-1930s, after Hitler's rise to power and Germany's effective
departure from the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles, the aircraft
manufacturer Ernst Heinkel Fleugzeugwerke
developed the successful He 111 twin-engine medium bomber. Initial versions
of the design had an elliptical wing shape and a classic fuselage layout,
but later versions such as the He 111P were built from the outset with a
simpler and better engineered trapezoidal wing, as well as a new fuselage
to improve aerodynamic performance and optimizing the location of the crew
inside the aircraft.
In
1938, there was a problem with a shortage of the Daimler Benz engines
installed on the He 111P and so the designers had to replace them with
another type, the Jumo 211, while leaving the
rest of the structure unchanged. This modification of the type was
designated He 111H. At the beginning of 1939, the production of the He 111H
first equaled that of the He 111P and then surpassed it. By September 1939,
and the initiation of full-scale combat operations, the numbers of the H
variant was already half of all available He 111 aircraft.
In
the spring of 1941, the release of the He 111H-6 subtype began, which had
even more powerful Jumo 211F engines. The main
differences were new wide-bladed propellers, individual exhaust manifolds,
in addition to significantly strengthened protective weaponry.
He
111H-6 was used as a night and day bomber, however, due to the expansion of
the theaters of war including those over water surfaces, it was quite often
used as a torpedo aircraft. It was used in this role both in the European
and in the North African theater, with considerable success. The He 111H-6
was a significant threat to naval vessels as it had a good level of aiming
speed and precision, and its armament of two torpedoes significantly
increased the chances of hitting the target.
In 1942, with the advent of the new He 177 aircraft, it was
planned to cease production of the He 111H-6, but problems with the engines
of the He 177 forced the Luftwaffe management to extend production of the
He 111H-6. In total, 1,775 aircraft of this variant were built, a
considerable number of which continued in military service in the following
years, thus proving the success of the design and its excellent flight
performance characteristics.
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