Post by Diarist on Dec 24, 2017 11:41:18 GMT 1
On this day the Heinkel He 118 dive-bomber had its maiden flight. It was a prototype German monoplane design that lost out to the Junkers Ju 87 Stuka and was never ordered by the Luftwaffe.
Design
Designed by the Günter brothers, the He 118 followed many of the design notes of the Günter's designs of the era, notably the elliptical wing planform and rounded tail surfaces. It was in many ways an aluminum version of the mixed-construction Heinkel He 70 Blitz, strengthened for dive bombing.
It was a conventional cantilever monoplane with an inverted gull wing of elliptical planform mounted midway up the fuselage. It was considerably more streamlined than the Junkers competitor, with retractable landing gear and an internal bomb bay.
As designed it was limited to filling a role similar to an attack bomber like the Henschel Hs 123 rather than a true dive bomber like the Junkers Ju 87. It was limited to bombing from a shallow angle, more properly known as "glide bombing", with the second crew member acting as the bomb aimer.
Source: Wikipedia - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinkel_He_118
Design
Designed by the Günter brothers, the He 118 followed many of the design notes of the Günter's designs of the era, notably the elliptical wing planform and rounded tail surfaces. It was in many ways an aluminum version of the mixed-construction Heinkel He 70 Blitz, strengthened for dive bombing.
It was a conventional cantilever monoplane with an inverted gull wing of elliptical planform mounted midway up the fuselage. It was considerably more streamlined than the Junkers competitor, with retractable landing gear and an internal bomb bay.
As designed it was limited to filling a role similar to an attack bomber like the Henschel Hs 123 rather than a true dive bomber like the Junkers Ju 87. It was limited to bombing from a shallow angle, more properly known as "glide bombing", with the second crew member acting as the bomb aimer.
Source: Wikipedia - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinkel_He_118