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Heinkel

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For the fictional character, see Hainkeru.
Heinkel Flugzeugwerke
Industry Aerospace
Fate Acquired
Successor(s) Vereinigte Flugtechnische Werke (VFW)
Founded 1922
Founder(s) Ernst Heinkel
Defunct 1965
Headquarters Warnemünde, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
Services Aircraft engines

Heinkel Flugzeugwerke was a German aircraft manufacturing company founded by and named after Ernst Heinkel. It is noted for producing bomber aircraft for the Luftwaffe in World War II and for important contributions to high-speed flight, with the pioneering examples of a successful liquid-fueled rocket and a turbojet-powered aircraft in aviation history, with both Heinkel designs' first flights occurring shortly before the outbreak of World War II in Europe.

History[]

Following the successful career of Ernst Heinkel as the chief designer for the Hansa-Brandenburg aviation firm in World War I, Herr Heinkel's own firm was established at Warnemünde in 1922, after the restrictions on German aviation imposed by the Treaty of Versailles were relaxed. The company's first great success was the design of the Heinkel He 70 Blitz high-speed mail plane and airliner for Deutsche Luft Hansa in 1932, which broke a number of air speed records for its class. It was followed by the two-engine Heinkel He 111 Doppel-Blitz, which became a mainstay of the Luftwaffe during World War II as a bomber. Heinkel's most important designers at this point were the twin Günter brothers, Siegfried and Walter, and Heinrich Hertel. The firm's headquarters was in Rostock later known as Heinkel-Nord (Heinkel-North), possessing a factory airfield in the Schmarl neighborhood of the city (then known as "Marienehe") with an additional Heinkel-Süd facility in Schwechat, Austria, after the Anschluss in 1938.

Ruinen Heinkelwerk

Ruins of the Heinkel headquarters in Rostock

The Heinkel company is most closely associated with aircraft used by the Luftwaffe during World War II. This began with the adaptation of the He 70 and, in particular, the He 111, to be used as bombers. Heinkel also provided the Luftwaffe's only operational heavy bomber, the Heinkel He 177, although this was never deployed in significant numbers. The German Luftwaffe equipped both of these bombers with the Z-Gerät, Y-Gerät, and Knickebein, developed by Johannes Plendl, and thus they were among the first aircraft to feature advanced night navigation devices, common in all commercial airplanes today.

Heinkel was less successful in selling fighter designs — before the war, the Heinkel He 112 had been rejected in favour of the Messerschmitt Bf 109, and Heinkel's attempt to top Messerschmitt's design with the Heinkel He 100 failed due to political interference within the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM — Reich Aviation Ministry). The company also provided the Luftwaffe with an outstanding night fighter, the Heinkel He 219, which also suffered from politics and was produced only in limited numbers. By contrast, the only heavy bomber to enter service with the Luftwaffe during the war years – the Heinkel He 177 Greif – turned out to be one of the most troublesome German wartime aircraft designs, plagued with numerous engine fires from its general airframe design being mis-tasked to be built to be able to perform moderate-angle dive bombing attacks from the moment of its approval by the RLM in early November 1937. From 1941 until the end of the war, the company was merged with engine manufacturer Hirth to form Heinkel-Hirth, giving the company the capability of manufacturing its own powerplants.

Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-774-0011-34, Produktion von Flugzeug Heinkel He 111 P-4

Production of the Heinkel He 111 in 1939

The Heinkel name was also behind pioneering work in jet engine and rocket development. In 1939, flown by Erich Warsitz,[1] the Heinkel He 176 and Heinkel He 178 became the first aircraft to fly under liquid-fuel rocket and turbojet power respectively, and Heinkel was the first to develop a jet fighter to prototype stage, the Heinkel He 280. This latter aircraft never reached production however, since the RLM wanted Heinkel to concentrate on bomber production and instead promoted the development of the rival Messerschmitt Me 262. Very late in the war, a Heinkel jet fighter finally took to the air as the Heinkel He 162, but it had barely entered service at the time of Germany's surrender.

Following the war, Heinkel was prohibited from manufacturing aircraft and instead built bicycles, motor scooters (see below), and the Heinkel microcar. The company eventually returned to aircraft in the mid-1950s, licence building F-104 Starfighters for the West German Luftwaffe. In 1965, the company was absorbed by Vereinigte Flugtechnische Werke (VFW), which was in turn absorbed by Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm in 1980 and later became part of EADS.

Products[]

Aircraft[]

HD - Heinkel Doppeldecker
HE - Heinkel Eindecker
He - Heinkel (RLM designator)

P - Projekt

  • Heinkel He P.1076, A nearly conventional 1944 design, with slightly forward swept wings and double propellers at the front.
  • Heinkel P.1077 Julia
  • Heinkel P.1078
  • Heinkel He P.1078A, fighter(jet-engined) (project)
  • Heinkel He P.1078B, tailless fighter(jet-engined) (project)
  • Heinkel He P.1078C, tailless fighter(jet-engined) (project), 1944
  • Heinkel He P.1079A, two-engine night-fighter(jet-engined) (project)
  • Heinkel He P.1079B/I, all-weather heavy fighter(flying wing design) (jet-engined)
  • Heinkel He P.1079B/II, all-weather heavy fighter(flying wing design) (jet-engined), 1945
  • Heinkel Lerche
  • Heinkel Wespe

Microcar[]

Main article: Heinkel Kabine
Heinkel Kabine vl red2

Heinkel Kabine

Heinkel introduced the "Kabine" bubble car in 1956. It competed with the BMW Isetta and the Messerschmitt KR200. It had a unit body and a four-stroke single-cylinder engine.[2]

Heinkel stopped manufacturing the Kabine in 1958 but production continued under licence, first by Dundalk Engineering Company in Ireland and then by Trojan Cars Ltd., which ceased production in 1966.[2][3]

Scooters[]

Main article: Heinkel Tourist
Heinkel Tourist 175, Bj. 1956 1a

Heinkel Tourist 175 (1956)

Heinkel introduced the "Tourist" motor scooter in the 1950s which was known for its reliability. A large and relatively heavy touring machine, it provided good weather protection with a full fairing and the front wheel turning under a fixed nose extension. The "Tourist" had effective streamlining, perhaps unsurprising in view of its aircraft ancestry, and although it had only a 174 cc (10.6 cu in), 9.5 bhp 4-stroke engine, it was capable of sustaining speeds of up to 70 miles per hour (110 km/h) (official figures 58 miles per hour (93 km/h)), given time to get there.

Heinkel also made a lighter 150 cc (9.2 cu in) scooter called the Heinkel 150.[4]

Mopeds[]

Heinkel Perle vl

Heinkel Perle

Heinkel built the Perle moped from 1954 to 1957.[5] The Perle was a sophisticated cycle with a cast alloy unit frame, rear suspension, a fully enclosed chain with part of the chain enclosure integral with the swingarm, and interchangeable wheels. This high level of sophistication came at a high cost.[6][7] Approximately twenty-seven thousand Perles were sold.[5]

See also[]

  • Maicoletta
  • Zündapp Bella

References[]

  1. ↑ Warsitz, Lutz: THE FIRST JET PILOT - The Story of German Test Pilot Erich Warsitz, Pen and Sword Books Ltd., England, 2009
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum: 1956 Heinkel Kabine
  3. ↑ Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum: 1963 Trojan 200
  4. ↑ Faraway Montevideo Heinkel 150 site
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Biker Szene Interview with Ernst Heinkel's Son
  6. ↑ Wilson, H. "The Encyclopedia of the Motorcycle" p. 77 Dorling-Kindersley Limited, 1995 ISBN 0-7513-0206-6
  7. ↑ CycleMaster PAGE 10. 1955 Earls Court Show: Debut of the ‘Mo-ped’ - "HEINKEL - Stand 96"

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Heinkel.
Aircraft produced by Heinkel
Company designations
pre-1933
RLM designations
1933–1945
  • He 45
  • He 46
  • He 47
  • He 49
  • He 50
  • He 51
  • He 58
  • He 59
  • He 60
  • He 61
  • He 62
  • He 63
  • He 64
  • He 65
  • He 66
  • He 70
  • He 71
  • He 72
  • He 74
  • He 100
  • He 111
  • He 112
  • He 113
  • He 114
  • He 115
  • He 116
  • He 118
  • He 119
  • He 120
  • He 162
  • He 170
  • He 172
  • He 176
  • He 177
  • He 178
  • He 219
  • He 220
  • He 270
  • He 274
  • He 277
  • He 280
  • He 319
  • He 343
  • He 419
  • He 519
  • P.1041
  • P.1054
  • P.1060
  • P.1062
  • P.1063
  • P.1064
  • P.1065
  • P.1066
  • P.1068
  • P.1069
  • P.1070
  • P.1071
  • P.1072
  • P.1073
  • P.1074
  • P.1075
  • P.1076
  • P.1077
  • P.1078
  • P.1079
  • P.1080
  • Strabo 16
  • Wespe
  • Lerche
    • Foreign designations
    or built under license
    1 to 100
    101 to 200
    201 to 300
  • Si 201
  • DFS 203
  • Si 204
  • Me 208
  • Me 209
  • Me 209 (1943)
  • Me 210
  • Hü 211
  • Do 212
  • Do 214
  • Do 215
  • Dornier Do 216
  • Do 217
  • Henschel Hs 217
  • He 219
  • Heinkel He 220
  • BV 222
  • Fa 223
  • Focke-Achgelis Fa 224
  • AGO Ao 225
  • Fa 225
  • Blohm & Voss BV 226
  • Horten Ho 226
  • FGP 227
  • DFS 228
  • Ho 229
  • DFS 230
  • Ar 231
  • Ar 232
  • Ar 233
  • Ar 234
  • Dornier Do 235
  • Blohm & Voss BV 237
  • BV 238
  • Focke-Wulf Fw 238
  • Arado Ar 239
  • Ar 240
  • Gotha Go 241
    • 301-
  • Me 309
  • Me 310
  • Do 317
  • Do 318
  • He 319
  • Me 321
  • Ju 322
  • Me 323
  • Me 328
  • Me 329
  • Fa 330
  • DFS 331
  • DFS 332
  • Fi 333
  • Messerschmitt Me 334
  • Do 335
  • Focke Achgelis Fa 336
  • Flettner Fl 339
  • E.340
  • WNF 342
  • He 343
  • Kramer Rk 344
  • So 344
  • Go 345
  • DFS 346
  • Kramer Rk 347
  • Ba 349
  • Ju 352
  • Messerschmitt Me 362
  • Messerschmitt Me 364
  • Ju 388
  • Ju 390
  • Focke-Wulf Fw 391
  • Ar 396
  • Ta 400
  • Me 409
  • Me 410
  • Dornier Do 417
  • He 419
  • Zeppelin-Messerschmitt ZMe 423
  • Arado Ar 430
  • Ka 430
  • Ar 432
  • Do 435
  • Ar 440
  • Junkers Ju 452
  • Messerschmitt Me 462
  • Ju 488
  • Focke-Wulf Fw 491
  • Me 509
  • Messerschmitt Me 510
  • He 519
  • ZSO 523
  • Ar 532
  • Do 535
  • E.555
  • Me 609
  • Ar 632
  • Do 635
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