Heinkel He 115

History of Heinkel He 115

It is well known that the He 115 series seaplanes were considered the best of their kind during WWII. She has played various offensive and defensive roles, attacking enemy ships as much as possible and making life hell on the waterways. She also did an excellent job of laying mines, consistently delivering a healthy dose of anti-ship mines to the North Sea for some time.

In addition to the business with Germany, Bulgaria, Finland, Norway and Sweden have also used this beautiful machine in one place or another. In addition, the United Kingdom and its Royal Air Force used at least four captured Norwegian He 115s in several subsequent covert operations.

There are reportedly around 500 production instances.

His 115 origin

The He 115 originated from a 1935 Luftwaffe request to design a twin-engine seaplane for a variety of maritime military missions - including use as a torpedo bomber, minelayer and reconnaissance platform. Seaplane designs have their own specific requirements, primarily related to operational range and structural integrity.

Since these planes are likely to operate far from their starting point and in adverse ocean conditions, the new design must succeed in nearly every area of ??its airframe. While the torpedo role is planned to be her primary function, the Bree and Scout roles will be her secondary roles.

Henkel and Burger

In response, Hamburger Flugzeugbau (then a subsidiary of Blohm & Voss, which built many successful civil and military seaplanes and airships at the time) produced the Ha 140 and Heinkel launched their He 115. Both designs showed promise and both were selected for prototyping. A total of five prototypes were developed for the He 115, while the Ha 140 will consist of three prototypes.

The He 115 proved to be the more successful approach, and resources were allocated to the Heinkel program, leaving the Ha 140 behind in the history books.

Prototype

The first prototype, the He 115 V1, flew for the first time in August 1937 and set no less than eight international payload and speed records for the type in a series of test flights. A similar He 115 V2 was introduced in November 1937.

In March 1938, the He 115 V3 was introduced with a cockpit with a glass cockpit - a design aspect that would become standard on all other He 115 designs. The He 115 V4 came online in May 1938 and was chosen as the production variant of the He 115 series.

The prototype also used struts in place of the former wires that connect the float to the plane's fuselage. Another prototype, the He 115 V5, made its debut sometime in 1939.

In contrast, the arrival of the He 115 was far better than anything the Allies could deploy in the seaplane category at the time. She is a technologically advanced design, to say the least.

He 115 walks

The design of the Heinkel He 115 features its recognizable floats mounted on the bottom of each engine nacelle. The pontoons run the full length of the fuselage, are placed along the front half of the aircraft, and are attached to the fuselage by large, thick struts. The overall shape of the fuselage is somewhat tubular, notably the heavy glass sections including the nose assembly and crew compartment. This windowed approach provided excellent visibility from almost all angles inside the aircraft, and the three crew members could be seen and identified from the heights of the He 115. The crew in the bow cabin was significantly taller than the other two crew members.

The two crew members are seated in a back-to-back tandem seating arrangement in the extended crew cabin, and their elevated positions also provide excellent visibility. The fuselage tapers to a long, if overly traditional horizontal stabilizer, with a vertical stabilizer with a truncated tip.

The vertical tail base carries corresponding horizontal tails, each of which is designed with a large span. The wings are mid-low mounted monoplanes with a slight V-shape, with a significantly swept leading edge and a less pronounced trailing edge. Each wingtip is curved and elegantly designed. Since the He 115 is above the waterline, crew access ladders are installed on both sides of the fuselage, approximately amidships, and are attached to the fuselage from the rear of each pontoon.

The engine is housed in an open nacelle at the front and has a streamlined design that tapers along the trailing edge in front of the flap assembly and drives the three-bladed propellers separately.

He 115's equipment

The heart and soul of the torpedo bombing seaplane is of course its weapon. While she has some options in terms of weapons - 7.92mm MG 15 and MG 17 series machine guns - for self-defense, her "bread and butter" is her anti-ship capability. This is solved by carrying a single LTF 5 or LTF 6b series torpedo. In lieu of this weapon, the He 115's crew could use a pair of conventional SD 500 1,100-pound or SC 250 550-pound drop bombs.

Additionally, the He 115 is approved for minelaying missions using either the LMB III or LMA series mines. After 1943, cannon weapons in the form of 20mm MG 151 or 20mm MG FF were placed in the lower nose to suppress land-based anti-aircraft guns during torpedo operation.

Series A

In terms of production, the He 115 V4 is synonymous with the He 115 series, which started with the He 115A-0. This form consisted of ten pre-production aircraft armed with a basic single-defense machine gun. It was not until the He 115A-1 was fitted with a nose machine gun that the aircraft gained a considerable defensive coverage area.

The He 115A-1 in turn produced the export He 115A-2, which was shipped to Norway and Sweden for various pre-war missions. The He 115A-3 has an improved communications suite and weapons bay.

Series B

The He 115B-1 series followed in production with increased fuel capacity for extended operating range. The He 115B series produces three known sub-variants named R1, R2 and R3.

The He 115B-2 has a similar range but receives an enhanced float for hard surface operations on ice and snow - designed primarily for arctic operations.

C Series

The He 115C-1 introduced a better defensive weapons scheme and resulted in four sub-variants, referred to simply as R1, R2, R3 and R4. The He 115C-2 is equipped with a reinforced float, which is found on the He 115B-2 production model. The He 115C-3 became a dedicated minelayer variant, while the He 115C-4 was a dedicated torpedo bomber variant. The He 115D became a "one-off" model, testing a pair of 1,600-horsepower BMW 801C Series engines - although the model was not selected for series production.

The He 115E-1 is said to be similar to the He 115C production series, but still has improved weapons capabilities.

Overall, although He 115 has various variants and sub-variants, its basic form has been largely preserved. When there were significant changes, they were mostly focused on the aircraft's weapons or its avionics/communication suite.

Among other things, the design proved to be fairly robust, resulting in an unusually long wartime for this class of aircraft.

He 115 in war

In September 1939, about 60 He 115A and He 115B systems were commissioned. Before the German invasion of Poland, the rollercoaster brigade conducted limited reconnaissance in the Balkans. At the beginning of the official combat operation, the He 115 Flying Brigade conducted mine operations in the North Sea. The He 115 was flown by the 106th and 406th Coastal Air Groups (the latter from northern Norway in 1942) for minelaying flights over the east and south coasts of England to disrupt the maneuvering of all merchant and warships in the area.

The He 115 was in service during the Battle of Britain and consisted mainly of models of the He 115 A and He 115B series. About 33 of the 60 available combat aircraft were lost, mainly by British coastal anti-aircraft guns. At the end of the battle, the He 115C model entered service.

Hitler eventually halted his coveted invasion of the British mainland due to mounting casualties from the Battle of Britain. In addition, growing demand in other areas temporarily halted further production of future He 115 systems.

The He 115 quickly proved its worth in key Allied convoys across the Arctic route. The convoys, delivering much-needed supplies to fleeing Soviet troops, often operated without air support, and the individuals were not as well armed as one had hoped. These slow-moving convoys provided relatively easy prey, even for the ill-equipped and slow-moving He 115 seaplanes. The production He 115C-4 was primarily responsible for torpedoing these convoys.

Regardless, the convoy was successful, and the ever-improving war effort resulted in continued air protection and better defensive armament on the ship itself, negating the usefulness of the He 115 in this way.

By the time the Germans invaded Norway in April 1940, the Norwegians had purchased about 7 He 115s. One was captured by the Germans early in the campaign, when the paratroopers' landing sites were strategically shaded and key crossing and aiming points were cut off. Some German-owned He 115s were captured by the Norwegians themselves and quickly returned to take action against their former owners. The Norwegian manned He 115 served in this manner until the end of the German campaign, which ended in June 1940 and led to Norway's surrender to the Third Reich. Four Norwegian He 115s made the long journey to the UK, where the Norwegian government fled.

A fifth plane landed safely in Finland, while a sixth escaped plane was lost somewhere in the North Sea while trying to fly to mainland England. Norway's remaining He 115s were captured and served in the Luftwaffe. The four specimens that have already arrived in the UK will be used by the now deported government for the defoliation campaign. However, such a mission was initially considered a failure by the British and was therefore cancelled. Instead, these RAF He 115s (along with Norwegian aircrews) will proudly serve in covert operations off the coast of Norway and strike targets accessible from the Mediterranean.

All of these remaining He 115s were eventually lost in various events and operations leading up to the end of the war.

The Swedes operated a dozen He 115s, codenamed "T 2". These served the country well until 1952. During the war, the He 115 was on standby and protected Swedish waterway interests in the region, ensuring national neutrality during the conflict and other aspects.

Notably, five of the twelve were killed in one accident.

The He 115s began production again in 1943 as an improved version of the He 115E series of which 141 were produced.

Despite their inherent seaplane limitations in the changing frontiers of stylish fighter jets and more powerful seaplane designs, the He 115 family as a whole will continue to serve at the end of the war, no doubt proving the design Not outstanding. When it doesn't drop torpedoes into the water or use its mines to render waterways useless, the He 115 is equally good at maritime reconnaissance missions when called upon.

The He 115 was in direct service with the Luftwaffe and was primarily flown by German naval pilots in wartime.

Specification

Basic

Production

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Performance

Performance

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Changes