Heinkel He 277 (Amerika Bomber)

History of Heinkel He 277 (American bomber)

Many German aerospace companies contributed their talents to the war in World War II (1939-1945), but few surpassed the others - Heinkel, Messerschmidt, Fokker Wolf were among them most famous. While Heinkel's contribution was primarily through its He 111 medium bomber series, it also experimented with larger, more advanced multi-engine platforms in the ultimately failed He 177 "Greif" ("Griffon"). A unique compound engine arrangement was proposed, combining a pair of Daimler-Benz DB605 inline engines (like the DB610), but these proved to be prone to fire and several prototypes were lost during development.

Structural issues only limited the type of production, as by the end of the war, fewer than 1,000 examples had been seenmanufacturing actually stopped early in 1944.

As early as April 1942, the RLM launched the "American Bomber" program, which called for the development of a new long-range bomber with inherent endurance after the United States entered World War II (December 1942) to bomb the eastern United States Targets along the coast. 1941).

The range in question is about 3,600 miles, and companies have followed suit considering a variety of designs from traditional to more advanced/weird. The final quality of a great aircraft would be to deliver the atomic bomb that German scientists were developing before the end of the war.

Calling companies that push their more traditional thinking/traditional dynamic design to be Focke-Wulf, Heinkel, Junkers and Messerschmitt. For Focke-Wulf these became the Fw 300 and Ta 400 entries, while Heinkel was followed by He 277 based on He 177 above.

The Junkers worked on their Ju 390 concept and Messerschmitt put their resources into the Me 264. Neither bid made it into operational service, and there were 8 prototypes (5 from Junkers and 3 from Messerschmitt) that the postwar effort could boast of.

He 177B was chosen as the basis for the He 277 submission. This is the conventionally arranged four-engine form of their He 177A compound engine model. This removes the complexity and engine issues of the A-model, the control issues are designed to be solved with the twin-blade tail. The four engine nacelles are shared as two per wing unit. A manned and remotely operated dorsal turret - along with tail gun positions, nose position and ventral chin/tail position - will protect the aircraft from interception.

A tubular body with a glass handpiece (eg He 177A) was used. The He 277 reused the same "Heckschlepper" landing gear as the He 177.

Power comes from four BMW 801E 14-cylinder twin-row radial engines, each producing 1,975 horsepower, with power estimates including a top speed of 355 mph, a maximum range of 3,728 miles and a service limit of 29,530 feet. For transatlantic flights where fuel and weight savings are important, the total bomb load is 6,615 pounds.

Otherwise, the type is released for more local missions within a 2,700-mile radius, providing up to 12,345 pounds of supplies.

Despite promising specs, as the war of 1944-45 worsened, Heinkel could do little about Germany's fate. None of the prototypes consisted of only a few parts, which were made at the end of the war (the He 277 project itself was canceled as early as April 1944). ). It is doubtful that the He 277 will be the front-runner for the Luftwaffe's long-range bomber demand with the switch to jet bombers - before it ends, it is increasingly focused on turbojets and more on fighters and interceptors to counteract the threat of Allied bombers.

The He 277 was ultimately just another German paper plane and nothing more, although the He 274 was an offshoot of the program. This addition was also proposed before the end of the war, but amounted to two incomplete airframes, taken over and completed by French industry.

The first flight of the He 274 was in December 1945.

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