Heinkel He 177

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Heinkel He 177 was a 4-engined long-range World War 2 bomber of the Luftwaffe. The troubled aircraft was the only heavy bomber built in large numbers by Germany during the war.

Related Topics:
Heinkel - World War 2 - Bomber - Luftwaffe - Germany

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Aircrews nicknamed it the Reichsfeuerzeug (lighter of the Reich) due to the engines' tendency to catch fire in early versions. An unusual feature of the airplane was the twin engines in each nacelle that drove a single propeller. The twin engine nacelles had first been introduced on the Heinkel He 119 to reduce drag where they worked trouble-free, but their tight installation in the He 177 led to considerable problems. Starting with He 177A-3, a modified engine nacelle with a new engine (DB610, each containing two DB605s) was used to eliminate this tendency.

Related Topics:
Propeller - Heinkel He 119 - Drag - DB610

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Beset by many other technical difficulties in development and service, the plane had a troubled life. This was in part due to overly optimistic design requirements of long range, high speed, a large bombload, and even dive bombing. Though Goering forbade Heinkel to develop a four-engine version, Heinkel did anyway, leading to the development of the Heinkel He 274 and the Heinkel He 277 which had separate engines in the more commonly seen arrangement.

Related Topics:
Dive bombing - Heinkel He 274 - Heinkel He 277

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The use of the He 177 was ended by the Fighter Emergency Program, which cancelled bomber production and operations and gave priority to defensive fighters in the final stages of the war.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The overly ambitious design goals included an unrealistic requirement for a dive bombing capability, similar to the RAF's equally unrealistic requirement for catapult launching for the failed Avro Manchester heavy bomber. The attempt to reduce drag by coupling the engines, while theoretically sound, proved to be difficult in practice, leading to a history of engine failures not unlike that of the failed Manchester or that of the B-29, which had most of its defensive armament removed in order to lighten the burden on its engines and thus improve reliabilility.

Related Topics:
Avro Manchester - B-29

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Production Numbers: 1000+

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~