Can you ID this aircraft?

I don’t know if you have to log in, but more info pictures and spec. at:

http://www.luftarchiv.de/flugzeuge/heinkel/he100.htm

It does not say anything about operational units so assume propaganda purposes only.

That bottom view looks remarkably Defiant-like to me.

IIRC – it did not develop much beyond prototype stage – and was used by the RLM as a propaganda tool as a ‘wonder weapon’ to spook the RAF c-’39-42

A brief google produced this from the BOB website –

Heinkel HE113

In many reports filed between August and October reference was made to combats with, and sightings of, Heinkel 113s. Designated He100D, the so-called He113 was an attractive and very fast interceptor, first flown in January 1938. Seven prototypes, three pre-production and twelve production aircraft were built but not accepted by the Luftwaffe for operational use. Six protypes were sold to Russia and three pre-production aircraft to Japan. The twelve remaining He110Ds were used to form a special unit for the defence of the Heinkel factory and flown by company test pilots. Some aircraft were shown in propaganda leaflets in full camouflage and unit markings and given the spurious designation He113. The He113s reported during the Battle of Britain resulted from faulty identification and were, in fact, Me109s.

TT

Sorry to appear a bit thick, I do know a bit about this story, but what exactly was an He 100, was it the Heinkel equivalent of the Me 108 or just a failed fighter design, I can’t find my 1940’s edition of Janes aircraft that I know has info about this and I’ve forgotten, my memory has gone after a hard day.
Not a bad looking a/c though.

Well the He113 was firmly entrenched in the recognition literature for public consumption, Observer Corps etc, as late as 1943.

Mark

Yes, indeed. My point (badly made) was that we all tidy up our history in the light of later better information, fighter pilots did too. All the original documents (recognition books, ORBs, digests etc) refer to the He 113. I wonder what they thought hapened too them when they crashed on UK soil? They never found any!

Eddie, Jonathan,
The evidence is that, sadly, some “He 113″s shot down in the Battle of Britain were really Hurricanes and Spitfires. 🙁 ID was made on a fleeting view for the most part. Colours were the least of the clues I understand, although Eddie’s logic sounds sensible to me too.

Cheers

This whole 113 business has been quite fretful over the years and could fill a book in its own right. One late individual who will be nameless ( but it’s his Spitfire that’s in the U.K. Science Museum) described to me in detail how he was bounced by a 113, even recounting the position of the guns as being different from a 109. He subsequently (IIRC ) claimed to have shot it down in to the sea and was totally adamant as to his recall.
Or as another German pilot once remarked over his tenth beer ,
” I was shot down three times during the war; and that includes once by the enemy”.

Bottom. Knew that as well. Too slow.

Interestingly if you ever get a-hold of RA Saville-Sneaths ubiquitous Aircraft Recognition books the HE113 is in there, three views, (faked) German staffel photos the works….

TT

The logbooks do though; it’s interesting to see them listed alongside Bf109s; makes you wonder on what criteria pilots IDd an aircraft as a 109 or a “113”.

Yes, indeed. My point (badly made) was that we all tidy up our history in the light of later better information, fighter pilots did too. All the original documents (recognition books, ORBs, digests etc) refer to the He 113. I wonder what they thought hapened too them when they crashed on UK soil? They never found any!

Eddie, Jonathan,
The evidence is that, sadly, some “He 113″s shot down in the Battle of Britain were really Hurricanes and Spitfires. 🙁 ID was made on a fleeting view for the most part. Colours were the least of the clues I understand, although Eddie’s logic sounds sensible to me too.

Cheers

On that note, did the British ever try the same trick?

Just a thought – purely speculation… but perhaps the identification was made on colour schemes? As we all know there were a vast number of weird and wonderful permutations of Luftwaffe paint schemes, and believing that the He113 was out there I can believe that the pilots would see a 109 with a non-standard scheme, and immediately think “Oh, that must be one of those He113s!”.

The He113 was shot down in droves by RAF pilots in the Battle of Britain, despite being entirely a propaganda figment. Strangly few postwar biographies mention this… :rolleyes:

The logbooks do though; it’s interesting to see them listed alongside Bf109s; makes you wonder on what criteria pilots IDd an aircraft as a 109 or a “113”.

I was just about to say “He100”! Should have got in sooner…! :rolleyes:

Webpilot’s correct. It’s a He 100 painted up and pretending to be a “He113”. The He113 was shot down in droves by RAF pilots in the Battle of Britain, despite being entirely a propaganda figment. Strangly few postwar biographies mention this… :rolleyes:

There’s a good little piece on Wikipedia – an extract below:

In 1940 Joseph Goebbels publicised the fact that a new fighter was entering service with the Luftwaffe. The plan involved taking pictures of Heinkel He 100 D-1’s at different air bases around Germany, each time sporting a new paint job for various fictional fighter groups. The pictures were then published in the press with the He 113 name, sometimes billed as nightfighters (even though they did not have a landing light).

The aircraft also appeared in a series of “action shot” photographs in various magazines like Der Adler, including claims that it had proven itself in combat in Denmark and Norway. One source claims that the aircraft were on loan to the one Luftwaffe staffeln in Norway for a time, but this might be a case of the same misinformation working many years later.
It’s unclear even today exactly who this effort was intended to impress —foreign air forces or Germany’s public— but it seems to have been a successful deception. British intelligence featured the aircraft in AIR 40/237, a report on the Luftwaffe that was completed in 1940.

Picked up this picture and can’t work out what it is? I’m sure the answer will be back in 30 seconds flat!

Thanks

🙂

Heinkel 100D, or the illusory Heinkel 113

Some sort of Junkers or Heinkel prototype? When’s it date from?