From the beginning, the He 111 was designed to fulfil the roles of both bomber and commercial aircraft. There were no basic structural differences between these two versions. Walter and Siegfried Gunter began work on the design of this all metal low wing monoplane in early 1934. The first prototype, the He 111 VI, appeared at the end of that year as an extremely clean looking and efficient aeroplane. Powered by two 447kW 660 hp BMW VI 6, OZ glycol-cooled inverted V engines, it was flown for the first time on February 24, 1935. It was equipped as a medium bomber, with provision for a 1000 kg (2200 lb) internal load of bombs (which were stowed upright), and had an armament of three 7.9 mm (0.311in) MG 15 machine guns: one each in nose and dorsal positions and one in a retractable ventral ‘dustbin’.

Heinkel He 111 Article

The wings were of semi-elliptical planform, fitted with hydraulically operated trailing-edge flaps, the tailwheel-type retractable landing gear also being hydraulically actuated. Very clean in appearance, the prototype (in bomber configuration) was able to accommodate an internal bomb load of 1,000kg, and was armed with three machine-guns in nose, dorsal and ventral positions. Flight testing proved that its performance equalled or even bettered that of contemporary fighters.

Of the new three prototypes, the V2 (D-ALIX) and V4 (D AHAO) were built as commercial transports, with accommodation for ten passengers and a cargo of mail. Heinkel tried to interest Deutsche Lufthansa in the He 111 as a commercial transport, and the idea that it was purely a civil type was fostered by the German government even after the existence of the military version officially became known in January 1936.
The second prototype was completed as a civil transport and was handed over to Luft-Hansa following the termination of early testing. Subsequently, this aircraft reverted to being used by the Luftwaffe for secret high-altitude reconnaissance missions. Many such missions were flown prior to the outbreak of World War II, both by military and civil aircraft, so that long before wartime operational missions were flown, the Luftwaffe had acquired very detailed documentation of a vast number of important targets.

The fourth prototype, with accommodation for ten passengers in two cabins, named Dresden, was delivered to Luft-Hansa on 10 January 1936 by Heinkel’s test pilot Gerhard Nitschke. Six production airliners, He 111C named Breslau, Karlsruhe, Koln, Konigsberg, Leipzig, and Numberg, entered service from the summer of 1936.

Lufthansa did in fact operate small numbers of the He 111C and He 111G, but not until some time later. The V3 (D ALES) was the prototype for the first military version, and ten pre-production He IIIA 0s were constructed towards the end of 1935 at Rostock-Marienehe and delivered to the Rechlin test centre of the Luftwaffe during the spring of 1936. It inherited the elegant lines of its single engined forebear, the He 70, and had generally good handling characteristics, but the BMW engined He 111 was found to be insufficiently powerful for military use. The Luftwaffe therefore rejected the similarly powered He IIIA Is that had been completed, and the pre-production A 0 machines were sold to China.

The He 111A initial bomber variant was underpowered and lacked adequate performance, but this was rectified in the He 111B series by a switch from the 492-kW (660-hp) BMW 6,0Z to the Daimler-Benz DB 600, which not only boosted performance but also permitted the carriage of a heavier warload.

The first Luftwaffe versions, therefore, were the He 111B 0 and B 1, based on the He 111 V5 prototype (D APYS) and powered by DB 600A or C engines. B 1 deliveries to Kampfgeschwader (bomber group) 154 began in late 1936, followed in 1937 by the He 111 B2 which was powered by 950 hp DB 600CG engines and carried a short range bombload of 1500 kg (3310 lb). As with so many other Luftwaffe aircraft types of the period, the B2 was deployed by the Legion Kondor in Spain in early 1937, soon meeting with considerable combat success against the government forces. It gained a reputation of having the speed to outrun most enemy intercepters, which enabled it to operate without a fighter escort. (The He 111B 1, with 950 hp DB 600Ga engines, was faster than the B 2, but was built only in very small numbers and was not used operationally.)
The type was soon slated for evaluation with Kampfgruppe 88 of the Legion Condor, and from February 1937 some 30 He 111B-1/2s were despatched for service with two of KG/88s three Steffeln.

Production of He 111 bombers continued with the He 11IE, although this had been preceded by the second major civil variant, the He 111G. This latter model did not attract many customers, but it was noteworthy in having introduced a redesigned wing with straight taper, which was easier to produce than the semi elliptical shape that characterized the previous models. The He IIIE retained the original wing form, but introduced another basic change the adoption of the Junkers Jumo 211 engine (in this series the 1010 hp Jumo 211A 1) in order to pre¬serve supplies of the DB 600 for fighter production. Sub types of the E series included the E 1, with 2000 kg (4410 lb) internal bombload; the E 3, similar except for equipment changes; and the most numerous E model, the E 4, which could carry 1000 kg (2200 lb) internally and equal load externally; and the E 5, with additional fuel tanks.

The type proved very successful in operational and maintenance terms, and from March 1938 some 45 He 111 E-1 s with a heavier warload were despatched for service with KG/88s four Staffeln, the He 111B-1/2s being passed to the Nationalists 10- and 11-G-25. At the end of the war the 58 surviving He 111s were given to Spain.
The ‘straight’ wing was combined with the slightly more powerful 1100 hp Jumo 211A 3 to produce the He 111F, the prototype of which appeared in mid 1937. He 111Es also served in Spain and the combined total of Bs and Es sent to Spain was 75, of which 58 survived the civil war to form a part of the reconstituted Spanish air force. The main Luftwaffe F model was the He 111F 4. Exports at this time included 24 He 111F Is and five He 111G 5s to the Turkish air force.

One other Luftwafte variant with DB 600 engines was the He 111 J (with DB 600CGs), about 90 of which were completed. They were otherwise generally similar to the F 4, except that their bomb bays were deleted as they were intended for use as torpedo-bombers though they were, in fact, delivered for service on standard bombing duties.

The second generation He 111 bomber mated the entirely new wing introduced by the first generation He 111F and J with a completely revised forward fuselage. A major design change, one which gave the He 111 quite literally a new look, occurred in the He 111P, which began to enter service during the early part of 1939. This took the form of a complete redesign of the fuselage nose, eliminating the conventional ‘step’ created by the pilots’ flight deck windows in favour of an extensively glazed forward section which maintained the flow of the fuselage lines unbroken above and below the nose. The pilot was seated to port and all flight and engine instruments were mounted on a panel suspended from the roof.

Provision was made for elevating the pilot’s seat and controls for landing and taxying, his head projecting through a sliding panel and being protected from the slipstream by a small retractable windscreen. Although the cockpit glazing was criticised for mirror effect in aft sun, the new forward fuselage was standardised for subsequent production, these beginning to leave assembly lines in the winter of 1938-39.

At the tip of this new nose, and offset to starboard, was a ball type Ikaria universal mounting for the nose 7.9mm MG 15 machine gun. The P series comprised the P 1 and P 2, which differed only in their radio equipment; the P¬3, a conversion for dual control training; and the P 4 and P 6.

The He 111P-4 introduced some armour protection for the pilot and dorsal and ventral gunners, and heavier defensive armament, this being six 7.9mm MG 15s. The port bomb bay was blanked off and occupied by a supplementary fuel tank, bomb racks being introduced beneath the blanked-off bay.

Overall He 111 P production, shared by Arado, Dornier and Heinkel, was in the region of 400 aircraft. Early models had 1100 hp DB601A engines, three defensive machine guns, and the standard 2000 kg (4410 1b) bombload carried half internally and half externally. Need for better defence was reflected in the armour protection of the P 4 and P 6, the former also mounting up to six MG 15 machine guns (and, sometimes, an MG 17 in the tail). The P 6 (there was no P 5 built) was similar to the P 4 except for 1175-hp DB 60IN engines ten of this model were supplied in 1942 to the Hungarian air force.

Whereas the original wing had been of elliptical form, its complex structure inhibited large-scale production. Early in 1936 Siegried Günter began redesign of the wing, eliminating the ellipses in favour of a straight tapered planform, reducing the wing area in the process. Comparatively small numbers were completed with the new wing before, in the Summer of 1938, and entirely new forward fuselage was introduced on the assembly lines.

Like other earlier models, however, the He 111P was drawing upon supplies of engines more urgently needed for fighter production, and so relatively few of this series were built.

The second generation bomber had been planed to take either Daimler-Benz DB 601A or Junkers Jumo 211 engines, The He 111P with the Daimler-Benz and the He 111H with the Junkers. Priority was given to the DB 601A-engined version owing to the supply situation.

Deliveries of the initial production model, the He 111P-1, began during the early spring of 1939, the first He 111H-1s following six weeks later. The H-1 being equipped to a similar standard with deliveries commencing in the same month (May).

The next model to enter production, and the most numerous of all, was the He 111 H. This combined the airframe of the early P models with the Jumo 211 powerplant. By the time He 111 production was phased out in the autumn of 1944 well over 7000 had been turned out, of which more than 6000 were sub types of the H series. Power plant of the He 111H comprised two Junkers Jumo engines, with power ranging from 752.6kW for the Jumo 221A to 1,323.5kW in the Jumo 213A-1 installed in the final production He 111H-23 paratroop carrier.

Production of the P-series was to be finally phased out early in 1940 with the He 111P-6, this reverting to the standard internal bomb stowage arrangement but having 1275 hp DB 601N engines. The He 111H-2 had similar armament to the P-4, the He 111H-3, which appeared in November 1939, being a dual-role version adding anti-shipping operations. The H-3 was fitted with a single forward-firing 20mm MG FF cannon in its ventral gondola. The H-3 had Jumo 211D-1 engines of 1200 hp for takeoff. These engines were retained initially by the He 111H-4 which began to come off the lines early in 1940, but were eventually to be supplanted by the Jumo 211F-1 of 1400 hp for takeoff.

By the beginning of WW2 the He 111-equipped Kampfgeschwader had virtually completed conversion to the second generation bomber which comprised the bulk of the equipment of 21 Gruppen and one Staffel with a total strength of 789 aircraft.

One shortcoming of the second generation He 111 was its inflexibility concerning bomb loading arrangements. The bombs were loaded into individual vertical cells, four on each side of the gangway, and this meant that the largest bomb that could be accommodated internally was a 551 lb / 250 kg. There was no increase in defensive armament which remained three 7.9mm MG 15 machine guns. The crew comprised pilot, navigator/bombardier, radio operator and ventral gunner. The DB 601A-1 engines of the He 111P were each rated at 1175 hp for takeoff and the Jumo 211A-1 engines of the He 111H each were 1075 hp for takeoff.

The He 111P was built by Heinkel’s Rostock-Marienehe and the NDW factories, these being joined by Arado at Warnemünde, while the He 111H was built in parallel by Heinkel’s Oranienburg facility, the Junkers plant at Dessau and the new ATG factory at Leipzig.

Production of the He 111 had reached almost 1000 by the start of the Second World War, at which time 349 of those in Luftwaffe service were He 111Ps and 400 were He 111Hs of one model or another, all having been taken on charge over a period of less than six months.

It did not take long to destroy the illusion of security created by their easy passage during the Spanish Civil War. Committed to the Polish Campaign, the He 111 achieved generally favourable results, but attrition was higher than anticipated, a total of 78 bombers being lost.

For the onslaught on France and the Low Countries on 10 May 1940, Luftflotten 2 and 3 possessed a total of 1120 twin-engined bombers of which approximately half were He 111s. By then Kampfgruppen were converting to the Junkers Ju 88A. By Adler Tag only four Kampfgeschwader remained completely equipped with He 111s, these being KG 26 based in Norway, KG 27 operating from Tours, Dinard and Rennes, KG 53 at Lille-Nord and KG 55 at Chartres, Dreux and Hillacoublay.

After initial strikes across the Straits of Dover, the first sorties in force by He 111s took place on 15 August when 72 He 111H-4s of I and III Gruppen of KG 26 flew from Stavanger with the intention of attacking RAF bases at Dishforth, Ulswortg and Linton-upon-Ouse. The bomber force was escorted by Bf 110 fighters of I/ZG 76, but owing to a navigational error none were to find their target. Only 63 of the He 111s actually crossed the coast and eight fell to RAF fighters. Despite heavy operational attrition, daylight attacks by He 111 formations against the UK continued for a month.

The provision of Bf 109E fighter escorts barely alleviated the situation. From 16 September the He 111 was to be largely confined to nocturnal sorties.

After experience of rough handling by the RAF’s Hurricanes and Spitfires during the Battle of Britain, moves were soon under way to increase the bomber’s defensive armament. This began with the addition of two 7.9 mm (0.311in) beam guns on the He 111 H 2; other typical variations in armament included the provision of a 20 mm (0.79 in) MG FF cannon in the under nose gondola of some H 3s, for anti-shipping attacks (Up to 2000 kg (4410 1b) of bombs could be accommodated); a combination of one MG FF, one 7.9 mm (0.311 in) MG 17, and either one 13¬mm (0.51 in) MG 131 or two 7.9 mm (0.311¬in) MG 81 guns on the H 10; and four MG 81s and three MG 131s on the He 111 H 20. In all, there were 23 sub types of the H series, of which the most numerous models were the H 3, H 6 and H 16. Most H sub types were powered by successive versions of the Jumo 211 engine, although the H 21 had 1750 hp Jumo 213Es and the H 23 was fitted with 1776 hp Jumo 213As.
With such numbers available, it was inevitable that the He 111 should be called upon to undertake a wide variety of duties in addition to the standard bombing role. The H 3 and H¬6 became excellent anti-shipping aircraft, the latter becoming operational in the spring of 1942 and being able to carry bombs or mines internally and two externally slung torpedoes. A large fender to cut through or push aside the cables of barrage balloons was fitted to the He 111H 8. The H 10 and H 18 were night bombers; the H 12 was adapted as a carrier for a pair of Henschel Hs 293 glider-bombs; the H 14 served both as a pathfinder bomber and a glider tug; the H 15 was a carrier aircraft for Blohm und Voss glider-bombs; the H 22 was the version adapted as air launch aircraft for Fieseler Fi 103 (V1) flying bombs; and the final model, the He 111 H 23, was an assault or saboteur transport carrying eight paratroops.

By 1 September 1944 the last of the ground launch ramps for the V-1s had fallen into Allied hands, so the Luftwaffe stepped up the use of He 111s as V-1 launch ramps. Soon more than 100 aircraft were being used on these missions, including a number of Heinkel He 111H-21s with powerful Jumo 221 engines. After brief training at Peenemunde and Oschatz, the 3rd Group of the German ‘Blitz Wing’ (3rd Bomber Wing) became 1st Group of the 53rd Bomber Wing (‘Condor Legion’) and started operations in mid-July 1944. The planes took off with their flying bombs from Dutch bases at Venlo and Gilze Rijen. By the start of September, large numbers of V-1s had been launched from He 111s, of these, 30 had landed in London, 90 in Southampton, and more than 20 in Gloucester.
To avoid the powerful British anti-aircraft, most of the He 111 missions had to be carried out at night; the bomber also had to fly at low altitude in order to stay underneath the British radar screen. When they came within 35 miles of the British coast, they climbed to about 1500 ft, launched their V-1s and headed back to the Continent, flying just above the water’s surface.
Operation Rumpelkammer, the German program to launch V-1s from aircraft, cost many casualties, for often the flying bombs would explode while taking off from the carrier plane.

By the end of September 1944, the He 111s of the 1st Group had fired a total of 177 flying bombs at England, mostly in night missions. 1st Group were now taking off from their new bases in Schleswig-Holsstein, Oldenburg and northern Westphalia. The German aircraft suffered heavy losses on V-1 launch missions. In one instance, 12 He 111s failed to return from two successive missions, after RAF night fighters and explosions after take-off.
On Christmas Eve 1944, aa group of He 111s of 1st Group took off on a V-1 raid against Manchester. One of the flying bombs crashed over the city and 17 others went down within a 15-mile radius.
At 4:30am on 14 January 1945, a V-1 exploded near Hornsea, Yorkshire. It was the last of some 1200 flying bombs launched from the air by Heinkel He 111 bombers of 1st Group, 53rd Bomber Wing. Only one out of ten V-1s came close to hitting its target; the rest fell victim to the Allied air defence or crashed prematurely dur to faulty guidance systems.

At noon on 8 May 1945, two Soviet fighters flown by G.A. Lobov, the commander of the Seventh Guard Division, and by Capt. Svidirov, ran into a solo-flying He 111 and shot it down. This ended the operations of Soviet fighters in the air war over Europe.

Although it was thought that Aichi produced radial powered He.111K under licence as the Type 98, the type never existed. One 1942 military recognition manual still stated a very few He.111s have been met in action.

The Heinkel He 111 Zwilling (Twin) consisted of two Heinkel He 111H-6 twin-engined medium bombers joined together. Created by ‘marrying’ two standard He 111H 6s or 16s by connecting them with a new wing centre section which mounted a fifth Jumo 211F-2 engine. This strange improvization came about through the need to develop a towing aircraft large enough to be compatible with the Messerschmitt Me 321 Gigant troop glider. The He 111Z was evolved during 1941-42 and carried a crew of seven. Piloted from the port fuselage, it performed its task well, but its role disappeared when the Me 323 self powered version of the Gigant replaced the Me 321.

First flown in Spring 1941, two prototypes and 10 He 111Z-1 production aircraft were built.
For takeoff, 2 Jato rockets of 500 Kg were under each fuselage and 2 of 1500 kg under the central wing.

The adoption by the Spanish air force of those He 111Bs and Es which survived the civil war led, in 1941, to the Spanish government acquiring a licence to manufacture the later H 16 model at the CASA factory in Tablada, near Seville. Two hundred were ordered initially, but only 130 of these could be completed owing to the shortage in supply from Germany of the Jumo 211F engines to power them. Armed with a mixture of German and Italian guns (single MG 15s in the ventral gondola and in the rear of the crew cabin, and a 12.7 mm (0.5 in) Breda SAFAT in the nose blister) they were designated B.2H by the Spanish air force. These differed from the German built machines primarily in having a stepped crew compartment. Manufacturer’s designations divided them into C 2111A (bomber models), C¬2111C (reconnaissance bombers, with cameras in the starboard half of the bomb bay), and C 2111F (dual control bombing trainers). When the supply of Jumo engines ran out the eventual choice of a replacement fell upon the Rolls-¬Royce Merlin Mk 500 and 173 examples of this engine were purchased from Britain.

These were used both to power additional CASA built aircraft (C 2111B bombers and C 2111D reconnaissance bombers, the latter having 1610 hp Merlins), and also to re-engine some of the earlier Jumo powered Heinkels. Spanish air force designation for all Merlin powered examples was B. 21; later, Jumo and Merlin powered bombers were included in 15 aircraft converted to T.8 (CASA C 2111E) nine passenger troop transports. The C 2111 series continued in Spanish air force service until the end of the 1960s.

A total of around 7500 were built, including licence production in Romania and Spain (as the CASA 2111).
263 licence built Heinkel 111s were built by CASA as the 2111 as late as 1956.

Gallery

Engines: 2 x 1,200 hp Junkers Jurno 211 D.
Length: 54.6 ft. (16.63 m.)
Wing span: 74.1 ft. (22.6 m.)
Weight empty: 14,400 lb. (6,530 kg.)
Armament: 1 x 20 mm cannon 6 x 7.9 mm machine guns.
Max bomb load: 4,400 lb. (2,000 kg.)
Max speed: 267 m.p.h. (430 kph).
Range: 2,175 miles (3,500 km.).
Crew: 5

He 111B-2
Span: 22.6m (74ft 1.75 in)
Length: 17.5m (57 ft 5in).
Engine: 2 x Daimler-Benz DB 600CG, 708kW (950 hp)
Armament: 3 x 7.92-mm (0.312-in) mg, up to 1500 kg (3,307 lb) of bombs internally.
Max T/O weight: 10000 kg (22,046 lb).
Max speed: 230mph at 13,125 ft.
Operational range: 1,030 miles.
Crew: 4

He 111E
Engines: 2 x DB 601A, 1150 hp
Top speed: 254 mph
Range: 1100 mi at 215 mph
Armament: 6-8 mg / 1 x 20mm cannon

He 111E-A
Engines: 2 x Junkers Jumo 211D, 1200 hp
Top speed: 250 mph
Cruise: 212 mph
Range w/4000lb load: 760 mi
Max range: 2640 mi
Armament: 6-8 mg / 1 x 20mm cannon
Max bombload: 5600 lb

He 111 E 3
Span: 22.6 m (74 ft 13 in)
Length: 17.5 m (57 ft 5 in)
Maximum speed: 420 km/h (260 mph).
Height: 14 ft 7.25 in (4.4 m).
Engines: 2 x Junkers Jumo, 1000hp.
Max TO wt: 21,168 lb (9600 kg).

He 111H
Engines: 2 x DB 601A, 1150 hp
Top speed: 254 mph
Range: 1100 mi at 215 mph
Armament: 6-8 mg / 1 x 20mm cannon

He.111H-2
Engines: 2 x Junkers Jumo 211 F-2, 1340 hp.

He-111H-16
Engines: 2 x Jumo 211F-2, 1007kW
Wingspan: 22.60 m / 74 ft 2 in
Length: 16.40 m / 53 ft 10 in
Height: 4.00 m / 13 ft 1 in
Wing area: 86.50 sq.m / 931.08 sq ft
Max take-off weight: 14000 kg / 30865 lb
Empty weight: 8680 kg / 19136 lb
Maximum speed: 405 km/h (252 mph).
Ceiling: 6700 m / 22000 ft
Range: 1950 km / 1212 miles
Armament: 1 x 20mm cannon, 1 x 13mm machine-guns, 3 x 7.92mm machine-guns, 1000kg of bombs
Crew: 1

He 111 P 4
Span: 22.6 m (74 ft 11 in)
Length: 16.4 m (53 ft 91 in)
Gross weight: 13500 kg (29,760 lb)
Maximum speed: 320 km/h (200 mph).

He 111Z Twin Zwilling
Engines: 5 x Junkers Jumo 211F, 1350 hp
Propellers: three-bladed metal VDM variable
Wingspan: 35,20 m
Length: 16,60 m
Height: 4,20 m
Wingarea: 148 sq.m
Fuel capacity: 8250 lt
Empty weight: 21500 kg
MTOW: 28200 kg
Wing loading: 190,540 kg/sq.m
Power loading: 4,177 kg/hp
Max speed: 420 kph
Cruise speed: 375 kph
Climb rate:: 9000 m in 30 min
Ceiling: 9600 m
Range: 2400 km
Armament: 4 MT MG 131 of 13 mm, 2 x 2 MT MG 81Z 7,92 mm and 5 MG 81J 7,92 mm

CASA 2111D
Engine: 2 x RR Merlin 500, 1400 hp.
Wingspan: 74 ft 3 in
Wing area: 943 sq.ft
Length: 54 ft 6 in
Height: 13 ft 9 in
MTOW: 30,865 lb
Fuel capacity / wings: 760 gal
Fuel capacity / fuselage: 185 gal
Max speed: 260 mph
Cruising speed: 233 mph
Armament: 6 x 7.9 mm mg / 1 x 20 mm cannon
Bombload: 5510 lb

CASA 2111H-16-L
Wingspan: 74 ft 3 in
Length: 54 ft 6 in
Height: 13 ft 9 in
Empty weight: 17,000 lb
Loaded weight: 26,500 lb
Max speed: 250 mph at 17,000 ft
Service ceiling: 27,500 ft
Range w/max fuel: 1750 mi