Heinkel He 118

Designed by the Günter brothers, the He 118 followed many of the design notes of the Günter's designs of the era, notably the elliptical wing planform and rounded tail surfaces. It was in many ways an aluminum version of the mixed-construction Heinkel He 70 Blitz (Lightning), strengthened for dive bombing.

It was a conventional cantilever monoplane with an inverted gull wing of elliptical planform mounted midway up the fuselage. It was considerably more streamlined than the Junkers competitor, with retractable landing gear and an internal bomb bay.

As designed it was limited to filling a role similar to an attack bomber like the Henschel Hs 123 rather than a true dive bomber like the Junkers Ju 87. It was limited to bombing from a shallow angle, more properly known as "glide bombing", with the second crew member acting as the bomb aimer.

In trials, it was discovered that the maximum dive angle was only 50°.

In June 1936, Ernst Udet took the He 118 on a test flight but after commencing his first dive from about 13,000 feet the propeller suddenly feathered, shearing the reduction gears, and the He 118 disintegrated, leaving Udet to parachute to safety. The Ju 87 repeatedly demonstrated dives at 90 degrees with no trouble, and so won the contract.

Heinkel complained in his biography that Udet ignored instructions and flew the aircraft outside of its limits. He suggests that the failure doomed his design, in spite of being unable to dive vertically like the Stuka.

Of the 15 He 118s built, two went to Japan where they were designated DXHe, however the aircraft disintegrated during Japanese flight tests. The 13-Shi (1939) design specification that led to the Yokosuka D4Y naval dive bomber may have been inspired by the He 118,{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=9-SZBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA33|title= Naval Anti-Aircraft Guns and Gunnery |first= Norman |last= Friedman |publisher= Seaforth Publishing |year= 2014 |page= 33 |ISBN= 978-1-4738-5308-9}} but otherwise the two aircraft had little in common.{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=pfbx6IcNaaEC&pg=PT133|title= Dive Bomber!: Aircraft, Technology, and Tactics in World War II |first= Peter C. |last= Smith |publisher= Stackpole Books |year= 2008 |ISBN= 978-0-8117-4842-1 |quote= ...the Japanese Navy were still impressed with some of the design features of the ill-fated He 118, but whether it influenced the final design of the Yokosuka D4Y is open to question.}}

Heinkel used another example as a flying testbed for the Heinkel HeS 3 turbojet, with the jet engine slung under its fuselage. Although its pilot took off and landed using the He 118's piston engine, he started the turbojet engine in flight and flew under its power in July 1939, the first time an aircraft flew under jet power. The following month the similarly powered, fixed conventional landing gear-fitted Heinkel He 178 V1 would make the first flight powered entirely by a turbojet engine.Guttman, Robert, "Heinkel's Jet Test-Bed," Aviation History, March 2012, p. 15.

• He 118 : Dive bomber prototypes.
• He 118A-1 : Eight production aircraft, powered by a 634 kW (850 hp) DB 600C engine.
• DXHe1: Two He 118s supplied to the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service for evaluation in 1938.

;{{JPN}}

• Imperial Japanese Navy

{{Aircraft specs

|ref=Die Deutsche Luftrüstung 1933–1945 Vol.2 – Flugzeugtypen Erla-Heinkel,{{cite book |last=Nowarra |first=Heinz J. |title=Die Deutsche Luftrüstung 1933–1945 Vol.2 – Flugzeugtypen Erla-Heinkel |year=1993 |publisher=Bernard & Graefe Verlag |location=Koblenz |isbn=3-7637-5464-4 |language=de |pages=214, 270–271}} and The warplanes of the Third Reich {{cite book |last1=Green |first1=William |title=The warplanes of the Third Reich |date=1970 |publisher=Doubleday |location=New York |isbn=0385057822 |edition=1st 1973 reprint |page=327}}

|prime units?=met

|crew=2

|length m=11.8

|length note=

|span m=15

|span note=

|height m=3.1

|height note=

|wing area sqm=37.7

|wing area note=

|aspect ratio=

|airfoil=

|empty weight kg=2450

|empty weight note=

|gross weight kg=3775

|gross weight note=

|max takeoff weight kg=

|max takeoff weight note=

|fuel capacity=

|more general=

|eng1 number=1

|eng1 name=Daimler-Benz DB 600C

|eng1 type=V-12 inverted liquid-cooled piston engine

|eng1 note={{cvt|880|PS|hp kW}}

::::{{cvt|910|PS|hp kW}} for take-off

|prop blade number=3

|prop name=constant-speed propeller

|prop dia m=

|prop dia note=

|max speed kmh=394

|max speed note=at {{cvt|6000|m}}

|cruise speed kmh=335

|cruise speed note=at {{cvt|4000|m}}

• Landing speed: {{cvt|105|km/h|mph kn}}

|stall speed kmh=

|stall speed note=

|never exceed speed kmh=

|never exceed speed note=

|range km=1250

|range note=

|combat range km=

|combat range note=

|ferry range km=

|ferry range note=

|endurance=

|ceiling m=8500

|ceiling note=

|g limits=

|roll rate=

|climb rate ms=

|climb rate note=

|time to altitude={{cvt|4000|m}} in 13 minutes 12 seconds

|wing loading kg/m2=

|wing loading note=

|fuel consumption kg/km=

|power/mass=

|more performance=

|guns=

• 2 × fixed forward-firing 7.92 mm MG 17 machine guns
• 1 × flexible rearward-firing 7.92 mm (.323 in) MG 15 machine gun

|bombs= 1x SC 500 or SC 250 bomb on underfuselge swinging crutch in an internal bomb bay.

}}

{{aircontent|

|related=

• Junkers Ju 87
• Yokosuka D4Y

|similar aircraft=

|lists=

• List of military aircraft of Germany
• List of military aircraft of Japan

|see also=

}}

{{commons category}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Heinkel aircraft}}

{{RLM aircraft designations}}

{{Japanese Navy short aircraft designations}}

Category:Inverted gull-wing aircraft

Category:1930s German bomber aircraft

He 118

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Category:Aircraft with retractable conventional landing gear