TWIN-ENGINED BOMBER-TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT which came into use during the early expansion of the German air force. This Dornier Do.23 is a high-wing monoplane with two B.M.W. engines, each of 750 horse-power. The maximum permissible weight for the machine is 20.240 lb., of which 6,160 ib. is military load. The maximum speed is 161 miles an hour. Some of these bombers are still in service.
NO one who watches the European situation can avoid realizing that the German air force has attained significant importance in relation to the military aviation of the whole world. So the study of German military aviation is essential to all those who would become thoroughly conversant with the position.
After the war of 1914-18 German aviation operated under the famous “Nine Rules” of the peace treaty. These were made to distinguish military from civil machines, with the object of preventing Germany from building military machines. They prohibited, for instance, single-seater machines with an engine of more than 60 horse-power, pilotless aircraft, every machine fitted with any form of armour and all machines with a performance exceeding certain figures. From the time when,
in 1932, Germany quitted the Disarmament Conference rumours began to go about that she was building up an offensive air fleet. They grew in strength in 1933 when she left the League of Nations.
In March 1935 General Goering was able to announce the existence of a fully-equipped German air force. It probably did not number 300 first-line aeroplanes, but it had been built up with remarkable swiftness and the programme provided for 2,250 first-line aeroplanes by the summer of 1937.
Unlike the democracies of France and England, Germany, because of her political system, need not state publicly the extent of her air arm, and no official figures have been given. It seems probable — though estimates differ — that the German air force by the summer of 1938 contained some 3,000 first-line aeroplanes. That in itself is a notable feat of production, but what is even more notable is the fact that information available suggests that the technical quality of the machines reaches a high standard.
Among the single-seater fighters which came into service during this building-up period the chief ones were the Heinkel He.51s, with which the famous Richthofen Squadron was equipped. With a 750 horse-power engine, this biplane has a cruising speed of about 174 miles an hour, and it is said to be strongly built and highly manoeuvrable.
Another single-seater is the Henschel Hs.123 dive-bomber, an ugly-looking machine with the top plane much larger in span and chord than the lower plane. This machine has a 650 horse-power B.M.W. engine and a wing span of 34 ft. 5 in. The Immelmann Squadron has these machines. The same maker, Henschel, provides army cooperation machines.
NEW FIGHTER-BOMBER AEROPLANE in use by the German air force. The aircraft is a Junkers Ju.87, with provision for a crew of two. Two guns are fitted and the aeroplane is capable of carrying a bomb load up to about 1,000 lb. The engine is a Junkers Jumo 210 of over 600 horse-power. The Jumo 210 is a twelve-cylinder inverted V liquid-cooled petrol engine.
Of the bombers which came into service during this period of rapid expansion — some of them are still in service — the best-known are the Junkers Ju.52 and the Dornier Do.23 bomber transport. The Junkers is a low-wing metal machine and the Dornier a high-wing machine. The Dornier has two B.M.W. 750 horse-power engines, and when empty it weighs 12,320 lb. The maximum permissible weight is 20,240 lb, which gives an indication of the possible load. The maximum speed is 161 miles an hour.
These are all of them machines used in the expansion period. While they have been in service, work has been going on in the development of other machines. The result of this work is only recently becoming apparent. Messerschmitt, Heinkel and B.F.W. single-seater fighters incorporate the latest features of design, and have achieved some astonishing performances.
The Messerschmitt Bf 109, which can be fitted either with the 1,000 horsepower Mercedes-Benz or with the 650 horse-power Junkers engine, is a clean low-wing monoplane with retractable undercarriage and enclosed position for pilot. The use of liquid-cooled engines in single-seater fighters for the German air force follows the English practice. The engines are well cowled in, and they have duct type radiators which greatly reduce the cooling drag.
It was a Messerschmitt 109 single-seater fighter which set up at Augsburg on November 11, 1937, a landplane speed record of 379 miles an hour. In 1938 this speed was exceeded by a Heinkel single-seater which flew at a speed of 394 miles an hour.
The two-seater fighter is still being developed in Germany, though for the time being it has been abandoned in Great Britain. The Heinkel two-seater fighter is a mid-wing monoplane with exceptionally clean lines and with a retractable undercarriage. In some ways it bears a slight resemblance to the Fairey Battle bomber of the Royal Air Force.
The latest Dornier bomber has the series number Do.17. It weighs 10,383 lb. empty. The permissible overload weight is about 17,850 lb. With a wingspan of 59 feet and a stalling speed of about 73 miles an hour, this aeroplane is said to have a maximum speed with full military load of 267 miles an hour. This is with two Mercedes-Benz engines and constant-speed airscrews.
A HIGH-SPEED BOMBER of the German air force, the Dornier Do.17, which is credited with a maximum speed of 267 miles an hour. The aircraft weighs 10,383 lb. empty and has a maximum permissible overload weight of 17,850 lb. The wing span is 59 feet and the stalling speed about 73 miles an hour. Two Mercedes-Benz engines are fitted and the landing wheels retract into the engine nacelles.
Germany, while improving the technical qualities of her machines, has not neglected quantity production and her factories are exceptionally well equipped to turn out military aircraft with great rapidity. Certain estimates of production rates have been made by competent observers. One of these estimates was recently published in America.
Value of Gliding Experience
It was said that in 1937 the percentage increase in air strength had reached the figure of 87½ for Germany against Great Britain’s 11. In 1938 other observers in Germany credited the German factories with a monthly output of 370 machines against fewer than 200 in 1937. It was also stated (and denied) that a production rate of 500 machines a month was being sought.
Meanwhile, no difficulty seems to have been experienced in obtaining personnel. The provision of pilots has been greatly aided by the German gliding developments.
When Germany was keeping to the “Nine Rules” and before she had begun to devote herself to building up her air force, she developed the sport of gliding and soaring to an extent not met with elsewhere. The knowledge thus gained was of two kinds, aerodynamic and operational. Her aircraft designers learnt a great deal about the problems they were due to face later when building power machines and the soaring pilots acquired skill in handling sailplanes which stood them in good stead when they were called upon to turn to power flying.
Gliding also helped those in authority to amass information about suitable aerodrome sites, in addition to those earlier established. This information enabled something between three and four hundred aerodromes and landing grounds, civil and military, of varying degrees of elaboration, to be established in Germany. The military aerodromes are mainly concentrated in northern Westphalia and in the Bavarian Plain. In the organization of the German air force there are seven districts. They are based at Berlin, Konigsberg, Brunswick, Munster, Munich, Dresden and Kiel. There is, on the whole, closer collaboration between the army and the air force in Germany than in Great Britain.
MANY FLOAT SEAPLANES are in use by the fleet air arm of the German service, although the activities of the fleet section of the German air force are not great. Two aircraft carriers are under construction, but vessels of this nature have not yet been used in service. This photograph shows an officer giving instructions before a practice flight to pilots of float seaplanes. These aircraft are normally stationed on the coasts of the North and Baltic Seas.
Another difference in the constitution of the German air force is that the proportion of bombing aeroplanes is thought to be higher than elsewhere. This is presumably the outcome of the view that aerial defence, in the exact sense, is incomplete and that it must be reinforced to a large extent by counterattack. All air forces visualize counterattack as a vital function, but the British air force is extensively organized for pure defence with single-seater fighters and such devices as the balloon barrage. The German air force, seemingly, looks to the heavy bombardment of an enemy aerodrome to prevent enemy bombers from leaving on their raids.
The correct proportions of fighters and bombers must always be a matter of opinion and different air staffs are likely always to hold different views on this important subject.
So far as the fleet air arm of the German service is concerned, the development is not marked. Two aircraft carriers are under construction, but up to the present no carriers have been in service. The Germans have, however, a large number of float seaplanes, and they have developed catapulting in their commercial aviation to such an extent that their experience of catapulting is equal to that of any other country.
Named After Famous Pilots
German aviation enjoys excellent prestige. Prestige has been encouraged by every possible means by the German authorities. The squadrons are named after illustrious German air pilots, such as Richthofen and Immelmann. In addition, steps have been taken to build up a vigorous and strongly national spirit.
The marking of German military aeroplanes now consists of the Nazi swastika on the tail and the simple cross on wings and fuselage in the positions adopted for the red, white and blue cockades in the Royal Air Force and in the French air force.
Armament in German air force machines has been strengthened by increasing the numbers of guns carried and also by increasing the calibre. What the future will see it is difficult to say. Germany has shown in the past that she is able to combine those two incompatibles, high technical merit and rapid production rate, to a degree rarely achieved in the past.
The use that the Germans made in the war of 1914-18 of a limited number of machines was most ingenious. In particular the “circus” system, whereby full advantage was taken of the mobility of aircraft to throw a highly trained, concentrated force into the field which seemed to offer opportunities for it, proved extremely successful.
This tradition of ingenuity and strategical skill has been handed down to the existing German air force and there is little doubt that it must be regarded at the present time as one of the most powerful in the world. The German air force is being regarded to an increasing extent in Germany as the dominant arm.
SQUADRON OF SINGLE-SEAT FIGHTERS lined up on the aerodrome at Dortmund. These aircraft were paid for by a subscription arranged among adherents of Herr Hitler and presented to him on his birthday in 1936. A plain cross, as seen on the second machine in this photograph, is used on the wings and fuselages of all German military aircraft. The swastika is on the tail.
German Fighters of the Second World War
The Germans have two interceptor fighters in the Hurricane-Spitfire class. These are the Messerschmitt 109 and the Focke-Wulf 190. The Messerschmitt, like the Hurricane, has been used for a variety of purposes and there have been two models, 109E and 109F. Designed in the first place as an interceptor fighter, it was used for escort work and also for low level bombing operations.
The 109E has a top speed of 354 miles per hour and a ceiling of 36,000 feet. The armament consists of two .300 machine guns mounted on the engine crankcase and synchronized to fire through the airscrew, and either two 20-mm. cannon or two .300 machine guns, one in each wing.
GERMAN FIGHTER AIRCRAFT. Engine particulars and top speeds of five types of single and twin-engine fighter aircraft of the Luftwaffe. The Junkers 88 is a modified version of the dive bomber, and is used mainly as a night fighter.
In combat with British aircraft several characteristics are noticeable. The 109E seems to have difficulty in executing a climbing turn to the right. So a climbing turn to the right is often used by British bombers when attacked by these aircraft.
When attacked by fighters the 109E pilots invariably go into a steep dive because when the stick is pushed violently forward, the engines on aircraft fitted with carburettors will cut out for a second or two and then pick up again. Owing to their petrol injection device the engines of the 109E do not do so, and the extra second they gain by what might be termed their “crash dive” helps them considerably in their efforts to get away.
The 109F is a modified form of the 109E. The main differences in appearance are the lack of bracing struts on the tailplane and the extension to the wings which instead of having square tips are now elliptical in shape. The general appearance of the aircraft is now much more like the Hurricane. The power of the engine has been increased and the whole performance of the aircraft improved. Its top speed is about 370 miles per hour and the service ceiling 38,000 feet. The armament of this German fighter has been reduced to one 20 mm. cannon firing through the airscrew boss, and two machine guns which are synchronized to fire through the airscrew.
This aircraft is a good high altitude flyer and has replaced the 109E. Its performance now more nearly equals the latest version of the Spitfire, but these improvements have only been achieved by a reduction in fire power and the Spitfire Mk V with its two cannon and four machine guns has a big advantage.
The Focke-Wulf 190 was a surprise to the R.A.F. when it was first used by the Germans from their bases in Northern France. It has a radial air-cooled engine and it was thought to be a Curtis Hawk, supplied by America to the French Air Force and captured by the Germans when they occupied France. Its appearance in increasing numbers and closer acquaintance with it, however, soon disabused the British pilots and they found that it had a fine turn of speed and a good rate of climb. It was outmanoeuvred by the Spitfire in straight dog-fights all the same and the Germans began to use it more for diving on straggling fighters with reliance on its climbing abilities to get it out of trouble. A model was soon captured intact by the R.A.F., overhauled and flown by British test pilots. They found that it had a wing loading of 42.3 lbs., a climb rate of 3,200 feet at 17,500 feet and a speed of 375 miles an hour at 18,000 ft. The engine was a 14 cylinder BMW radial of 2,000 horse power. It was armed with four 20 mm. cannon and two machine guns of 7.92 calibre. The machine guns were arranged to fire through the nose. There was a bomb rack beneath the fuselage for a 250 lb. bomb, and latterly the aircraft has been used as a sneak night bomber.
In addition, Germany experimented at one time with the Heinkel 113, developed from the aircraft which set up the land-plane record in 1939. It was reported to have a top speed of about 400 miles an hour, but it was not encountered much by the R.A.F. and apparently never got over its initial teething troubles sufficiently to go into mass production for operational use.
The German counterpart to the Bristol Blenheim long-range fighter-bomber is the Junkers 88. This is a low wing monoplane and is similar in all respects to the Junkers 88 A1 bomber with the exception of the nose which is all metal, cone shaped and similar in appearance to the Beaufighter’s. The power plant consists of two 1,200 h.p. Junkers Juno engines which give it a top speed in excess of 320 miles per hour, and a range of 1,500 miles. The Junkers 88 bomber has a ceiling of 30,000 feet. Following general German practice the accommodation is cramped, provision being made for a crew of three in that part of the fuselage forward of the front spar.
This aircraft is used mainly as a night fighter to intercept enemy aircraft over their own aerodromes. It is painted completely black and is comparable for size with the Douglas Havoc which has been used by the R.A.F. for the same purpose.
The usual armament is one 15-mm. high velocity shell cannon and three rifle calibre machine guns, all fixed in the nose to the right of the pilot on a level with his feet. These guns occupy the space used in the bomber version by the bomb aimer. In addition there are twin upper rear guns on a spherical mounting, and the single lower rear gun is in a blister beneath the fuselage. The number of guns carried seems to vary with individual aircraft, some having only one above and one below the fuselage.
The Germans have attempted to produce an aircraft equivalent to the Mosquito by developing the Me110 and bringing out the Me210. Its performance, however, falls short of that of the Mosquito. The Me210 has a speed of 380 miles an hour at 18,000 feet, ten miles an hour faster than the Me109F. Its all up weight is 21,350 lbs. and it carries a bomb load of 2,200 lbs. The increased weight over the Me110 is accounted for by 900 lbs. of armour plating. It carries six guns, two fixed 7.9 mm. two Mauser 20 mm. and two 13 mm. guns controlled by the rear gunner, who is also wireless operator. The bomb compartment is in the nose of the fuselage underneath the pilot’s cockpit. Very considerable quantities of ammunition are carried. For dive bombing, the Me210 uses hydraulically operated dive-brakes which ingeniously fold flush into the top and bottom surfaces of each wing during normal flight. Wing span is 53 ft. 9 ins., length 40 ft. 3 ins. It has two Daimler-Benz 601-F1 engines which are an improvement on those in the Me110.
The Me110 was perhaps the most successful twin-engined fighter possessed by the Germans. This is a low wing cantilever monoplane powered by two 1,150 h.p. Daimler-Benz engines. The pilot is accommodated in a cockpit forward of the leading edge, and the rear gunner over the trailing edge, provision for the navigator being made immediately behind the pilot. All crew space is covered by a continuous transparent hood. The Me110 has a top speed of 360 miles per hour at 16,000 feet, a ceiling of 35,000 feet and a range of 1,500 miles. In common with the Spitfire it is an excellent aircraft both in performance and in handling qualities. A good single-seater should always beat a good multi-seater in a dog fight, but though it is outmatched both in performance and manoeuvrability by the Spitfire, and in manoeuvrability by the Hurricane, the fact that it is a better aircraft than many of the world’s single-seaters, and almost equal to the best, makes it outstanding.
The armament of the Me110 consists of two 20-mm. cannon in the nose and below the pilot, and four rifle calibre machine guns mounted to fire aft. It is known that a much larger type gun was fitted in some no’s but was discontinued probably because of trouble from stoppages. The cannon, like those of the Beaufighter, can be loaded from inside the fuselage by the navigator. Bomb racks can be fitted under the centre section on each side of the fuselage.
The Germans possess another twin-engine fighter in the Focke-Wulf 187, also known as the Zerstoerer. It is powered by two 1,150 h.p. Daimler-Benz engines, and the radiators are placed well forward beneath the engines. Unlike most aircraft, its maximum speed is attained at sea level and to be about 360 miles per hour. It has a high service ceiling of 37,000 feet. It has not, however, proved particularly successful and operationally has been little seen. The most noticeable features for identification are its single fin, large narrow fuselage, narrow pencil-shaped nose stopping at a point just short of the engines, and large spinners which do not come to a point but have a flattened tip.
The armament is six fixed rifle calibre machine guns and two 20-mm. cannon in the nose. One free machine gun is operated by the rear gunner.
BRITISH, GERMAN AND ITALIAN MACHINE GUNS. Top to bottom: Rifle-calibre Browning belt-fed gun, it has a rate of fire of approximately 1,200 rounds per minute; Vickers’ drum-fed observer’s gun; Rheinmettal-Borsig, Germany’s standard aircraft machine gun which has a rate of fire of approximately 1,000 rounds per minute; Breda belt-fed gun as used by the Italian air force.
The 109E has a top speed of 354 miles per hour and a ceiling of 36,000 feet. The armament consists of two .300 machine guns mounted on the engine crankcase and synchronized to fire through the airscrew, and either two 20-