Heinkel He 115

Development and design

In 1935, the German Reich Air Ministry (Reichsluftfahrtministerium or RLM) produced a requirement for a twin engined general purpose floatplane, suitable both for patrol and for anti-shipping strikes with bombs and torpedoes. Proposals were received from both Heinkel Flugzeugwerke and from Blohm & Voss' aircraft subsidiary, Hamburger Flugzeugbau, and on 1 November 1935, orders were placed with both Heinkel and Hamburger Flugzeugbau for three prototypes each of their prospective designs, the He 115 and the Ha 140.

The first prototype Heinkel flew in August 1937, with testing proving successful, with the He 115 being selected over the Ha 140 early in 1938, resulting in an order for an additional prototype and 10 pre-production aircraft. Meanwhile, the first prototype was used to set a series of international records for floatplanes over 1,000 km (621 mi) and 2,000 km (1,243 mi) closed circuits at a speed of 328 km/h (204 mph).

Armament initially consisted of two 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 15 machine guns, one in the nose and one in the dorsal position. Later He 115s were fitted with a fixed forward-firing 15 mm or 20 mm MG 151 cannon, and two rearward-firing 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 17 machine guns in the engine nacelles. Ordnance used by He 115 variants included LTF 5 or LTF 6b torpedoes and SD 500 500 kg (1,100 lb) or SC 250 250 kg (550 lb) bombs. Some also carried LMB III or LMA mines.

Luftwaffe

At the beginning of the war, the He 115 was used for dropping parachute mines in British waters, normally aiming for narrow passages in close vicinity of heavily trafficked ports on the English south coast. The River Thames was also a prime target. However, the aircraft had its finest moment when operating in the anti-shipping role against the Arctic convoys from bases in Northern Norway. Because these convoys initially lacked air cover, the low speed and comparatively light armament of the He 115 was not such a big problem as it had been over the heavily defended English coastline. Later on, with the appearance of carriers and escort carriers, coupled with new Soviet heavy fighters like the Petlyakov Pe-3bis, the air superiority over the convoys was challenged, and as a result, the torpedo bomber losses increased.

Apart from its use as a minelayer and torpedo bomber, it was also used in the coastal reconnaissance role, and by KG 200 to drop agents behind enemy lines.

Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service

In response to the rising tensions in Europe, the Norwegian Ministry of Defence had ordered six He 115Ns on 28 August 1939. From 14 July-13 November 1939, all six ordered aircraft were delivered to the Norwegian authorities. The He 115N order was intended to replace the RNoNAS' fleet of 1920s vintage Douglas DT torpedo bombers and the somewhat obsolete Marinens Flyvebaatfabrikk M.F.11, which in 1940 was the RNoNAS' main aircraft.

The Norwegians signed another order of six He 115Ns in December 1939, with delivery estimated to March/April 1940. The delivery of this second order was however pre-empted by the German invasion of Norway on 9 April 1940. At the outbreak of hostilities, the Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service had six He 115Ns in service (F.50, F.52, F.54, F.56, F.58, F.60) spread along the coast from the naval air stations at Sola and Flatøy in the south to the one at Skattøra Naval Air Station outside Tromsø in the north. At the beginning of the invasion, the aircraft at the seaplane base at Hafrsfjord near Stavanger (F.60) was captured by the Germans, but two of the Luftwaffe's He 115s (given the codes F.62 and F.64 in Norwegian service) were in turn seized by an improvised militia unit of Norwegian riflemen at Ørnes in Glomfjord, Nordland and by police officers at Brønnøysund, Nordland. The two aircraft were seized after they ran out of fuel and had to make emergency landings on 10 April. Manned by Norwegian aircrews, they served against their former owners for the duration of the campaign.

Seven Norwegian He-115s, five of them He-115Ns, were employed against German and German-controlled ships (see: HNoMS Uller), as well as providing ground support to the Norwegian Army's offensive on the Narvik Front. On 14 April 1940 three Norwegian He 115s made a successful attack on German Ju-52s at Gullesfjordbotn. Four of the Norwegian aircraft (F.52, F.56, F.58 and F.64) made the journey to the United Kingdom shortly before the 10 June 1940 surrender, a fifth (F.50) escaping to Finland, landing on Lake Salmijärvi in Petsamo. A sixth He 115 (F.54) also tried to make the journey to Britain, but was lost over the North Sea. The last of the Norwegian He 115s, F.62 (one of the two captured German aircraft), was unserviceable at the time of the evacuation and had to be abandoned at Skattøra, later being repaired and flown by the Germans.

Royal Air Force

The four escaped aircraft were at first reformed into the Norwegian Helensburgh Group under Commander Bugge. The exiled Norwegian Cabinet Nygaardsvold made plans soon after arriving in the United Kingdom to use the four He 115 aircraft to perform leaflet dropping missions over Norway. The leaflet mission was to deliver a declaration to the occupied Norwegian people, stating that the Norwegian authorities were re-established in the UK and were rejecting any Nazi German overtures proposing a German-Norwegian peace deal. All four Norwegian He 115s were ordered from Helensburgh to Scapa Flow on 3 July 1940 to carry out the mission, although one had to return to Helensburgh due to engine problems. The three He 115s assembled at Scapa Flow were ordered to fly to Norway and drop the declaration over the cities of Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim. Shortly before the mission was to get under way the British Air Ministry intervened and stopped the expedition, insisting that such an undertaking would be suicidal to attempt with the slow flying He 115s. Three days later, the three Norwegian aircraft returned to Helensburgh.

Three of the Norwegian He 115s (F.56, F.58 and F.64) were subsequently used in covert operations with Norwegian crews off Norway and in the Mediterranean Sea. In British service, the three received new serial numbers: BV184, BV185 and BV187. BV184 was attacked and damaged by two Polish Spitfire fighters over the Bay of Biscay in the spring of 1942 while cooperating with French fishing boats, and later lost in a refuelling fire in the UK. BV185 was destroyed in an Italian air raid on Kalafrana, Malta after flying just one clandestine operation to North Africa. BV187 flew several missions on the North African coast from its base in Malta before finally being attacked and destroyed by two German Bf 109s.

Finnish Air Force

On 8 June 1940, the day after Norwegian forces were ordered to cease hostilities, one He 115 (F.50, deemed technically unfit to be flown to UK), was flown to Finland posing as a civilian aircraft LN-MAB. The plane was interned but the pilot, experienced line captain and naval lieutenant Helge Dahl, and crew were free to leave Finland. From Summer 1941 it was used by the Finnish Air Force's LLv.14, coded HE-115 and named "Jenny", to ferry sissi troops behind Soviet lines. In this role, it proved valuable in a terrain with numerous secluded lakes. It served in this role until ambushed behind enemy lines in East Karelia on 4 July 1943. It took off, but soon had to ditch and the crew was made POW. Two days later the still floating HE-115 was strafed by Finnish Morane-Saulnier 406 fighters. There are reports that the Soviets still salvaged the wreck for evaluation. Two Luftwaffe He 115 C were borrowed for similar operations in 1943 - 44 and operated with German markings by Finnish crew. One was returned in 1944, but the other was surrendered to the Soviets after armistice.

Swedish Air Force

The Swedish Air Force operated 12 He 115A-2s under the local designation T 2, with Air Force numbers 101-112. Another six aircraft were ordered, but never delivered due to the outbreak of World War II. They were sturdy and well liked by their crews, and were not taken out of use until 1952. The Swedish T 2s were kept on duty throughout World War II and made a valuable contribution to protecting and enforcing Swedish neutrality. The T 2s replaced the outdated T 1s (Heinkel HD 16s) in the torpedo bomber role and also served as a regular bomber, for smoke screening and for long-range reconnaissance missions. Five of the 12 T 2s were lost in accidents during their service with the Swedish Air Force.

Prototypes

Five prototypes were used in the development of the aircraft:

Production

The basic design of the aircraft remained unchanged during the type's career. The main differences, with a few notable exceptions, were changes in armament and avionics. Also to note is that the 'new' 'E' version, launched when production restarted in 1941, is in fact similar to the 'C'-series, again with the exception of armament changes.

Operators

Specifications (He 115 B-1)

Data from

General characteristics

Performance

Armament

Surviving aircraft