HEINKEL He 111 J-1 DELIVERY PHOTOS

The Heinkel He 111 J story. On 7. April 1936 it was declared by the German Government that aircraft with wheel undercarriages were from now on permitted to be operated by the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) as bombers, recce and torpedo bombers. Shortly after an order for 120 He 111 J torpedo bombers was given to Heinkel. In a record timeframe from 4/5-1936 to 4/4-1937 a new factory was built at Oranienburg NW of Berlin with a capacity to complete 32 He 111s a month, but soon 2 aircraft per day were rolling out.

The He 111 J was, except for the engines, a He 111F which also incorporated the new wing with straight wing leading and trailing edges. The engines of the F models which were diesel engines were replaced with 2 Daimler-Benz DB 600G with non-retractable coolers. They developed 950HP giving a max. speed of 305 km/h and a march speed of 280 km/h. Endurance was 4 hours with reserves. Armament was the standard German bomber armament of three MG 15’s situated in the nose, fuselage top and underneath the fuselage in a retractable bin (which when lowered reduced the speed of the aircraft by 25 km/h. Four crew manned the aircraft. The 120 German aircraft served mainly on reconnaissance duties in the North and Baltic Seas where the main user unit was the “küstenfliegergruppe 806 which had 3 staffeln with about 33 aircraft at the time. The unit converted to Ju 88 bombers in May 1941. The He 111 J was never used to launch torpedoes in its German service. Later the glass nosed version He 111 H was modified for torpedo bombing duties. In March 1937 a He 111F-0 prototype had been demonstrated to Turkey and soon in the same year an order for 24 aircraft was received. The reason for the Turkish order being of the J model shall probably be seen in that the Turkish army wanted their aircraft to be equipped with gasoline burning engines and the factory had ample capacity to deliver the J model with such engines. There is no evidence that the Turkish aircraft had any torpedo carrying capacity. On October 17. 1937 delivery of the 24 Turkish He 111 J-1 began with four departing Oranienburg via Sofia to Istanbul and that year 18 were received in batches of 4 or 6 with the remaining six in early 1938. Four aircraft companies of the 1st Air Regiment at Eskişehir were issued with the aircraft replacing obsolete Breguet Br.19s. Already in 1940, however, the aircraft were concentrated in two companies. When in late 1944 Baltimore V bombers replaced the Heinkels a II Batalion of the 1.Regiment was reformed into a two company strong “Strategic Bomber/reconnaissance unit with one company of 8 Heinkels and 5 Convair B-24Ds and a second with Martin 139WTs. Those Heinkels also participated in a mapping operation of Turkey. When the He 111 J-1’s were withdrawn in late 1945 eight were still serviceable! (serials 2004, 05, 12, 13, 14, 18, 20 and 2023) serial c/n d/d unit/date wfu date remarks 2201 5004 22oct37 1.Alay/I.TB ex D-ATDQ 2202 5011 1937 1.Alay/I.TB 1944 2203 5012 1937 1.Alay/I.TB 1940 2204 5013 1937 1.Alay/I.TB 1945 ex D-AAAF 2205 5014 1937 1.Alay/I.TB 1944 2206 5015 1937 1.Alay/I.TB 1942 2207 5018 1937 1.Alay/I.TB 1944 2208 5019 1937 1.Alay/I.TB 2209 5020 1937 1.Alay/I.TB 2210 5021 1937 1.Alay/I.TB 2211 5022 1937 1.Alay/I.TB 2212 5023 1937 1.Alay/I.TB 1946 2213 5024 1937 1.Alay/I.TB 1946

serial c/n d/d unit/date wfu date remarks 2214 5025 1937 1.Alay/I.TB 1945 2215 5026 1937 1.Alay/I.TB 2216 5027 1937 1.Alay/I.TB 2217 5028 1937 1.Alay/I.TB 2218 5029 1938 1.Alay/I.TB 1946 2219 5030 1938 1.Alay/I.TB 1945 2220 5031 1938 1.Alay/I.TB 1946 2221 5032 1938 1.Alay/I.TB 1944 2222 5033 1938 1.Alay/I.TB 2223 5034 1938 1.Alay/I.TB 1946 2224 5035 1938 1.Alay/I.TB