Arguably the largest bomber built by the Germans, the ill-fated He 177 Greif (Griffin) suffered many flaws and turned into one of the Luftwaffe’s biggest failures, comparing service use to the amount of resources invested. The aircraft, designed by engineer Siegfried Gün-
ter of Ernst Heinkel Aircraft Company, made its first flight in November 1939. It incorpo- rated many advanced innovations, and came near to satisfying the requirements of a strate- gic bomber. But as teething troubles and tech- nical problems were never overcome, a large number of test pilots were killed and the air- craft had a dismal development record and an inauspicious career. A significant problem that plagued the program from the beginning was a ludicrous requirement that this extremely large aircraft be capable of dive bombing. Idiocy it was, and that ensured that the Luft- waffe never had an effective long-range heavy bomber. This combined with the attempt to reduce drag by coupling the engines, while theoretically sound, proved to be impossible in practice. Seventy-five percent of the initial production batches of A1 prototypes crashed and a good percentage of the 35 A-0 pre-pro- duction airframes were lost due to crashes or in-flight fires. Due to this disturbing propen- sity to catch fire, the He 177 was dubbed “the flying firework.” It was not entirely clear why this problem existed: Heinkel blamed oil leaks in the engines, other engineers pointing out
cooling issues. The A-0s were followed by type A3 using DB engines, and A4, intended to be a high-altitude project. The major production was the He 177 A5. This had a span of 31.44 m (103 ft 2 in), a length of 22 m (72 ft 2 in), a height of 6.4 m (21 ft), and an empty weight of 16,800 kg (37,038 lbs). The He 177 A5 was powered by two 2,950-hp Daimler-Benz DB 610A-1/B1 engines, each including two close- coupled, inverted-V-12, liquid-cooled engines geared to one 4-bladed propeller. Maximum speed was 472 km/h (295 mph) and range was about 5,000 km (3,107 miles). The airplane had a crew of six, including pilot, copilot, observer/radio operator, bomb aimer/nose gunner, dorsal gunner, and tail gunner. Arma- ment included one 7.92-mm MG 81J manually aimed in nose, one 20-mm MG 151 manually aimed at front of ventral gondola, one or two 13-mm MG 131 guns in forward dorsal turret, one MG 131 in rear dorsal turret, one MG 151 manually aimed in tail and two MG 81 or one MG 131 manually aimed at the rear of the ven- tral gondola. The He 177 could carry an inter- nal bomb load of 6,000 kg (13,600 lbs). It was also adapted to carry Henschel 293 and Fritz X guided missiles, FX 1400 parachute mines, or torpedoes. Its design faults were such that only a few ever became operational and their
results were poor. In late May 1944, the aircraft was used in combat and achieved notable but limited successes on the Russian front; when everything worked, the He 177 was an excellent four-engine long-range bomber. Total produc- tion was about 1,000 units, of which some 700 served on the eastern front, using 50-mm and 75-mm guns for tank-busting, while a few brave aircrews ineffectually bombed England. The He 177 proved to be such a big prob- lem that Göring forbid Heinkel to develop another version, though Heinkel did anyway, the result being the He 277.
Heinkel He 277
The He 277, intended to be a heavy bomber, long-range reconnaissance craft and anti-ship- ping aircraft, was an enlarged version of the He 177. It was secretly developed by Ernst Heinkel. In May 1943, the designer, ignoring Göring’s interdiction, informed Hitler that the He 277 could meet the demand for a new bomber, and the dictator encouraged him to go on. The He 277 prototype V1 made its first flight in late 1943, followed by a more ad- vanced version, V2, in February 1944. Other designs (V3, B-5, B-6, and B-7) were also planned. The aircraft had a span of 31.44 m
(103 ft 2 in), a length of 22.15 m (72 ft 8 in), a height of 6.66 m (21 ft 10 in), and an empty weight of 21,800 kg (48,067 lbs). To solve the engine-fire problem of the He 177, the 1,850- hp Daimler-Benz DB 603A inverted-V-12 (or Jumo 213F) engines were separated into four units. Maximum speed was 570 km (354 mph) and range was 7,200 km (4,474 miles). The aircraft was planned to be heavily defended with gun turret and gondola, and would carry a heavy load of bombs and guided missiles. In July 1944 the whole program was cancelled, with Heinkel being ordered to design and build nothing but his proven models.
Heinkel He 274
The He 274 would have been a formidable and outstanding long-range heavy bomber. It was actually a variant of the Heinkel He 177. The main difference was that each engine had its own nacelle on the wing, rather than using a paired engine in which two engines drove a common propeller. This was arranged in order to prevent the He 177’s engine problems. As the Heinkel factories were too busy making other aircrafts, the program of the He 274 was assigned in 1941 to the French SAUF-Far- mann Company located at Suresnes near Paris. The development went extremely slow and two prototypes V1 and V2 were completed only in July 1944, right before the liberation of Paris. The impressive He 274 was operated by a crew of four, it had a span of 44.20 m (145 ft), a length of 23.80 m (78 ft 2 in), a height of 5.50 m (18 ft), and an empty weight of 21.300 kg (46.964 lbs). It was powered by four
1.850-hp Daimler-Benz DB 603A-2 inverted- V-12 piston engines with turbochargers. Speed was 580 km/h (360 mph) and range 4,250 km (2,640 miles). Planned armament was five MG 131/13 13-mm machine guns, plus one gun in the nose and two in two fuselage turrets. One of the two prototypes made its first flight in December 1945 with French markings and the designation AAS-01A. Their further fate is unknown. Probably they were used for a while by the French Armée de l’Air as high-altitude research planes.
Messerschmitt Me P 08-01
Designed in September 1941 by Alexander Lippisch, the Me P 08-01 was a large flying wing with a span of 50.6 m (166 ft) and a length of 15.35 m (50 ft 4 in). The bomber was powered by four Daimler-Benz DB 614 piston engines mounted on the wing trailing edge in a push arrangement. Maximum speed would have been 645 km/h (401 mph) and range would have been 27,150 km (16,871 miles). The aircraft was intended to fulfill sev- eral roles. A long-range bomber would carry a bomb load of 20,000 kg (44,092 lbs). Another version was a long-range maritime patrol craft (armed with torpedo or sea mines), or long- range land reconnaissance aircraft. A third variant would have been a transport aircraft with a payload of 25 tons. Another version would have been used to tow assault gliders. A last variant would have been a gunship armed with four 8.8-cm cannons in an anti-aircraft role. The Me P 08-01 did not progress further than initial design stage.