Heinkel He 46
| He 46 | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Role |
Reconnaissance Army co-operation |
| Manufacturer | Heinkel |
| First flight | Late 1931 |
| Introduction | 1936 |
| Retired | 1943 |
| Primary user |
Luftwaffe Hungarian Air Force Legion Condor |
| Number built | About 500 |
The Heinkel He 46 was a German World War II-era monoplane designed in 1931 for the close reconnaissance and army co-operation roles. While it served with the Luftwaffe's front-line units only briefly at the start of World War II, the He 46 served as late as 1943 as a nighttime nuisance bomber and with the Hungarian Air Force.
During the early 1930s, the German military was beginning to build up in strength. The RLM (German Air Ministry) wanted aircraft that could be rapidly built and would be able to swell the Luftwaffe's inventory with large numbers of aircraft for training. Ernst Heinkel designed many of these early aircraft. The He 46, for instance was, created to fill the short-range reconnaissance and army co-operation role for the Luftwaffe.
As designed in 1931, the He 46 was a two-seat sesquiplane of mixed construction. The upper wing was swept back 10°. This is a common trick when a change in an aircraft's design moves the center of gravity to the rear; rather than moving the whole wing back to counter for the shift, it is easier to simply angle the wings back slightly, which requires very little change to the basic design, or even the overall structure of the wing. (The similarly angled wings on the Fairey Swordfish are due to just such a mid-program change to the weight distribution of the aircraft.) The tailplane was mounted high and braced by struts. The undercarriage was fixed, and the tail was fitted with a skid rather than a wheel. The He 46 prototype first flew in late 1931; its flight characteristics were good, but design improvements were incorporated. The small lower wing was removed, while the mainplane was increased in area by 22% and braced to the fuselage, transforming the He 46 into a parasol-wing monoplane. A more powerful engine was added to the second prototype, and a single 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 15 machine gun for the rear seat was added to the third prototype.
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