| He 51 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| General information | |
| Type | Biplanefighter-bomber |
| Manufacturer | Heinkel |
| Designer | |
| Status | Retired |
| Primary user | Luftwaffe |
| Number built | 700[1] |
| History | |
| Introduction date | July 1934 |
| First flight | May 1933 |
| Retired | 1939 (Luftwaffe) 1952 (Spanish Air Force) |
| Developed from | Heinkel He 49 |
TheHeinkel He 51 was a German single-seatbiplanefighter aircraft. Aseaplane variant and aground-attack version were also developed. It was a development of the earlierHe 49.
In 1931,Heinkel recruited the talented aircraft designersWalter and Siegfried Günter. Their first major design for Heinkel was the Heinkel He 49.[2] While this was officially an advancedtrainer,[3] in fact it was a fighter.[2]
The type was ordered into production for the still secretLuftwaffe as theHe 51, with the first pre-production aircraft flying in May 1933.[4] Deliveries started in July of the next year.[4]
The He 51 was a conventional single-bay biplane, with all-metal construction and fabric covering. It was powered by aglycol-cooledBMW VI engine, with an armament of two 7.92 mm (0.312 in)machine guns mounted above the engine.[citation needed]
The He 51 was intended to replace the earlierArado Ar 65, and served side-by-side with the slightly laterArado Ar 68. The He 51 was obsolete before it even entered service, and after an initial run of 150 production fighters,[2] production switched to the modifiedHe 51B, of which approximately 450 were built,[2] including about 46He 51B-2floatplanes,[5] along with a further 100He 51C light ground-attack aircraft being built.[2]
On 6 August 1936, six He 51s were delivered toSpain to fight in theSpanish Civil War with theNationalists.[6] Initial operations were successful, with the Heinkels defeating older, obsoleteSpanish Republican Air Force fighters on 18 August 1936, the first day of operations.[7] Deliveries continued, and by November two Nationalist squadrons were equipped with the type, along with three Legion Condor squadrons of 12 aircraft each, manned by German "volunteers".[7]
This time of superiority was short lived, with the arrival of large numbers of more modern aircraft from theSoviet Union, including thePolikarpov I-15 biplane and the newPolikarpov I-16monoplane,[8] together with theTupolev SBbomber, which was 110 km/h (68 mph) faster.[9] The He 51 proved unable to protect theLegion Condor's bombers, forcing it to switch to night operations,[10] while also unable to intercept the much faster SBs.[9] The He 51 was soon withdrawn from fighter duty and relegated to the ground-attack role by both theLegion Condor and the Nationalists.[9][11] It was replaced in the fighter role by theFiat CR.32 in the FascistNationalist Air Force, with theLegion Condor receivingMesserschmitt Bf 109s from April 1937.[12]
While its success as a fighter was short lived, the Heinkel proved more successful as a ground-attack aircraft, being used byWolfram von Richthofen to develop theclose air support tactics used by theLuftwaffe inWorld War II.[13] It continued in use as such for the remainder of the Civil War, although losses were heavy. After the war, the 46 surviving aircraft would be joined by another 15 newly built airframes, and remain in service in Spain until 1952.[citation needed]
The He 51 lasted in front-line service with theLuftwaffe until 1938, when it was relegated to use as an advanced trainer duties with theJagdfliegerschulen[14] for the first few years of World War II.[1]
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Data from Warplanes of the Luftwaffe[4]
General characteristics
Performance
Armament
Related development
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era
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