|
Re: He 177 and 277 performance difference
The dive bombing role was an impromptue requirement not forseen by Heinkel when he submitted the design.
The dive bombing requirement first emerged from the final inspection of the Projekt 1041 mock-up on November 5, 1937, the same day that Projekt 1041 was officially designated the He 177 by the RLM, when Ernst Heinkel and Ernst Udet conversed after the inspection, about the future usage of Heinkel's design. Udet stated the OKL's requirement for the He 177 design to be able to execute moderate diving attacks, something Ernst Heinkel told Udet it would never be capable of doing.*
* Griehl & Dressel 1998, pg.9
Heinkel resented this and hated the requirement. The twin engined layout was for speed in meeting the fast Ural Bomber requirement. Not for dive bombing.
Goering was severely embarassed by engine development and flutter problems with the He-177A. Goering instituted a witch hunt like investigation by Oberst Petersen, later involved with trans oceanic Fw200 operations. Petersen's report identified causes for crashes and ongoing problems with the He-177A. Much of the problems he lay at the feet of poor servicing and maintenance rather than the design itself.
Various aircraft trials were carried out for Obst Petersen during August 1942. The initial production version of the Greif, the He 177 A-1, demonstrated a tendency for instability in the yaw and pitch axes that would have led to poor bombing accuracy in action. Petersen recommended a stretch of the fusellage to restore stability.*
* Griehl & Dressel 1998, p.46 & 54
During his investigations the strength of the wings were also reassessed and it was discovered that they had never been built to meet Udet's dive bombing requirements and Heinkel was correct in saying they could not be built to cope with dive bombing. In September 1942 Goering ordered the abandonment of Udet's dive bombing requirement for the He-177. According to Griehl & Dressel, during Goering's decision from September 1942, he also mandated work to commence on the conventionally powered He-177B.
|