He111F PF+UQ - Gen.Felfmarschal von Brauschitsch

[obdl3945]

Hi...

I'm hoping someone may be able to help me. I have seen a photograph in Luftwaffe Camouflage & Markings, Vol.2 1935-45 (Kookaburra) which shows the above-mentioned Generalfeldmarschall boarding his He111 transport aircraft (page 135), apparently an He111F sub-type.

I'm trying to determine the engine cowling and fuselage window arrangement detail, prior to making a model of the same machine. I recently saw a photo in one of Ed West's postings of what I believe to be the same aircraft, which shows that it had a 'solid' nose cap but the photo is slightly blurred, and I can't make out the air intake detail on the right side of the cowlings (if indeed the intake was on that side). Was this intake likely to be of the long or short variety, or would it have been positioned on the left side of the cowling instead...? I have read information on the engine type for the F version but I'm a little confused about what engine it actually used. I do know that this machine has a prominent intake on the top of the cowling, as I have seen this on the photo in the above book. Also, would this military transport have had the fuselage equipped with the full 'airliner' set of windows, or would they have conformed to the reduced military arrangement...? Any photos of either area of this version of the aircraft would be much appreciated.

Thanks for any help provided...

[GrahamB]

Hi,

Sorry to see that you have had no responses so far to your posting. You have certainly picked a tough one here. It is not surprising given the erratic and error-ridden accounts of the early He111 series in the published literature and most ‘Luftwaffe fans’ are hooked on fighter types anyway.

Your chosen aircraft is actually not an He111 F but (according to literature) a He111 G4, one of only four produced. Another, PF+UP, is a well-published example (e.g. AirDoc, Squadron Signal), also being used as a courier during WW2. They were basically the He111 C fuselage with the late, straight, wings as seen on the F, J, P and H versions and DB 600 engines. This is the factor making the modelling a daunting prospect. The only photos I’ve seen are of WW2 period examples (re-fitted/upgraded?) and they appear to have He111 P-style cowlings and exhausts, rather than the bulkier DB installation seen in the He111B, D and J versions.

As for modelling – well you are really in unknown territory here. I’m in the process of building a Roden He111 E and have it in mind as well to do either a He111 F or J. There are two basic routes:

1. If you are into serious kit-bashing, scratchbuilding and can plunge-mould canopies you could try and modify a Hasegawa He111 P (or cheaper Italeri or Revell He111H – but more work on cowlings needed for converting from Jumo to DB) by re-configuring the cabin windows, deleting the ventral gondola and restoring the ventral fuselage, making or scribing the starboard entrance door (above rear wing-root), cutting off the P/H nose and making the solid A/C/G nose and canopy, etc etc. or….

2. Cross-kit a Roden He111C (hard to find now?) and either the Hasegawa He111P or the cheaper alternatives mentioned above, using the wings and engines of the latter. The problem is I don’t know how compatible the Roden kit’s wing root profile is with the others. There is also the issue of the Roden He111 – there are fit problems with the interior fuselage parts and I’m currently battling with a pronounced asymmetry between the port and starboard wing-root profiles. That said, the early He111s were among the first Roden kits and the passion for detail and basic accuracy was there – as seen in the beautiful 1/72, 1/48 and 1/32 WW1 biplanes that they are currently producing.

Whichever you choose, GOOD LUCK! By separate e-mail I’ll send some more images that might help.

There is a lot more to say on the early He111 series and it is poorly served in the literature – Squadron/Signal erroneously depict the F with curved wings and this error turned up again in the AirDoc profile of the J, and the Wekusta book profile of He111 J as well. Numerous identification errors occur in photograph captions and are even present in the Merrick series on camouflage and markings. If you are interested I could write another post specifically on some of my views about this and a proposal for a different taxonomy of the F series.

Best wishes

GrahamB

[obdl3945]

Graham...

Many thanks for your posting regarding this subject... coincidentally, I'm also half way through building a Roden 'E'... wonderful for encouraging a receding hairline... !

I made a go of building the above-mentioned PF+UQ a few years back, and still have it in my collection. I used the Roden 'C' fuselage with the full set of 'airliner' windows in the fuselage, mated to the Italeri 'H' wings. Given that I only had one rear view of that machine at the time, and taking it to be an 'F', I completed it with the Italeri engines and a glazed bomber-style nose from a Roden 'B' kit. This seems only to have been successful in providing the starboard fuselage door and a straight leading-edged wing.

However, being somewhat adept at reconfiguring some of my models from one version to another, and having now completed eleven cross-matches of the recent Hasegawa kit with the elderly Italeri offering - invloving retaining the Italeri fuselage and canopies, fin and rudder, excavating an opening on the underside of the fuselage for the bomb bay/racks insert, while retaining the Hasegawa cockpit interior, wings, engines, undercarriage and tailplane (on later attempts, also substituting the Hasegawa one-piece ventral gondola) - I am relatively confident a Roden/Hasegawa cross-match would be successful. The Roden fuselage accepts the Italeri wings quite well, albeit with some plastic card inserts, filler and considerable time sanding and blending the wing/fuselage joint, as do the Hasegawa wings to the Italeri fuselage, so I believe Hasegawa to Roden would work. If using a Hasegawa He111P kit, I could use the DB600 cowlings, as you suggested, and using a solid nose cap left over from the Roden 'C' - yes, still got that as well...! - it would look rather eye-catching when complete.

I would be very interested to see the pictures you mentioned of PF+UP, what we now believe to be an inline-engined 'G'. I will send you my e-mail in a private message and hopefully you would be willing to let me see these pictures... ?

Many thanks again for your reply. Hope to hear from you soon.

Regards...