Heinkel HE 6 mystery

[ianatheling]

Hi
At eBay here there is a photo of a very rare sea-bird, the Heinkel HE 6b, D-1220. The caption underneath the photo appears to refer to the achievement of a record for this aircraft, possibly relating to refuelling (unfortunately my German is not good enough to be accurate). I can however find absolutely nothing about the HE 6. The photo shows it be from the same family as the HE 1, 2 etc. Does anyone know anything else about this mystery aircraft?

regards

Ian

[Col Bruggy]

He 6 and He 10.

A relatively large long-range aircraft, the He 6 bore many features of the earlier Heinkel seaplane monoplanes, but accomodated its crew of three to four in an enclosed cockpit. Crew generally comprised a pilot, navigator and radio operator, and reconnaissance was again to be the task of this seaplane. One example, D-1220 (c/n.286)*, attempted to reach Newfoundland in Autumn 1927, via Lisbon and the Azores. It departed from Warnemunde on October 12 but on the 13th of the following month**, it capsized off the Azores and could proceed no further.

Similar in size, but with a less powerful engine, for even greater range, was the He 10 (D-1662, c/n.317). Like the He 6, it carried a large quantity of navigational and wireless equipment.

* Pilot: Capt. Mertz, Radio Operator: Herr Bock.

** Turner possibly in error here. Heinkel mentions that the He 6 took from Warnemunde, was reported in Lisbon the following day, and was smashed to pieces in the Azores by big waves, two days later.

Specification:

Powerplant: 1 x 800hp Packard (He 6), 1 x 660hp BMW V1 Vee cylinder (He 10).
Span: 59ft 6in.
Wing area: 656sq ft.
Length: 43ft 0in.
Weight(Empty): 5,478lb (He 10).
Weight (Max.): 10,852lb (He 10)

See:
Heinkel:An Aircraft Album.
Turner,P.St.John.
London:Ian Allan,1970.
pp.24-5 (photo of each type accompanies text).

Suggest you get hold of a copy of:

He 1000.
Heinkel,Ernst.
London:Hutchinson,1956.
p.114.

for an amusing tale of what Heinkel told his secretary (Maria Hupertz), to do with her chimney-sweep talisman!

Col.

[ianatheling]

Many thanks Col. The eBay photo must be a poster designed to promote the record breaking attempt.

Cheers
Ian

[Stig Jarlevik]

Ian/Col

The record attempt in 1927 is covered quite well, and Turner is correct.

12.10 take off Warnemünde 12:21H, landed Brunsbüttel 14.20H
13.10 take off Brunsbüttel 09:34H and landed Wilhelmshaven 10:18H
14.10 take off Wilhelmshaven 10:58H and landed Amsterdam 13:02H
16.10 take off Amsterdam 08:05H and landed Vigo 16.00H
18.10 take off Vigo 06:05H and landed Lisbon 08:55H
04.11 take off Lisbon 04:25H and landed Horta, the Azores 14:10H
13.11 take off Horta 02:33H but forcelanded following its third take off attempt and due to the heavy swelling overturned. Besides the two crew already mentioned there was also a Packard engine engineer onboard, Rohde. All three were rescued unharmed but the aircraft was a complete write off. Nothing known about the wreck, but most probably scrapped in some local scrapyard...

Cheers
Stig

[ianatheling]

Stig
Many thanks for this detailed information

Ian