So here I am, without any sign of warning. Hey everyone, Tomeko here.
I thought I would introduce an Aircraft Unassembled Plastic Kit that has just arrived today.
Heinkel He111Z `Zwilling`
At a glance, it looks like two aircrafts are holding hands or something. The structure of the actual plane is actually kinda like that too. One
would think they should've just let two planes fly separately like normal planes, but there was an unavoidable reason behind it......
Anyway, the singular plane is actually a Reciprocating twin-engine bomber called Heinkel He111, which was active in the early period of the
WWII.
By twin-engine, it means its equipped with two engines... that's pretty cool, I reckon.
Back then, the Germans were severely restricted in their development of weapons due to the Treaty of Versailles, but they were secretly building
new weapons below the surface. Typical, ent it?
But with such reasons behind the scenes, this He111 was developed under the title of "Civilian transporting aircraft".
So the reason behind why they merged two planes like this is...
During the middle period of the war, the cargo glider by the name of Me321 Gigant was created. This was an aircraft designed to surpass the
capabilities of the Junkers Ju52, the main transporting plane up til that point.
However, Transportation Gliders are generally unable to perform a powered flight, thus requires another plane to tow it.
And the Me321 was a craft too large for any of the existing planes to tow...
At the beginning, they forcefully had 3 Messerschmitt Bf100 towing it, but clearly that was too dangerous, so they decided to build a new plane
specifically for it. And this was the birth of......
this He111Z.
Joining two He111 together, and placed the 5th engine at the center. And I believe the Z stands for Zwilling, which apparently means twin.
Honestly speaking, one would wonder if such
half-assed job simple solution would actually work out.
But when they came to flying it, it actually flew surprisingly steadily, so you never know what could happen in this world.
And the Union Pilots that came across this aircraft turned around and ran away at the sight of such massive aircraft, apparently. Built basically
just for towing, it actually doesn't have much of a fighting capability, but the impact of it's appearance was something you just couldn't
ignore.
This is off topic, but apparently the Me321 that it tried to pull so hard was very hard to fly without being able to obtain the supremacy of the
air, and with the combat situation getting worse, the number of the aircraft being shot down also increased too...
There were voices claming that it was an interesting aircraft with many advanced structure used, so I wonder if some manufacturer somewhere would
make a plastic kit of it...
So yeah.
That's it for the introduction of a very German-like odd aircraft, Heinkel He111z.
See you next time!!
By Tomeko, who has a stomachache and wants to go home early.