Heinkel He 111 The last flying Heinkel He 111

[Kenny Andrew]

The last flying Heinkel He 111 built by the Spanish after the war under licence as the Casa 2.111. It was used by General Franco as his personal plane then later used in the Battle of Britain film. It was then sold to the Confederate airforce and sadly crashed in 2003 killing both of the crew.

 

 

 

 

 

The CASA 2.111 was designed to be a medium bomber that was manufactured in Spain by Construcciones Aeronauticas SA (CASA). This aircraft was designed with the German Heinkel He 111 in mind and looked very similar, in terms of their frames. The CASA 2.111 however, had heavier armament than the He 111 and used different engines, eventually opting for Rolls Royce Merlin as their engine of choice. This engine choice happened as they suffered problems with the original German-built Junkers engine.

Of all the CASA 2.111’s created, only 14 (approx) survive to this day, all in various non-flying conditions. These remaining aircraft are either in storage or on display at aviation museums / facilities.

This particular CASA 2.111 was the last of its type that could still fly. On July 10th 2003, it was involved in a crash landing that ended fatally. This tragedy of a landing happened while attempting to land at Cheyenne Municipal Airport after flying from Midland, Texas. It was en-route to an air show in Missoula, Montana when the accident occurred.

Eyewitness accounts state the aircraft appeared to lose power in one engine while on its final approach to the airstrip and crashed through a chain fence. Following this, it then collided with a building (a school bus-washing business) that was undergoing construction. Sadly in this collision, the pilot and co-pilot were fatally injured (Neil R. Stamp and Charles S. Bates).

[Fritz]

I heard about the crash a a few years later. Also there is a bit of information on Heinkels on youtube, as you see. A large consignment of motors for He and Me were destroyed by bombing while being transported to Spain by rail. After that, no further motors could be delivered, as the production had difficulty supplying the war effort. Therefore Rolls Royce motors seemed the only alternative, but for which the engine nacelles had to be reconstructed and look markedly different to that of the original version, as can be seen in the Battle of Britain film. There is one Casa 111 in the Technikmuseum in Sinsheim, which has been repainted in the markings of Kampfgeschwader 4. I believe there is also a further example under restoration and reconstruction in a museum in Berlin. A museum in Norway has several which have been restored and reconstructed from wrecks around Norway. A coulple of years ago one motor and some parts were recovered from the crashsite in Beisfjord - a machine of 2./KG 26, apparently 1H+FK, in which Unteroffizier (later Oberfeldwebel) Neusüß and crew had made a forced landing on 29. May 1940. See flyvrak internet site.

[Fritz]

An exciting film of  a flight of the last airworthy Heinkel - in formation with other historic aircraft, the Heinkel  unfortunately no longer exists, destroyed in a crash 2003 in US with loss of life, as mentioned above.

 

[Fritz]

And the crash site of a He 111 of 2./KG26 in Norway, 1940

Heinkel He 111 (1H+HK) crash site

This was a trip to Skjørestadfjellet to see the crash site of a WW2 German Luftwaffe Heinkel He 111 bomber. Not much left of the wreck after 70 years. It crashed here on 4th of November 1940 on the return trip to Sola airfield, Stavanger, after a sortie to England.
Killing Uffz./ Flugzeugfhr. Josef Mendler, Uffz./ Bordfunker Erhard Reisch,Ofw./ Beob. Otto Stuckmann and Uffz./ Bordmechanik Willhelm Zeckay. All rest at Havstein cemetery: byblis.net/ww2/havstein/ And more information of this and other wrecks,German and Allied on this great site: ktsorens.tihlde.org/flyvrak/

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[Gildwiller1918]

Very interesting! This plane looks so much bigger in photos and in films, but is quite small when viewed in person. I remember there was a nice example of this plane on display at the Frankfurt Airport in Germany awhile back. 

[Fritz]

See the series of articles about the man who flew in one of these machines. Tomorrow is the 10th anniversary of his death, 25.8.2009. His daughter died 15 days later:

https://www.treasurebunker.com/forums/index.php?/search/&q=neusüß

[Fritz]

https://www.key.aero/article/lady-lake-heinkel-he-111h-3-restoration-aeroplane-magazine

Heinkel He 111 H-3, said to be the last example of it's type, was recovered in 2008 from a lake at Sitasjaure in northern Sweden, and restoration is still being carried out at Falkenberg, Sweden.

The sole survivor of this variant, Werknummer 6830 has since been under restoration at Falkenberg, Sweden, by the volunteer-run Forced Landing Collection (FLC), in co-operation with the NordØsterdal Fly- og Militaerhistorisk Forening’s (Nord-Østerdal Aircraft and Military Historical Society) Museum at Tolga, Norway. The purpose of the FLC is to document the nearly 350 foreign aircraft which, for various reasons, arrived in neutral Sweden during the Second World War. The He 111H-3 is one of very few to have survived. Coded 1H+DN while in service with 5./KG 26, the He 111 forcelanded in Lake Sitasjaure on 15 May 1940 after having been damaged over Narvik by Fleet Air Arm Blackburn Skuas of 800 Squadron. The restoration will ultimately result in a complete He 111H-3. Only four other complete, German-built He 111s survive: an He 111E-3 in the Museo del Aire at Cuatro Vientos, Spain, an He 111P-1 in Norway’s Forsvarets flysamling at Gardermoen, a lateproduction He 111H-22 with the RAF Museum London at Hendon, and an He 111H-2 recovered from a Norwegian lake and stored by the Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin.

Back in 2002, Swedish enthusiasts Bengt Hermansson and Nicklas Östergren recovered small parts of an He 111. The H-3 model — Werknummer 7155, 1H+HK of 2./KG 26 — had crashed into the Hundskampen mountain on 9 November 1942. The pilot, Fw Anton Günther, died, with the rest of the crew sustaining injuries. The Jumo engines were taken away by the Germans as sabotage was suspected. The rest of the wreck was left in situ. Post-war, the He 111 was sold to a scrap dealer at Hamar. The wreck was largely recovered, although for some reason small pieces of the nose were left behind.

The recovery of the few remaining parts was made with the permission of the Norwegian authorities. The idea was to assemble them into a nose section for display at Hermansson’s small museum at Lake Grövelsjön. Although many bits were missing, particularly from the lower sections, the nose was successfully put together in Hermansson’s garden. The idea then arose of attempting to reconstruct a complete nose section.

The missing parts came from He 111H-3 Werknummer 5607, 1H+CK of 2./KG 26, which on 2 June 1940 ditched into Lake Grövelsjön on the Norwegian-Swedish border. The bomber had been damaged by RAF fighters, and came down on the Norwegian side of the lake. The crew survived and was recovered by a Luftwaffe He 115B-1 floatplane, S4+LK, the following day. The He 111 wreck became a source of materials for people from both sides of the frontier.

1960s photo, as the starboard engine was still there

1H+DN. The only known photo shortly after the landing, 15.5.1940.

[Achtung Spitfire!]

I remember a story of a Heinkel being raised from a lake a number of years ago  published in a well know aviation monthly. It was remarkably intact which as I recall was due the fact that the lake had been used as a landing strip and this particular Heinkel had been grounded due to mechanical problems and ultimately sank through the ice. Is this one of the Heinkels referred to in your post? 

[Fritz]

https://tihlde.org/~ktsorens/flyvrak/axis-2.html

This particular plane had a forced landing on the edge of the lake. You can check on the following link, a documentation of all wrecksites in Norway from WW2, German and Allied, many of the objects are still untouched.

New link below (above link no longer valid):

https://flyvrak.info/tverrdalen.html

 

[Fritz]

Here is a Heinkel He 111 which is being restored at former RAF Hawkinge, the work has been delayed a lot over the years, but gradually progressing. Originally a Casa which took part in the Battle of Britain film in 1969, it returned to Spain, where it detiorated in the years following. It arrived in England at the end of the 1990s and was at storage with the Imperial War Museum. It has now been finished in the colours of  A1+DA of Kampfgeschwader 53, which was shot down near Woolwich Arsenal in 1940.

 

[Gildwiller1918]

That is great that this piece of history is being renovated and preserved. 

[Fritz]

Rank sleeve badges for the summer flying suit, worn on both arms, this example is for a Leutnant
Internet photo as example, rare to find, the dark blue winter versions are more frequently seen.

 

 

[Fritz]

The most built German aircraft

Messerschmitt Bf 110 - 3.522
Junkers Ju 87 - 4.881
Heinkel He 111 - 5.656
Junkers Ju 88 - 1 1.033
Focke-Wulf Fw 190 - 20.010
Messerschmitt Bf 109 - 30.483

[Fritz]

Progress is being made in the restoration of the Heinkel at Hawkinge -

https://www.kbobm.org/heinkel_project.html