Arado Ar 95635 viewsSix examples of the Ar 95A-0 were built for the Legion Kondor in Marjorca with half of these airframes later being transferred to Nationalist Spain. An additional six were built to fulfill an export order with Chile, half the airframes had floats while the remainder had fixed gear. The final production run comprissed roughly a dozen examples being built for the Luftwaffe and assigned to 3/SAGr 125 in the Baltic and south Finland after the invasion of Russia.
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Breda Ba.27733 viewsLow-wing fighter monoplane, with struts and bracing wires, an open cockpit and fixed landing gear. The original mixed construction version was unsatisfactory. It was completely redesigned with an all-metal construction. It was still rejected by the Italian air force, but 11 were built for China.
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Blohm und Voss BV 2221020 viewsWith a wing span of 46 m and six engines the Blohm & Voss BV 222 was the largest flying boat built in the second world war. On 7th August 1941, the BV 222 V2 which, following experience with the V1, was already equipped with suitable defensive weapons, made it's maiden flight. The first flight took place on 7th September 1940, which was after the start of the second world war, when a machine with a long-range capacity and large cargo space was already of special interest to the military. A total of 12 machines were built in different versions. After completion of trials and conversion, the V2 went into service as a troop transporter with LTS See 222 (air transport command sea 222), before it was finally introduced to 1/SAGr. 129 in Biscarosse, France for the long-range reconnaissance purpose for which it was originally intended.
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CANT Z 1018 Leone914 viewsIt was clear from the beginning of the flight test program that the performance of the Leone was so high that a production order was certain. This materialized in 1941 in the form of a contract for 300 aircraft to be powered by two Alfa Romeo 135 RC.32 or Piaggio P.XII RC.35 engines, depending on availability. In the event that the Alfa Romeo radial engine was available in larger quantities, and production started in 1943 with a powerplant of two such engines. By the time of the Italian armistace in 9/43 however, deliveries had reached only 10 pre-production and five production warplanes, and a few of these machines saw limited service with the 101st Bombardment Group. Such was the potential of the basic design that two important derivatives were proposed. The first of these was a heavy fighter was a fixed forward armament of 7 20mm cannon as well as a defensive outfit based on three 12.7mm trainable machine guns. The second was a night-fighter with German Lichtenstein SN-2 radar with the antenna in the nose.
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Caproni Ca.309718 viewsSmall twin-engined reconnaissance bomber. The Ca.309 was a low-wing monoplane of mixed construction and with fixed landing gear. 243 were built.
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Focke-Wulf Fw 58872 viewsThe Focke-Wulf Fw 58 was an excellent aircraft. It made its first flight in 1935 as a six-seat light transport. The prototype, Fw 58 V1, first flew in 1935 as a six-seater transport. The second prototype was in military guise, having machine guns fitted both in the nose and dorsally. The next production run was of the Fw 58B, some of which were bombers and some others being fitted with floats - the Fw 58BW. The main production model was the Fw 58C, a light transport. Eight were delivered to Lufthansa during 1938/9 as commercial transports.
Large numbers of bothe Fw 58Bs and Fw 58Cs were used by the Luftwaffe being used for light transport, communications and ambulance duties in large numbers even, on occasions, for crop spraying.
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Heinkel He 100570 viewsDisappointed by the loss of the Luftwaffe's fighter orders to BFW and it's Bf 109 and the failure of the He 112, Heinkel set out to build a lighter and faster fighter that was also cheaper and easier to build. Even though the He 100 broke several world speed records, the RLM was solidly supportive of the Bf 109 and failed to order the He 100 into production. Six prototypes were eventually sold to the Soviet Union and three He 100D-0 went to Japan. The three He 100D-0's being armed with two MG 17 and a 20mm MG/FF. The remaining 12 He 100D-1 fighters were used to form a Heinkel-Rostock factory defense unit
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Heinkel He 176732 viewswas the world’s first aircraft to be propelled solely by a liquid-fuelled rocket, making its first powered flight on July 20 1939 with Erich Warsitz at the controls. The He 176 was built to utilise one of the new Walter engines. It was a tiny, simple aircraft, built almost entirely out of wood and lacking even an enclosed canopy. It had a conventional, fixed, tricycle undercarriage, but relied on the weight of the pilot to actually rest on its wheels. Empty, the tail of the plane rested on the ground. Heinkel demonstrated the aircraft to the RLM, but official disinterest led to the abandonment of the company's rocket propulsion programme. The He 176 was placed in the Deutsches Technikmuseum ("German Technical Museum") in Berlin, where it was destroyed in an air raid during World War II.
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Heinkel He 116526 viewsThis aircraft was designed in 1936 as a high altitude aircraft for Lufthansa. The specified Hirth powerplants were not available and the V1 flew in 1937 on lower rated engines. Eight A-series mail carriers were built followed by the He 116R with rocket boost. The He 116R later flew 6,214 (10,000km) on June 30, 1938 non-stop. Six B-0 were delivered to the Luftwaffe in 1938 as long range photo recon aircraft but their low speed, lack of pressurization and lack of armament made them too vulnerable to use in enemy airspace and these airframes spent the remainder of their careers doing photographic work over Germany.
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Savoia-Marchetti S.73634 viewsThree-engined transport aircraft, a low-wing airplane with fixed landing gear. Its lines would become typical for the Savoia- Marchetti designs. Some were used by the Italian airforce, including four which -- having originally been sold to Belgium -- had served with the RAF before they were captured in North Africa!
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