Heinkel He 100

The Heinkel He 100 is interesting for a number of reasons. First, it is an excellent example of technology and producibility getting ahead of the theoretical aerodynamics that ruled aircraft design for a brief period right after 1930. For instance, the earlier He 112, which the He 100 replaced, possessed some of the same aerodynamic traits that were resident in the design of both the He 112 and the Spitfire. Early in the 1930s, it was felt that the most efficient wing planform would be elliptical. This would generate the most efficient wing because the planform reflected the theoretical distribution of lift that is, itself, elliptical: It tapers to the wingtip in a curved manner. This dictated a wing with curved leading and trailing edges, which required massive amounts of tooling to create the compound curved parts. The wing of the Spitfire, for instance, is probably the most complicated wing produced by any nation during World War II. The He 112 complicated the concept even further by introducing a slight “gull” shape at the root so that the wing met the fuselage at a 90-degree angle. This was supposedly the lowest drag intersection that required no fairings. It does, however, greatly increase the parts count and productivity problems. These were some of the reasons the He 112 lost out to the Bf 109 as Germany’s primary fighter.

The He 100 was designed to get around those problems and use more practical aerodynamics in laying out the lines. The wing was tapered with straight leading and trailing edges. The wing roots used fairings. The overall result was that it reduced the parts count by 65 percent and created one of the fastest fighters of its time.

Reportedly, the He 100 was faster and much easier to fly than the 109. Every country, however, has to factor one other nontechnical parameter into the decisions as to which company gets which contract: politics. Allegedly, the government’s decision to force Heinkel to focus on bombers and Messerschmitt to focus on fighters had some backroom dealings that weren’t based on performance or producibility. The result, however, was that a very eye-pleasing design, the He 100, went nowhere.

A small handful of He 100s were produced and evaluated, but none survived the war.

This propaganda photo was staged and colorized to give the impression that there was a new Luftwaffe fighter in the game. The airplane had excellent speed and was light years easier than the Bf 109 to land, but it is rumored that politics got in its way. (Photo via EN Archive)