Version 1.4 He-51s from the Legion Condor and Nationalist Air Forces, 1936-1937


*BACKGROUND

Type: Single Seat Biplane Fighter


Design: Ernst Heinkel AG 


Manufacturer: Ernst Heinkel AG, Arado, Erla Maschinen-Werke and Fieseler 


Powerplant: one 750 hp (559 kW) BMW VI 7-3Z 12-cylinder inverted Vee piston engine.


Performance: Maximum speed 205 mph (330 km/h) at sea level; cruising speed 174 mph (280 km/h) at sea level; service ceiling 25,260 ft (7700 m).


Range: 354 miles (570 km) on internal fuel.


Weight: : Empty equipped 3,219 lbs (1460 kg) with a maximum take-off weight of 4,178 lbs (1895 kg).


Dimensions: Span 36 ft 1 in (11.00 m); length 27 ft 6 3/4 in (8.40 m); height 10 ft 6 in (3.20 m); wing area 292.79 sq ft (27.20 sq m).


Armament: (Standard) Two forward firing 7.92 mm (0.31 in) Rheinmtall MG 17 synchronised machine guns above the fuselage. (B-2) Same as above plus underwing racks for up six 22 lbs (10 kg) bombs. (C-1) Standard armament plus underwing racks for four 110 lbs ( 50 kg) bombs.


Variants: He 49a (initial prototype), He 49b (second prototype with a lengthened fuselage), He 49c (third prototype with faired landing gear), He 51A (production prototype), He 51A-1 (75 production aircraft), He 51B-0 (12 land based aircraft), He 51B-2 (38 floatplane conversions), He 51B-3 (high altitude), He 51C/C-1/C-2 (ground attack).


History: First flight (He 49a) November 1932, pre-production (He 51A-0) May 1933, deliveries of the armed production version in July 1934, equipped the first Luftwaffe squadron 'Richthofen' in April 1935.


Avionics: None.


Operators: Germany (Luftwaffe), Spain (Nationalists).


Designed by Karl Schwrzler, chief engineer of Heinkel. When the Heinkel He 49a single seat biplane made its first flight in November 1932 it was ostensibly a civilian advanced trainer. However, its BMW VI engine gave it a top speed of almost 199 mph (320 km/h), which was in keeping with its true role as the forerunner of the first fighter to serve with the Luftwaffe upon its official formation in April 1935. Two more prototypes were built, the He 49b flown in February 1933 with a fuselage lengthened by 1 ft 3 3/4 in (0.40 m), and the He 49e with faired landing gear. The type was ordered as the He 51, the initial He 51A-O pre-production example being flown for the first time in May 1933; eight more were built to this standard and were unarmed. Of all-metal construction, with fabric covering, the He 51 was a single-bay biplane, armed with two 7.92 mm (0.31 in) MG 17 machine guns mounted above the engine. Deliveries of the initial He 51A-1 production version began in July 1934, and in April 1935 some of them equipped the Luftwaffe's first fighter unit, the Jagdgeschwader 'Richthofen'.


In January 1936 the He 51B was introduced on the production line, a structurally strengthened version, of which 12 pre-production aircraft were built initially under the designation He 51B-0, then being followed by 12 generally similar He 51B-1 aircraft. An He 51A-1 converted to have float landing gear was the forerunner of 38 He 5IB-2 floatplane fighters with twin aluminium floats and equipped for catapult launching from Kriegsmarine cruisers and other large warships; racks were sometimes fitted to carry up to six 22 lbs (10 kg) bombs. An experimental high-altitude version of basic He 51B, with increased-span two-bay wings, was completed under the designation He 51B-3. Following testing of this aircraft two additional prototypes were built for high-altitude tests under the designations He 52B and He 52D, but no production resulted. Final version was the C-series, the He 51C-1 intended primarily for export to the Spanish Nationalists being equipped as standard with racks for six 22 lbs (10 kg) bombs. A total of 79 were shipped to Spain, 51 being used by the Nationalist air force and the balance going to the Legion Condor. Subsequently, a small number of the generally similar He 51C-2, which differed by having improved radio equipment, was supplied to the Luftwaffe.


Total production of all versions reached 700, built by Heinkel, and by Arado, Erla Maschinen-werk and Fieseler. Some He 51s remained in first-line service with the Luftwaffe untfl 1938, then being relegated to the training role, in which capacity they were used for much of World War 11.


*VARIANTS


He 49a/He 49b/He 49c/He 51A-0/A-1


Forerunner of the Luftwaffe's first fighter, the Heinkel He 49a single-seat biplane flown in November 1932 was ostensibly a civilian advanced trainer. Two more prototypes, the He 49b with a lengthened fuselage and He 49c with faired landing gear, led to the first He 51A-0 pre-production aircraft flown in May 1933; eight more unarmed aircraft were built to this standard. Deliveries of the initial armed production version began in July 1934. In April 1935 some equipped the Luftwaffe's first squadron, Jagdgeschwader 'Richthofen'. The He 51A-1 was the production version, of which 75 were built in 1935.


He 51B/He 51B-0/He 51B-2/B-3


The He 51B was structurally strengthened. He 51B-0 landplanes (12 built) replaced He 51As on the production line in January 1936. The He 51B-2 (38 built) was a float-plane fighter version equipped for catapult launching, but sometimes had racks for up to six 10 kg (22 lbs) bombs. A long-span high-altitude version was designated He 51B-3.


He 51C/C-1/C-2


The He 51C was the designation for aircraft modified to carry four 50 kg (110 lbs) of bombs. He 51C-1 version was the designation used by Legion Condor and Spanish Nationalist units in the Civil War. The He 51C-2 had improved radio equipment and was supplied to the Luftwaffe.      


*The above is taken from:

http://www.kotfsc.com/aircraft/he-49.htm


**THE HE-51 IN SPAIN

Deliveries to the Luftwaffe began in mid-1934, some months before the official announcement of that air force's existence.
On 6th August 1936 the first six He-51a arrived in Cdiz. These were to make up the 1st squadron which, together with a further three of twelve machines each, would form the Condor Legion in November. 
 
From the start these aircraft were flown by both German and Spanish pilots. Garca-Morato and Julio Salvador were the first to achieve shoot-downs with the Heinkels, closely followed by others by the German pilots Eberhardt and Trautloft.

Despite initial success when used as a fighter, the arrival firstly of the I-15 aircraft and later of the I-16 with their clear superiority over the He-51, obliged its use from May 1937 to be limited to the support and ground attack role. This led indirectly to the arrival of the Me-109s, which were still in the experimental phase.

The Heinkels then went on to form three Spanish squadrons -1E2, 2E2 and 3E2 - which operated on the Asturias front in March 1937, and on the Aragn front the following month. 2E2 re-equipped in May with Fiat CR-32s, and with the other two squadrons formed 1-G-2 Group. This Group was active in Aragn throughout 1937. In December it operated exclusively as a "chain", in which mode it achieved its greatest successes under Muoz Jimenez,"El Corto" ("Shorty").
          
   
126 He-51 of types A, B and C arrived in Spain during the war and a further 15 at the end of the conflict. They were employed on all fronts both by the Spanish groups and by the Condor Legion fighter and attack groups.

When hostilities ceased there were 46 He-51 in flying condition. These, together with the last 15 received, were formed into 31 Wing at Getafe under the command of Flix Bermdez de Castro. Two units continued to fly until 1952 in the Getafe HQ Group.

**The above is taken from:

http://www.aire.org/gce/english/nac/he_51.htm


THE EAW VERSION

This is a major re-working of the previous 3DZ in an attempt to bring the model up to the standards recently set by Karel Chvojka and Captain Kurt. Main changes include the addition of a new paste-on upper wing, spinner, pilot steps and radiator, more bracing and radio wires, plus unmirroring of the tail fin and reshaping the fuselage. Thanks to Moggy for the RS wizardry, to Marek Wilks (Woolfman) for starting this and FreddyB for the colour profiles. As usual there are still some RS bugs, but nothing too noticeable.

This package includes four new skins for the Spanish Civil War: 

--an "early war" example from I./J88, 1936 to early '37

--Another I./J88 aircraft, this one flown by Eduard Neumann in 1937 (based on a skin by Kirkris)

--Adolf Galland's aircraft from III./J88, 1937

--A Spanish Nationalist "cadena" version from "El Corto's" 1-G-2, stationed on the Aragon front in Spring 1937

See you over Madrid!

Steve T

August 2002


*Previous Versions*

Version 1.3a Adolf Galland's Legion Condor He 51 from III./J88, 1937

New skin and change of wire colour to dark grey, plus slight change in texture mapping on lower wing tips (new 3dz for this skin and previous skins by me and Kirkris, though you might want to use Version 1.3 for the all-grey skin)

Enjoy!

Steve T

August 2002


***
Version 1.3 Legion Condor He 51 from I./J88 

Addition of wing struts by Steve T

***
Version 1.2 Legion Condor He 51 from I./J88, flown by Eduard Neumann in 1937

Heinkel 51: This elegant German biplane fighter was the mainstay of the Condor Legion, and also flown by some Spanish units, most notably by Morato. Initially used in an air superiority role, it later proved markedly inferior to the Chato in almost all respects so was switched to a ground-attack role in 1937. 


Skin update and further 3dz tweaks by Steve T, mainly to solve the more obvious rendering sequence issues

***
Version 1.1 Legion Condor He 51 from I./J88, flown by Eduard Neumann in 1937

Original Skin by kirkris, unmirroring and new cockpit by Steve T


***
Heinkel He 51 Legion Condor 1936-38 Spain

This skin is made on the basis of Woolfman's  'grey' He51. Also uses his 3dz model. There was no changes to this old model yet so you can find some problems with rendering sequence. 

Cockpit is also by Woolfman, skin of cockpit was not changed because model uses the same camouflaged skin on both sides of wing. So I found it would be better to leave grey both sides.

To install just unzip the files into to your EAW folder, to uninstall - simply remove them all.

PCXs are included so feel free to modify them.

Kirkris

RLM02

***
He-51 Civil War - Spain 1936-1939 ver.1.0 (grey)

Unzip the files into to your EAW folder.

Have fun

Woolfman
marekwilk@poczta.onet.pl



