Heinkel He 113
| Company type | Propaganda aircraft designation |
|---|---|
| Industry | Military aviation / Propaganda |
| Founded | 1940 |
| Founder | Heinkel (aircraft manufacturer) |
| Products | Fighter aircraft (fabricated designation) |
The Heinkel He 113 was a non-existent German fighter aircraft from World War II, created primarily as an instrument of propaganda and potentially as a disinformation tactic.
Development
In 1940, the Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels announced the deployment of a new fighter within the Luftwaffe. This scheme involved photographing Heinkel He 100 D-1 models at various airfields throughout Germany, each time adorned with distinct paint schemes representing different fictitious fighter units. These images were then circulated in the media under the designation He 113, occasionally described as night fighter aircraft despite lacking essential equipment such as a landing light.
The aircraft was also featured in staged "combat" photographs published in magazines like Der Adler, accompanied by claims of successful combat operations in Denmark and Norway. One account suggests that these planes were temporarily assigned to a single Luftwaffe Staffel stationed in Norway; however, this may be another example of enduring misinformationTemplate:Fix/category[citation needed].
To this day, it remains uncertain whether this ruse was aimed at deceiving foreign military forces or misleading the German populace, but it evidently succeeded as an effective deception. British intelligence documented the aircraft in AIR 40/237, a Luftwaffe report finalized in 1940. It listed the top speed at 628 km/h (390 mph), noted a wing area of 15.5 m2 (167 ft²), and indicated that production was underway. Throughout the early stages of the war, there were reports of encounters with and shootdowns of He 113s, including mentions in The London Gazette.[1]
Specifications (He 100D-1 {He 113})
References
- ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
Additional reading
- Darbrowski, Hans-Peter. Heinkel He 100: World Record and Propaganda Aircraft. Schiffer, 1991. West Chester, PA. ISBN 0-88740-345-X.
- Donald, David (ed.). The Encyclopedia of World Aircraft. Blitz Editions, Updated edition, 1997. Leicester. ISBN 185605375X.
- Green, William. "Heinkel's Hoaxer." RAF Flying Review, 1963.
- Heinkel, Ernst. Stormy Life: Memoirs of a Pioneer of the Air. E. P. Dutton & Co. Inc., 1956. Boston, Mass. (English).
- Heinkel, Ernst. Stürmisches Leben, edited by Jürgen. Europäischer Buchklub, 1955. Stuttgart-Zürich-Salzburg (German).
- Wagner, Ray and Heinz Nowarra. German Combat Planes: A Comprehensive Survey and History of the Development of German Military Aircraft from 1914 to 1945. Doubleday, 1971. New York.
Template:Heinkel aircraft Template:RLM aircraft designations