Heinkel He 63
The Heinkel He 63 was a trainer aircraft of the German manufacturer Heinkel from the 1930s.
History
The development of the He 63 was an initiative of the DVS ( German Pilot School, a front organization of the banned German Air Force ), which announced in the spring of 1930, the requirements for a trainer of the class B 1. It should be built up to 600 km a country version for school and cross-country flights, simultaneously a float version for the training of Seefliegern was announced. The company Albatros, Arado, BFW, Focke-Wulf and Heinkel were invited to submit project proposals. Shortlisted designs from Arado, and Heinkel Albatros came, but due to the limited financial resources received only albatross and Heinkel in the spring of 1931 and construction jobs. Here, also the available and very powerful for training aircraft propulsion Argus As 10 with over 200 hp and hanging cylinders played a role, because it was aerodynamically very convenient to install in airframes. The construction of the prototype was delayed due to financing problems until April 1932. The Country version was named after the introduction of the RLM designation system as He 63A and the float version as He 63Aw.
The technical trials took place in Travemünde. However, I found out that at the time still known as HD 63 machine did not reach the required performances. She was quickly convertible to float, but then the performance was 30% below the required values.
Apart from the He 63 was a very sturdy and spacious training aircraft, which was very good and so suitable for training of observers, radio operators, photographers, because the hull was large enough for a variety of equipment.
Construction
The structure of the aircraft was kept as simple as possible. All the structural components were made of steel or light metal, connecting elements were made of stainless steel. The spars were profiled steel pipes, were applied to the light metal ribs. Fuselage and wings were mostly covered with linen. The upper wing was connected by N- stems with the hull and the lower wing and was clamped. The upper wing had a slight V-shape of 1 °. In the execution of the country just under wing by 2 m was shorter than the upper wing and had a 2 ° V position. Each wing had two spars of steel and light metal ribs. The wing noses were planked with Dural, covered the other surfaces with linen. The tail had a tubular steel spar with alloy ribs. The oars were all-alloy and were covered with fabric. The 8-cylinder engine could be aerodynamically very cheap to install with its hanging cylinders in the airframe and disposal with its 200 hp over large power reserves for a trainer aircraft.
Series
From the He 63 only a small series was built, as Heinkel was busy with other projects. From the Country execution only six were built. Two machines of which were provided with float landing gear. The float enlarged the Empty weight such that these machines could only be flown single seat. The lake was an enlarged version to 6 m² under wing because of the larger Rüstgewichts with the floats. Had the lower wing in this variant of the He 63 the same span as the upper wing. From this version, only four aircraft were built.