ANT-7216
1/72 Heinkel He 274 V-1 high-altitude bomber
Product Description
| Shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War, Heinkel was involved with the design of a high-altitude version of the He 177 “Greiff”. It was to operate at 15,000mts. and to have a range of 3,000 Km. with a maximum bomb load of 2,000 Kgs. In October 1941 the RLM ordered the building of six test examples of the He 177 H, which used the fuselage and cabin of the He 177 A-1. The plane was to be powered by four turbocharged BD 605 engines and to have twin fins and rudder. The RLM required that part of the construction work should be done by a French firm to relieve pressure on the Heinkel works. The development order, which came slightly later, designated the aircraft “high-altitude bomber He 274” and divided the construction between Heinkel (Marienehe) and Farman (Suriesnes, Paris). Armament was to be an MG 131 in the lower cockpit region, and remotely-controlled rotatable turrets with MG 131 Zs in the dorsal and ventral positions. The four man crew was all located in a pressurized cabin. The take—off weight had to be less than 29,500 Kgs. if the high-altitude performance was not to be adversely affected. Components of the He 274 V-1 were manufactured in France, but Heinkel would carry out the assembly. Delivery of the pre-series aircraft was still awaited as late as September 1944. The zero-series had already been cancelled by RLM on April 20, 1944. Only the He 274 V-1 to V-3 and an incomplete airframe remained for test use. The He 274 V-1 was eventually assembled at the beginning of July 1944, when Allied troops were about to capture the Farman works. It was impossible to transfer the aircraft to Germany, and an attempt was made to destroy it by blowing up the engines. However, this failed, and the aircraft remained undamaged. The second machine was not ready for flight testing at the end of the war. Then it was completed in France. After the war, Farman factory was renamed Atelier Aeronautiques des Suresnes (AAS) and the prototypes were therefore designated AAS-01 and AAS-02. On December 27, 1945, the AAs-01 (ex-He 274 V-1) made its first flight, and from 1948 it was used to fly scale models of the French SO 400 research aircraft. |
