Twitch
Staff Sergeant
Here's a thread where folks can post info/pics on advanced aircraft whether in production, prototype or drawing board form:
HE 343
Back in the bomber focus after the He 280's loss to the Me 262, Heinkel came up with a quite conventional looking four-engine jet design in March 1944. The 343 was a quite realistic design stemming from a 1942-43 project P.1068. It was advanced as a jet bomber should be but was not over done. There were swept-wing variants planned but the basic plane was on par with the Arado 234, which saw service with the Luftwaffe. The He 343 was a larger Ar 234, if you will.
On the 343A-1 the quartet of HeS 11As of 2,866 lbs. thrust each were to give the plane a top speed of 565 MPH and a 1,000-mile range. 4,410 lbs. of bombs were to stow internally with an additional 2,206 under the straight, 59.0-foot wings. Guided munitions like Fritz Xs could be launched Length was 44.2 feet and all up the plane would weigh 43,108 lbs. A 48,500-foot ceiling was estimated while a pair of 20 mm MG 151s rested in the lower rear fuselage with 200 rounds each.
A nearly finished prototype was destroyed near the end of 1944. In early 1945 a prototype was in the final stages of pre-flight get-ready when a fire at the factory destroyed it and a fifty percent complete recon version. Segments for an attack variant with jigs, tooling and drawings were lost in the fire as well.
A 343A-2 designated the reconnaissance craft, which had extra fuel tanks in place of bombs. The He 343A-3 was the first Zerstörer (Destroyer) version. The standard armament was to be four forward firing MK 103 30 mm cannon with 400 RPG, which were mounted in the bomb bay. Alternately two forward firing MK 103 30 mm cannon with 100 RPG and two forward firing MG 151 20 mm cannon with 200 RPG. Cannons up to 50 mm could be used, though all the forward firing guns had to be located on the starboard side of the fuselage nose, due to the nose wheel which retracted to the rear and was on the port side. The He 343B-1 differed in that it mounted a remote controlled pair of MG 151s at the rear instead of fixed weapons.
Nothing about this straightforward bomber would have deterred it from rapid development and deployment.
HE 343
Back in the bomber focus after the He 280's loss to the Me 262, Heinkel came up with a quite conventional looking four-engine jet design in March 1944. The 343 was a quite realistic design stemming from a 1942-43 project P.1068. It was advanced as a jet bomber should be but was not over done. There were swept-wing variants planned but the basic plane was on par with the Arado 234, which saw service with the Luftwaffe. The He 343 was a larger Ar 234, if you will.
On the 343A-1 the quartet of HeS 11As of 2,866 lbs. thrust each were to give the plane a top speed of 565 MPH and a 1,000-mile range. 4,410 lbs. of bombs were to stow internally with an additional 2,206 under the straight, 59.0-foot wings. Guided munitions like Fritz Xs could be launched Length was 44.2 feet and all up the plane would weigh 43,108 lbs. A 48,500-foot ceiling was estimated while a pair of 20 mm MG 151s rested in the lower rear fuselage with 200 rounds each.
A nearly finished prototype was destroyed near the end of 1944. In early 1945 a prototype was in the final stages of pre-flight get-ready when a fire at the factory destroyed it and a fifty percent complete recon version. Segments for an attack variant with jigs, tooling and drawings were lost in the fire as well.
A 343A-2 designated the reconnaissance craft, which had extra fuel tanks in place of bombs. The He 343A-3 was the first Zerstörer (Destroyer) version. The standard armament was to be four forward firing MK 103 30 mm cannon with 400 RPG, which were mounted in the bomb bay. Alternately two forward firing MK 103 30 mm cannon with 100 RPG and two forward firing MG 151 20 mm cannon with 200 RPG. Cannons up to 50 mm could be used, though all the forward firing guns had to be located on the starboard side of the fuselage nose, due to the nose wheel which retracted to the rear and was on the port side. The He 343B-1 differed in that it mounted a remote controlled pair of MG 151s at the rear instead of fixed weapons.
Nothing about this straightforward bomber would have deterred it from rapid development and deployment.
