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The airframe of the He100 was designed exclusively for the DB601.
Using a Jumo211 would require quite a bit of rework, perhaps even a clean sheet design.
It sort of does. If you change the type of V-12 engine you do have to change the everything from the firewall forward including the firewall.Airframe does not have a vote here
The cowl on the He 100 replaced the big beams and the lower brace. You may be able to change engines but it needs a lot more work than swapping engines on normal plane.
You may also wind up with a few extra inches of width. Or...................................you may wind up with a nose like this
True, it did take Macchi 7 months to build the 1st prototype and another 9 months to get the first production models.OTOH - a swap from DB 601 to the Jumo 211 will be far easier to do than what was required when the Italians went from radials to the DB 601 (whether as one-off job, like with CR.42 and G.50, or as a true conversions, like with Regianne and M-C).
You do have the advantage of having extra space in the wings for fuel after you take the cooling system out of the wing.
Now you just have to figure out how to cool the Jumo 211.
There was also (going by memory) an issue with the Jumo's semi-cowled supercharger versus the DB601's shrouded supercharger.
Cooling was its Achilles heal. An air cooled version has drawbacks of course but what if Daimler-Benz developed a twin row rotary engine for it?
Be careful when you list the performance of prototype aircraft. It takes years to go from flying prototype to production and lots of aircraft in service. The He100 was contemporary with the Lockheed P-38, the Vought F4U, and the Hawker Typhoon. Even the prototype Bell P-39 was up there. Were the He-100's performance figures done with full armament, a full load of ammunition and fuel, and contemporary armour? Ernst Heinkel was into high speed flights. The next time you see or read something about the Martin Baker MB5, look at the photos for the armour plate behind the pilot. It wasn't there. What else was not there when these aircraft did their high speed runs?Lets say that RLM greenlits the He 100 fighters for production in April 1939, with caveats/requirements:
- since the DB 601s are in short supply, Heinkel needs to find the alternative for the next 18 months of production (RLM is open for suggestions wrt. these alternatives)
- no evaporative cooling system(s)
- speed and endurance in ballpark with Bf 109E for starters
- guns' armament: at least one cannon + 4 MGs, or two cannons + 2 MGs
Heinkel has 3 months to have the prototype flying, and another month for another prototype.
Since I love the zero-sum game, feel free to alter the RLM purchases accordingly. Granted, 1-engined fighters are probably the cheapest and easiest to produce of all 1st line combat aircraft back then, so this will not hugely tax the German resources in the 1st place.
The He100's armament was in keeping with contemporary fighters of that point in time.The He-100's armament was inadequate. How do you increase it? The He-100 was a tiny airplane. There was nowhere to stuff a pair of MG151/