The last known official accounts of the whereabouts of the two He 177B prototypes that escaped heavy bombing had the V101 still at the
Heinkel-Süd plant's airfield at Schwechat near Vienna, and the V102 also there at Schwechat as late as February 1945, after damage sustained from a bad landing in April 1944 while evading one of the initial USAAF 15th Air Force raids on the area, which had kept it from being flown north to Luftwaffe's well-known
central Erprobungstelle test facility at Rechlin for safety.
[41] It is possible, from some accounts, that the V101 prototype might have survived until at least February 1945 (as the V102 had) before it was scrapped, as at least
a pair of photos of what is stated as the wrecked V101 place it at Cheb in May 1945, and allegedly showing that the V101 had even been test-fitted with a quartet of Junkers Jumo 222 engines, if verified, would conflict with Heinkel records as to the V101 having been scrapped. One of the Czech photographs,
[42] does show what is thought to be the V101 with four bladed propellers instead of its earlier three-blade units used with its four DB 603 engines, a combination of prop type and powerplant also used for the
Fw 190C fighter prototype, and on closer examination the forward areas of the V101 engine nacelles' hinged upper cowling access panels themselves just behind the annular radiators as revealed in the Czech photos appear to be very close in appearance, and especially from their outlines — as possible
Kraftei unitized engine installations — to those used on the He 219 night fighter.,
[43] whose own earlier prototypes also used four-blade propellers on their DB 603 powerplants.
[44]