World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseThe He 70 Blitz aircraft were originally designed to serve as fast mailplanes for Deutsche Lufthansa. Despite the design was not particularly useful for combat, the German military was interested in the speed records that He 70 aircraft were breaking. Japan, too, shared the enthusiasm; several He 70 aircraft were exported to Japan for research, and the D3A carrier bombers were the direct inspiration. In 1934, the German Luftwaffe formed its first long range reconnaissance unit; in 1935, it received three He 70 aircraft. General der Flieger Paul Deichmann commented after the war that, while rather useful, He 70 aircraft were not particularly well-designed in the reconnaissance role in modern combat due to their relative slow speed by mid-1930s and their limited fields of vision. By the time the European War began, they were doubtlessly obsolete. Nevertheless, many of them were still placed in use with the Royal Hungarian Air Force in 1941 and 1942; they were retired from service due to the serious weakness in the airframe caused by the use of a magnesium alloy.

SPECIFICATIONS

He 70

Machinery	One BMW VI 7.3 12-cyl water-cooled engine rated at 750hp
Armament	1x7.92mm MG 15 machine gun, 6x50kg or 24x10kg bombs
Crew	3
Span	14.80 m
Length	11.70 m
Height	3.10 m
Weight, Empty	2,360 kg
Weight, Loaded	3,460 kg
Weight, Maximum	3,500 kg
Speed, Maximum	360 km/h
Speed, Cruising	295 km/h
Service Ceiling	5,300 m
Range, Normal	2,100 km

Photographs