- Yes
- No
I would like to suggest the He 280 V5 which was propably the most used and best documented prototype of the He 280 V1-V12 and perhaps the best.
It was armed with either 3x 15mm Mg 151/15 or 3x 20mm Mg 151/20 (All the pictures showing the armarment have 15mm guns installed, clearly visible by the strong bottleneck rounds in it.
This will give it a good firerate with good ballsitics, usable against Air and ground targets, a stark contrast to the 4x Mk 108s with horrible ballistics of the Me 262. As such it will be a fun and usable alternative.
The He 280 was a Jet aircraft developed by Heinkel as the competing aircraft to the Me 262 for Bomber Hunting.
The V2 first flew on 30.03.1941 with the trails of the V1 starting allready on 22. September 1940, tho without engines, instead it was pulled and glided. The development of the at the time HeS-8 Turbines werent yet finished and instead Ballast was fixed under the wings.
The Turbine HeS 8 A of the He 280 was first tested under a He 111, however never finished development and production. Still a small production of Series of 9 V-prototypes were planned with a connecting Series of A-1 and B-1 planes with a production of 300. Because the Tests of V-1 to V-3 were quite satisfactory.
However allready there the first problems emerged, the Heinkel Factorys had all their hands full with production of He 111 bombers, while the alternative Siebel Werke werent able to fulfill the production.
Also Heinkel placed a higher development emphasis on the P 1068, while the He 280 was allready less modern compared to the Me 262 anyway.
The inbetween protoypes had a multitude of problems, such as vibrations and instabilitys with the landing gear.
Later the He 280 V-5 flew with He S8B14/15 turbines producing 720 Kp constant performance. With which a top speed of 750 km/h and a dive speed (?) of 820 km/h was reached.
After that Heinkel tried to modernize and improve the designe by widening the body, increase the fuel tanks for greater range as well as the H-Leitwerk was to be replaced by a normal Leitwerk as well as the wings reciving a greater arrow angling. This was seen as a complete overhall and as such denied by the RLM.
Because of the still active problems as well as war situation, the RLM choose in favour of the Me 262 and stopped development of the He 280.
Characteristics: He 280 V5
Wing lenght: 12m
Length: 10,40m
Height: 3,06m
Wing size: 21,50m²
Wheelbase: 2,44m
Powerplant: Heinkel-Hirth He S8V14/15 2x 720 Kp Constant performance
Armarment: 3x Mg 151 (15 or 20mm, pictures show 15mm) with 185 kg ammo for each gun. (250 rpg?)
Top Speed: 730 km/h (ground) 770 km/h (at 6 km)
Climb speed: 19,1m/sec (ground) 9,6 (6km)
Height: 11,5km
Source:
Waffen Arsenal 108 Heinkel 280
Luftfahrt Internationale 7
He 280 - Die Alternative zur Me 262