Germany's Heinkel He 115 floatplane, torpedo bomber, minelayer^1,2

Heinkel He 115:
Germany's Heinkel He 115 Float Plane

Design

The Heinkel He 115 was designed to be a general purpose coastal aircraft.¹

The He 115 prototype first flew in October 1936.¹ It had two BMW 132K radial engines (960 HP).¹

Initial construction went from 1938 to 1942.^1,2 For a time it was stopped but was restarted in 1943.^1,2

He 115V1: Prototype.²
He 115A-0: Pre production.²
He 115A-1: Had one 7.92 mm MG in the nose and one 7.92 mm MG in the rear of the cockpit.¹
He 115A-2: For export.²
He 115A-3: Had a new bomb bay and radio eqiupment.¹
He 115B: Could carry more fuel.² Structure was stronger.² First to be able to carry a magnetic mine.²
He 115B-1: Had additional fuel capacity.¹
He 115B-2: Had stronger floats.¹
He 115C: More powerful engines.² More defensive armament.²
He 115C-1: Had forward firing 20 mm MG 151.¹ Five 7.7 mm MG 15 and MG 17 machine guns.¹
He 115C-2: Had the same reinforced floats as the He 115B-2.¹
He 115C-3: Minelayer.¹
He 115C-4: Torpedo bomber.¹
He 115D: Had four crewmen.¹ Used BMW 801 radial engine (1,600 HP).²
He 115E-1: Had two 7.92 mm MGs in the nose and rear.¹

Britain, Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Norway (15), and Sweden (10) used the He 115.²

The He 115V1 prototype was able to set eight speed records for its class in 1938.²

In 1938 He 115A-1s joined the Luftwaffe.¹

The Kustenfliegergruppen 106, 506, and 906 were equipped with the He 115B-2 and were used to mine English waters.¹

During 1942 the KuFlGr 406 was used to attack the North Cape PQ convoys.¹

The British used He 115s that were originally used by Norway.² These were two He 115A-2s and a He 115B-1.²

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