Planes

Germany

He 111 H-6

The Heinkel He 111 was a German monoplane medium bomber (also torpedo bomber and attack bomber). The He 111 H-6 quickly became one the most widely used variants of the Heinkel bomber. It saw action on all European fronts. Popular with aircrews, easy to fly and with excellent maneuverability, the bomber was widely used in a large number of roles.
In early 1942, the Luftwaffe planned to replace the He 111 with the new He 177 A heavy bomber and the Ju 288 medium bomber but a large number of problems with the new designs meant that the He 111 remained in production, despite becoming increasingly obsolete. The aircraft was easy to mass-produce, required comparatively little expense and was easy to maintain. It remained quite adequate on the Eastern Front, where anti-bomber opposition was relatively weak, even though the Heinkel’s short range did not allow it to reach strategic targets deep in the Soviet rear.