Heinkel He 343

The Heinkel He 343 was a four-engine jet bomber project by Ernst Heinkel Flugzeugwerke in the last years of the Third Reich.

Design and development
The Heinkel He 343 was designed for the Luftwaffe by the German Heinkel aircraft manufacturing company in the beginning of 1944. A total of 20 of these aircraft were ordered. For shortening the development time and for re-use of existing parts, its general design was envisioned along the lines of an enlarged Arado Ar 234. For a choice of engines, the Junkers Jumo 004 and the Heinkel HeS 011 were planned.

The DFS was involved in the project and created the project known as P1068. By the end of 1944, work was nearly finished by the Heinkel engineers, with parts for the He 343 prototype aircraft either under fabrication or in a finished state, when the order was cancelled due to the Emergency Fighter Program.

Four versions were planned: the A-1 bomber, the A-2 reconnaissance aircraft, and the A-3 and B-1 Zerstörer ("Destroyer") heavy fighters.

Postwar, the Soviet Union utilized the design as the basis for the development of the Ilyushin Il-22, changing some of the parameters such as size and crew numbers. One prototype was built and flown. The results of the tests were used in development of the Ilyushin Il-28.