Heinkel He 114

The Heinkel He 114 was a biplane reconnaissance seaplane produced for the Kriegsmarine in the 1930s for use from warships. It replaced the company's He 60, but did not remain in service long before being replaced in turn by the Arado Ar 196 as Germany's standard spotter aircraft.

Design and development
While the fuselage and flotation gear of the He 114 were completely conventional, its wing arrangement was highly unusual. The upper set of wings was attached to the fuselage with a set of cabane struts, as in a parasol wing monoplane, whereas the lower set was of much lesser span while having approximately the same chord. (Note that this general layout isn't especially unusual, and is known as a "Sesquiplane", or a biplane which has a smaller lower wing. Typically, the lower wing is about 3/4 of the span of the upper wing, and has a smaller chord as well. The He 114 has a much shorter lower wing than usual, but has the same chord as the upper wing, which keeps the wing area ratio similar.)

Operational history
The He 114 was never a great success, was not built in large numbers, and served with the Luftwaffe for only a short time. While the He 60 had handled very well on the water but been sluggish in the air, the He 114's handling while afloat was poor and its performance in the air scarcely better than the aircraft it replaced.

12 aircraft were exported to Sweden (where they were designated S 12) and 24 to Romania, where the last 8 remained in service until 1 May 1960.

Survivors
On 27 June 2012, two divers Pascale Roibu and Iulian Rusu found one seaplane Heinkel 114 in Siutghiol Lake near Mamaia, Constanta, Romania. Recently near Heinkel 114 the two divers found pieces of another seaplane Blohm & Voss BV 138.

Variants

 * He 114A-0
 * 10 pre-production aircraft, powered by a 656 kW (880 hp) BMW 132Dc engine.


 * He 114A-1
 * Training version, powered by a 656 kW (880 hp) BMW 132Dc engine. 33 built.


 * He 114A-2
 * Main production shipborne version.


 * He 114B-1
 * Export version of the He 114A-2 for Sweden. 12 built.


 * He 114B-2
 * Export version of the He 114A-2 for Romania. Six built.


 * He 114B-3
 * Export version for Romania. 12 built.


 * He 114C-1
 * Reconnaissance biplane for the Luftwaffe. 14 built.


 * He 114C-2
 * Unarmed shipborne (Kriegsmarine commerce raider) version. Four built.

Operators

 * 🇩🇪 Germany
 * Luftwaffe
 * 🇷🇴 Romania
 * Royal Romanian Air Force
 * Romanian Air Force - Postwar.
 * 🇪🇸 Spain
 * Spanish Air Force
 * 🇸🇪 Sweden
 * Swedish Air Force