He- 100 The first prototype V 1 made its first flight on 1938 1 22nd, only one week later than expected. The speed of the plane is really shocking, but there are some problems that have not been overcome. The most important thing is the stability of the course, which will "snake" in the air like the early models of He- 1 12. In addition, the air force test pilots are quite dissatisfied with the high wing load of the aircraft, which makes the landing speed of the aircraft higher. Pilots often have to put on the brakes to prevent the plane from running off the runway at the last 100 meters of landing. The ground crew doesn't like him either-100. They complain that the design of the hood is too compact, which makes the maintenance of the engine particularly difficult. Of course, the biggest problem in the maintenance of this machine is undoubtedly from the cooling system. After a series of tests, the factory sent the V 1 prototype to the Rechlin test center of the Air Force in March.

In order to solve the stability problem in flight, the second prototype changed the design of vertical tail from triangle to rectangle, and the area was also expanded. At the same time, the troublesome wing cooling device was replaced by a common radiator with a semi-retractable wing, and the engine was replaced by an experimental DB60 1M (originally for carrying this engine). DB60 1M uses C3 fuel with octane number of 96, which can provide more power for the aircraft.

After the completion of V2 in March, the factory plans to use it for the speed test of the closed air route from Wustrow to Mueritz, totaling about 65,438+000 kilometers. Although it was scheduled to be piloted by an experienced old test pilot, CaptainHerting, after Rehlin's test flight of V 1 prototype, Udaite fell in love with He 100 and decided to pilot V2 himself to complete the challenge. On June 5th, 1938 and He 100V-2 were flown by Udet at a speed of 634.73 km/h (394.6 mph). It should be pointed out that during this period, the cooling system of the aircraft failed again, and the warning light on the dashboard kept flashing. However, Uday is not familiar with the instrument of this plane and doesn't know the meaning of this signal at all. Completely ignoring the warning allowed him to successfully complete the whole flight!

This record was immediately made public by the Germans, but in various publications, the aircraft was written as "He112U" (U means Udait was driving the aircraft). Of course, this arrangement also has Henkel's own considerations. After all, he-1 12 was still producing and selling. This treatment can prevent the new machine from stealing the limelight of He- 1 12, and also increase the appeal of the latter in front of customers. Later, the V2 prototype was also sent to Rechlin by the Air Force for various tests, but it was damaged in a landing accident in 10 that year because the tail wheel failed to be put down normally. It is reasonable to say that the damage to the aircraft should not be great, but there is no further information to prove the subsequent fate of the aircraft.

The V-3 prototype was replaced by short wings for competition. The wingspan was shortened from 30 feet 10 inch to 24 feet10 inch, and the wing area was reduced from 155 square feet to 1 1 8.4 square feet. In order to improve the speed, the cockpit cover has also been replaced with a smaller and more streamlined style. In addition, all the connection points and protrusions on the fuselage surface have been shaped with putty and then polished. As the DB60 1R engine scheduled for overall assembly has not arrived, we have to use 60 1M for charging during the factory flight test.

In August, the scheduled DB60 1R finally arrived at the factory and was loaded on the plane. In this way, the maximum speed of the propeller is increased from 2200 rpm to 3000 rpm. At the same time, adding methanol to the fuel can improve the cooling efficiency of the supercharger and increase the output power of the engine to 65,438+0,776 horsepower in a short time (but the remaining fuel in the engine must be exhausted after each flight, which is very unfavorable for field maintenance). In September, the V-3 prototype was sent to nde Wernham to break the speed record of the FIA land plane at that time.

However, just before the official challenge to the world record, the landing gear of the aircraft could not be lowered and locked normally due to a fault. At that time, GerhardNitschke, the chief test pilot of Henkel, was flying the V-3. After judging that it was impossible to land safely, he decided to jump out and let the plane crash in an unmanned area of the airport. But when he parachuted, he was hit by the tail of the plane. Fortunately, he was only slightly injured. The prototype V-3 was completely destroyed, which forced the German Air Force to interrupt its plan to break the world record with this aircraft.

The V-4 prototype, also completed in the summer of 1938, is the only He- 100B aircraft (V- 1 to V-3 are called "Type A"). When the V-3 crashed, Ruilin's plane underwent the necessary transformation and became a racing car, continuing to challenge the world speed record. It should be noted that although he is unarmed, he can still be said to be a standard soldier. The performance of V-4 with DB60 1M engine far exceeds that of Bf- 109 fighter in the hands of the German Air Force, especially in the field of level flight speed. According to the test data in the summer of that year, the speed of He- 100 at sea level reached 348 mph, even exceeding the performance of Bf- 109 at its optimal use height. At an altitude of 6560 feet, He- 100V-4 flies at a speed of 379 miles per hour. At an altitude of 16400 feet, the speed of the plane is as high as 4 16 mph! Even at an altitude of 26,250 feet, it has a strength of 398 mph. The V-4 was later damaged by a broken landing gear on1October 22nd, but the damage was not serious. After the restoration, it returned to the blue sky in March of the following year.