Heinkel's He 116 was a extremely long-range aircraft designed to deliver airmail between Germany and Japan. Several examples were built for this role, as well as a small batch to be used in the long-range reconnaissance role as well. Heinkel Flugzeugwerke was a German aircraft manufacturing company founded by and named after Ernst Heinkel. ... Airmail (or air mail) is mail that is transported by aircraft. ... The Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland) is one of the worlds leading industrialised countries, located in the heart of Europe. ... Official language Japanese Capital Tokyo Largest City Tokyo Emperor Akihito Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi Area  - Total  - % water Ranked 60th 377,835 km² 0. ... A military aircraft used for monitoring enemy activity, usually carrying no armament. ...

The design started in response to a 1936 request by Lufthansa, who planned a route over the Pamir Mountains in Afghanistan. This was the primary difficulty in producing an aircraft able to meet the range requirements, because the aircraft would have to lift its large fuel load to 7,600 m (25,000) ft to clear the mountains. At the time there were simply no engines available with that sort of altitude performance, although Hirth was working on one in the 500-hp class. The Günter brothers proposed to adapt their basic He 70 Blitz airframe to carry four of these engines to provide enough power for the massive fuel load. This is a list of aviation-related events from 1936: Events February February 13 - Imperial Airways commences airmail services to West Africa March March 23 - Impreial Airways begins scheduled flights between Hong Kong and Malaysia. ... Lufthansa Boeing 737 Lufthansa Airbus A300 Lufthansa Avro RJ-85 Lufthansa is the name of the largest German airline company, headquartered in Cologne. ... Located in Central Asia, the Pamir Mountains are formed by the junction of the worlds greatest mountain ranges, a geologic structural knot from which the great Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, and Hindu Kush mountain systems radiate. ... Afghanistan (Pashtu/Dari-Persian: Afğānistān افغانستان) is a country in Central Asia. ... Göbler-Hirthmotoren GmbH is an aircraft engine manufacturer based in Benningen, Germany. ... The Heinkel He 70 Blitz was designed in the early 1930s to serve as a fast mailplane for Deutsche Lufthansa. ...

The He 116 would use a modified version of the He 70's two-spar eliptical planform, skinned (like the He 70) with plywood. The fuselage was all-new, consisting of a semi-monocoque duralumin body with watertight bulkheads in case the aircraft were forced down over water. The design shared enough construction with the He 70 that the first prototype He 116 V1 was completed in early 1937. The new engines were not ready at this point, so the prototype was instead fitted with the much smaller HM 508C of 270 hp. Even in this much less powerful form the design had some promise. V2 and V4 were delivered to Lufthansa in 1938, where they were known as the Schesien and Hamburg. V5 and V6 were delivered to Japan in April 1938 in a six-day flight covering 15,251 km (9,532 miles) in 54 hours 17 minutes of flight time. Monocoque (French for single shell) or unibody is a construction technique that uses the external skin of an object to support some or most of the load on the structure. ... Duralumin (or duraluminum) is an alloy of aluminium (about 95%), copper (about 4%), and small amounts of magnesium (0. ... This is a list of aviation-related events from 1937: Events March March 5 - Imperial Airways opens a new flying boat base at Hythe, Hampshire. ... This is a list of aviation-related events from 1938: Events Imperial Airways inaugurates scheduled service from London to Montreal. ...

V3 was removed from the line to be converted into a record-breaking prototype. The modifications included a larger 75.6 metre² (814 ft²) wing with a 25 metre (82 ft) span, and increased fuel tankage in the fuselage. The design did not need the same sort of altitude performance, so the HM 508H was installed in place of the C's, with a slightly lower RPM and somewhat improved fuel economy, but only 240 hp (179 kW). The lower power and increased fuel made takeoffs difficult, so the plane, renamed the He 116R Rostok, was fitted with four RATO units. On its first test one of the rockets tore loose and hit the wing, requiring extensive repairs. After these were completed a second attempt was made on June 30th, 1938, covering 9,942 km (6,214 miles) unrefueled, at an average speed of 214 km/h (134 mph). JATO is an acronym for Jet Assisted Take Off. ... June 30 is the 181st day of the year (182nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 184 days remaining. ...

By this point the engine project had been cancelled outright, but additional orders continued with the 508s. V7 and V8 were modified for the long-range reconnaissance role with a "glass nose" similar to what would become common on most of the Luftwaffe's bomber designs. These were tested during 1938 with generally favourable results. Six additional aircraft based on the V7 pattern were then ordered, known as the He 116B-0, although they also received prototype numbers V9 through V14.

The He 116B's were intended to operate at extremely long range, outside the range of enemy fighters, and therefore fit no defensive armament. All eight (V7 through V14) were issued to recon units prior to the war, but by that time the idea of a slow-moving unarmed plane providing any useful information seemed unlikely. Instead they were used over German territory providing mapping services.

Specifications (He 116A)

General characteristics

• Crew: 3 to 4
• Length: 13.70 m (44 ft 11 in)
• Wingspan: 22.00 m (72 ft 2 in)
• Height: 3.30 m (10 ft 10 in)
• Wing area: 62.9 m² (677 ft²)
• Empty: 4,050 kg (8,910 lb)
• Loaded: 7,130 kg (15,686 lb)
• Maximum takeoff: kg ( lb)
• Powerplant: 4 x Hirth HM 508C, 182 kW (244 hp) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 375 km/h (234 mph)
• Range: 3,500 km (2,182 miles)
• Service ceiling: 7,600 m (24,928 ft)
• Rate of climb: m/min ( ft/min)
• Wing loading: 113 kg/m² (23 lb/ft²)
• Power/mass: 100 W/kg (0.06 hp/lb)

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