what is it?
The Heinkel HD 36 was a trainer developed in Germany in the 1920s at the request of the Swedish Air Force, which was in search of a new trainer aircraft. The newly formed air force had previously evaluated the HD 35, found it to be underpowered, and asked Heinkel to address this problem. Heinkel's response was a development of the HD 35 modified to use the Mercedes D.III engine instead.
How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 11 m wingspan
base stats
Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).
fun facts
- First flew 99 years ago, in 1927.
- Wingspan of 11 m: about 2 cars parked nose to tail.
piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.
spec sheet
- first flight
- 1927
- introduced
- 1928
- retired
- 1940
- status
- retired
- number built
- 21
- role
- trainer
- origin
- Weimar Republic
- makers
- Heinkel, Svenska Aero
- engines
- 1× Mercedes D.III
- length
- 7.5 m
- wingspan
- 11 m
- max take-off weight
- 1,250 kg
- top speed
- 130 km/h
- range
- 250 km
- ceiling
- 5,000 m
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q3726872, Wikipedia: Heinkel HD 36 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.