what is it?
The Heinkel HE 2, produced in Sweden as the Svenska S 3 and nicknamed the "Hansa", was a reconnaissance floatplane built in small numbers to equip the Swedish Navy in the 1920s. It was a refinement of the HE 1, sharing its same basic configuration as a low-wing, strut-braced monoplane with no tail fin and a rudder that barely protruded above and below the line of the fuselage. Originally, three were purchased, with another one built by Svenska Aero some time later, and a fifth and final aircraft built by the Navy itself.
How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 17.5 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 103 years ago, in 1923.
- Wingspan of 17.5 m: about 4 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
- 1923
- introduced
- 1925
- retired
- 1935
- status
- retired
- number built
- 5
- role
- reconnaissance floatplane
- origin
- Weimar Republic
- makers
- Heinkel, Saab Group, Swedish Navy, Svenska Aero
- engines
- 1× Rolls-Royce Eagle IX
- length
- 12.7 m
- wingspan
- 17.5 m
- height
- 3.9 m
- max take-off weight
- 2,475 kg
- top speed
- 183 km/h
- range
- —
- ceiling
- 4,000 m
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q3727321, Wikipedia: Heinkel HE 2 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.