Heinkel He 50

what is it?

The Heinkel He 50 was a biplane dive bomber designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Heinkel. Although not built in large numbers, it served in the Second World War. The He 50 was originally designed during the early 1930s on behalf of the Imperial Japanese Navy; this goal was effectively fulfilled as it became the basis for the Aichi D1A. The initial prototype, the Heinkel He 50aW, proved to be underpowered.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 11 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 235 km/htop speed
• range 1,000 kmwithout refuelling
• built 78made in total

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 95 years ago, in 1931.
• 🏎️Top speed is 1.8× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 11 m: about 2 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🌍Range of 1,000 km: 6× Amsterdam to Brussels.

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1931

introduced

1935

retired

1944

status

retired

number built

78

role

dive bomber

origin

🇩🇪 Germany

makers

Aichi, Heinkel

engines

1× Bramo 322B

crew

2

length

9.6 m

wingspan

11 m

height

4.5 m

top speed

235 km/h

cruise speed

190 km/h

range

1,000 km

ceiling

6,400 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.