Heinkel He 51

what is it?

The Heinkel He 51 was a German single-seat biplane fighter aircraft. A seaplane variant and a ground-attack version were also developed. It was a development of the earlier He 49.

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

base stats

• speed 330 km/htop speed
• range 570 kmwithout refuelling
• size 1,900 kgmax take-off weight
• built 713made 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 93 years ago, in 1933.
• 🏎️Top speed is 2.5× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗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

1933-05

introduced

1935

retired

1939

status

retired

number built

713

role

biplane fighter-bomber

makers

Heinkel

engines

1× BMW VI 7.3 Z

length

8.4 m

wingspan

11 m

height

3.2 m

max take-off weight

1,900 kg

top speed

330 km/h

cruise speed

280 km/h

range

570 km

ceiling

7,700 m

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