Heinkel Floatplanes…Image #3: The Heinkel He-115
The third of today’s images of aircraft of the SAAF during World War II is this one of a line up of Lockheed Venturas, serving with 21 Squadron SAAF, based at Swartkop.
Today’s photos at Wings of War concentrate on the three main types flown by the Royal Australian Air Force’s 10 Squadron in the ASW role since 1939. First up, a Short Sunderland on a sortie in the North Atlantic during WWII.
Final prototype British warplane of the 1940s is the Short S35 Shetland. With only 2 built, the Shetland was originally designed as a faster replacement for the Sunderland. However this role was then changed to unarmed transport, however with no orders forthcoming from 1947 the second Shetland was then scrapped
First photo for today’s JSDAF series…a formation of 3 Lockheed/Kawasaki P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft
A Heinkel 115B/C was raised out of the Hafrsfjorden fjord just outside of Stavanger yesterday, the only known specimen of the aircraft still in existence today.
Only around 300-500 of these planes were produced, and they were used in a variety of roles (reconnaissance, torpedo runs & mine laying), so it was well worth the £26500 it cost to raise the plane.
The plane met it’s fate on the 28th of December 1942 when apparently landing with the wind rather than against it, which cause one of the floats to rip off.
Ironically, the plane was resting in it’s watery grave just metres away from the local aviation museum, who had known of it’s existence since 2005 but only just decided to raise it. It will be interesting to see how far they go with the restoration.
If I was super rich I’d learn how to dive and go looking for sunken wrecks all over the world. Dream job.
for more into on the Heinkel 115 check the wiki page, pretty decent:
