Who / What / Where Game

[Catfish]

More than six built, though they were different versions, mostly less than six planes per version i think. So it was not mass production..

@Eichhörnchen not planned originally, but it later did.

[Aktungbby]

It is the Heinkel varient V2Schleisen D JAIE with four HIRTH HM 508 C engines:

The design started in response to a 1936 request by Lufthansa, which planned a route over the Pamir Mountains in Afghanistan. This was the primary difficulty in producing an aircraft able to meet the range requirements, because the aircraft would have to lift its large fuel load to 7,600 m (24,900 ft) to clear the mountains. At the time there were simply no engines available with that sort of altitude performance, although Hirth was working on one in the 370 kW (500 hp) class. The Günter brothers proposed to adapt their basic He 70 Blitz airframe to carry four of these engines to provide enough power for the massive fuel load.
The He 116 would use a modified version of the He 70's two-spar elliptical planform, skinned (like the He 70) with plywood. The fuselage was all-new, consisting of a semi-monocoqueduralumin body with watertight bulkheads in case the aircraft were forced down over water. The design shared enough construction with the He 70 that the first prototype He 116 V1 was completed in early 1937. The new engines were not ready at this point, so the prototype was instead fitted with the much smaller Hirth HM 508C of 180 kW (240 hp).

I tracked through list of all German aircraft hitting on Heinkel 1937 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_military_aircraft_of_Nazi_Germany

Heinkel He 112 fighter
Heinkel He 113 (propaganda designation for He 100)
Heinkel He 114 reconnaissance seaplane
Heinkel He 115 general-purpose seaplane
Heinkel He 116 transport + reconnaissance
Heinkel He 118 dive bomber
Heinkel He 119 high-speed reconnaissance/bomber (prototypes), 1937
Heinkel

I've been at this for at least twelve hours...aggravated; as I knew I'd seen this aircraft before. 'Smiling Albert' Kesselring used the same engines in his Seibel Fh104 Hallor: And the engine trail led to Heinkel....

[Catfish]

@Aktungbby Yes this is it! Can get some more info tomorrow, not at home now.

Powered by Hirth engines with first 250 and later 500 hp, built for the german-japanese postal service. For this the plane had to climb to 22,000 feet to cross the hindu kush mountains, and use as little fuel as possible. It was also riveted in a way that the fuselage was watertight and would swim in case of an emergency landing. Wings were partially made of wood.

China edit: Japan bought two of those.

To spare fuel during the start and ease taking off when fully loaded, starting help RATO rockets were mounted and tested at Peenemünde in 1938.

edit: some more pictures





Test in Peenemuende with RATO rockets:



I think it is a beautiful plane..

Over to Aktung 👍

[Aktungbby]

Here's an easy one: what's this?

[Jimbuna]

A musical instrument?

[Catfish]

Quick shot.. DC 3?

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

A musical instrument?

NO; but only insofar as one might hear ''the music of the spheres''.

Originally Posted by Catfish

Quick shot.. DC 3?

NO; too small

[Jimbuna]

Space related?

[Aktungbby]

NO....or at least not yet.

[Jimbuna]

Starlink internet satellite?

[Aktungbby]

too high! 43,000 feet is the optimal altitude. This is a strategic device not a tactical one; Material invented in 1952; first deployed in 1980; here's a little more:

[Jimbuna]

Strategic Air Command HGU-55/P Helmet?

[Aktungbby]

no; but getting warm...

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Aktungbby

too high! 43,000 feet is the optimal altitude. This is a strategic device not a tactical one; Material invented in 1952; first deployed in 1980; here's a little more:

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Strategic Air Command HGU-55/P Helmet?

Originally Posted by Aktungbby

no; but getting warm...

Well, I'm certainly looking forward to the definitive answer. Unless your referring to the EEU-2/P anti-flash blindness goggles which aren't depicted in the original picture. https://www.flightgear.ch/ch-hgu-55-eeu-2-p

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item...met-with-eeu-2

[Aktungbby]

U got it! I drew on several sources and snipped from this https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/7975/this-is-what-usaf-bomber-pilots-would-wear-during-a-nuclear-apocalypse : My next clue would have been: "hope you're having PLeaZanT day in Northhuumbria!

The original PLZT goggles, military designation EEU-2/P, were developed for nuclear bombers such as the B-52 and B-1 in the Strategic Air Command (SAC), where the crew members would hopefully be just outside the blast, radiation, and/or heat damage radius of the weapon.

Used only in strategic bombers, not tactical fighters. (What are the Swiss in your source flying??!!)I imagine if my 'Raybans' were made with PLZT I could observe the eclipse of the sun directly...instead of the onset of 'nuclear winter'.... Note Russian protective goggles in '61: I tried to look up what they're wearing now.... OVER TO JIMBUNA!