Romanian He 111H-3 - This is a model
of a medium bomber that participated in the 1941 invasion of the
Soviet Union.
They were obtained from Germany after Romania joined the Axis is
late 1940.
The first He 111s were employed as domestic
airliners in Germany. The first He 111s to see combat were the B models flown
in Spain in 1937 by the Legion Condor, the German air contingent
sent by Hitler to support the
Nationalists in the
Spanish Civil War. Early He 111 variants, through the J series,
had a stepped front end and a retractable ventral machine gun
position. The more familiar conical glass nose appeared in 1939
with the P
series,
followed by the numerous H series. These improved models also had
an enclosed dorsal machine gun position, and a ventral machine
gun gondola. The He 111 was the primary German bomber through
the 1940 Battle of Britain.
After that, it's vulnerability to modern enemy fighters and the increased
production of the better Ju 88A bomber relegated
it to a variety of special roles in Western Europe. It was still used as a bomber extensively on the Eastern Front, however, until the 1943 Battle of Kursk, where it began to suffer heavy losses from new Soviet fighters. Germany
supplied He 111s to Romania
and Hungary, and built almost 7,600 of the planes before production ended in 1944.
