A Stuka whif

[maxmwill]

This is about a Stuka possibility, but not the Ju87, the aircraft that hijacked the term.

As everyone should know, "Stuka" is just the contraction of Sturzkampflugzeug, which means, literally, diving battle plane, or dive bomber. And, because the Technical Office of the RLM had decided on the Ju87 even though there were other competitors, the term became the name of the Junkers craft.

But, in reality, there had been other aircraft which were also considered Stukas, in fact, just about any bomber was considered for the role, even the unlikely He177, which was really restricted in the matter of diving.

Anyway, there was another design which was considered for the role, kinda resembled the Junkers design, and was even the basis of inspiration for the Japanese Judy.

And at the end of his description of it, in Warplanes of the Third Reich, William Green(which, by the way is still a pretty good reference book) stated, "It is interesting to speculate on the possible career of the He 118 had Udet's accident not intervened".

This was in reference to when Ernst Udet took one of the prototype 118s, and after being briefed to put the prop in coarse pitch before diving, when he went into a near vertical dive, failed to follow the instruction, the prop ran away and before it crashed, he was able to parachute to safety, and this was the death knell of the project.

But, what if Udet followed instruction, or, like the B17 prototype crashing, and yet the Army still accepting the model, what if the He 118 went into production and on to squadron strength?

The Heinkel was fairly fast(more than the Ju 87), and could carry a pretty good load internally, although I'm sure that later on in its production life, hard points could be added to the wings for a variety of munitions.

I mean, look at what was done with the 87, and this also includes the overwing passenger pods.

And even further, had the Graf Zeppelin and/or Peter Strasser actually been built(their keels were already laid), howabout a German Judy(after all, the Japanese took the design and changed it sufficiently for shipboard use, so further technology collaboration?)?

[Gondor]

Sounds like a plan to me 

Gondor

[maxmwill]

The biggest fly in the ointment for me, though, is I have yet to find a kit of the He 118 in any scale, and the Judy, while broadly based on it, is too different to bash(but I do have a couple Judy kits, in the best scale, 1/48), even the length and wing span are different.

But someone who is artistically inclined could get some inspiration from the preceding.

[Captain Canada]

Sounds good. The German late war ( or ongoing war ) Naval aeroplanes are always intriguing

[maxmwill]

Ongoing War, say with a secret Naval base somewhere in the Antarctic or the Tierra Del Fuego area?

After all, didn't Germany have an Antarctic base of some sort prior to the war?

And, given that they had Atlantic operations, wouldn't a Naval base somewhere deep south, say the Antarctic, or the tip of South America(hence the mention of Tierra De Fuego), what with the numerous islands down there?

And aren't there oil deposits down there?

Of course, there would be consideration of post war immigration of Nazis to Argentina.

I mean, if something like the movie Iron Sky could be considered.............................

[maxmwill]

I guess I didn't look hard enough.

Nice looking model, btw.