Heinkel He51 (oz16068)

About this Plan

Heinkel He51. Radio contorl scale model biplane fighter. Wingspan 68 in, for .70 - .90 engines.

Quote: "Heinkel He51, by Alan Blount.

Late in 1932 the Heinkel He49a was flown, under the guise of a civilian trainer and this design was modified and streamlined until it was eventually given the designation of He51, the prototype mak-ing its maiden flight in May 1933. Although the Luftwaffe was not officially formed - or recognised - until 1935 the production version of the attractive biplane, the He51 A-1 was armed with two 7.92mm Mg17 machine guns and equipped, in part, the first 'Richthofen' fighter unit. Further developments, incorporating structural strengthening, led to the 'B' marks and over 30 B-2 floatplanes versions were also built.

The final versions, the C-1 and C-2 were delivered to the Nationalist Spanish air force and Luftwaffe respectively. In Germany the He51 C-2 served as a fighter until 1938 and as a trainer into the 1940s. In Spain, where it also served with the Legion Condor, it was outdated as a fighter (the Spanish Civil War was an excellent opportunity for countries to test their fighting aircraft under real combat conditions and some advanced fighters were operated) but were successful in ground-support roles.

Initially, Spanish pilots flew the He51s but, after a number of crashes, they were flown by German 'volunteer' pilots and then by the German Condor Legion pilots. Outclassed by the Dewoitine D372's, Polikarpov 1-15 and 16s and slower than the Tupolev SBN-2 twin engined bomber, it nevertheless gave the Luftwaffe useful experience for the later arrival of the Me109 and He112 fighters.

Flying: For a change, let's start with the flying of the Heinkel - most readers turn to that piece first in any case. At a dry weight of over ten pounds the He51, in its present form, is no lightweight and is not over powered with the 0.S.70 Surpass four-stroke engine. It is though, perfectly adequate for scale flying. 'In its present state', because the model has seen a number of repairs and is now on its third colour scheme, as may be seen from the photographs, inevitably there is a tendency for the weight to increase as one gets older - and consumes too much fuel - and it should be possible to lose a pound or two when starting from scratch.

Even though the lady is a little overweight she still performs very creditably and providing you don't expect to carry out sparkling aerobatics, this attractive biplane will reward you with some very delightful flying. In all axis she is very positive and well balanced with no vices or quirks of behaviour. In her lighter days you could make the approach quite slowly without fear of a wing drop and the stall was straightforward, but without over much warning. Take-off requires some right rudder held on and gradually reduced as the tail comes up. Acceleration is steady rather than startling, giving you time to make corrections and to perform a scale-like take-off run. Landing is an equally pleasing manoeuvre; get her setup on the approach, with the right throttle setting and all you have to do is to ease back on the elevator and let her settle into a three pointer (wheeler landings are recommended in windy conditions).

Many believe that light models fly better, but the Heinkel biplane, if not contradicting this theory, at least shows that heavier loaded models can still fly well. This model performs very much in the full size mode, which means a bit of co-ordination of all controls (particularly when performing a slow roll) but will also forgive a little ham-fisted handling. What a shame we don't have an example of the full size aircraft for comparison. Even a half size He51 would be something to see.

Building: Scratch builders design their models in various ways, some prefer to draw up the model in full before contemplating the construction. Others seem to design the model straight onto the balsa wood they are using for building! The designer here falls into an in-between group who put the bare bones on a piece of tracing paper, build straight over that sketch drawing and change their minds over structural details as they go along.

Fuselage: This is a box frame, with sheet sides at the front and open structure at the rear, to which quarter segment formers are glued. The front of the fuselage sides are sheeted, the top and bottom planked with 1/8 x 1/4 in strip and the rear areas stringered..."

Heinkel 51, Flying Scale Models, April 2011.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

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