Heinkel He-177

Heinkel He-177 "Greif"

By Sir Ernie Hamilton Boyette

Aviation Art Store

www.aviationartstore.com

Wilhelm Ludwig Kriessmann

Luftwaffe Bomber Pilot

Heinkel He-177 A-5 is with II/KG.40. This unit was based in Bordeaux-Merignac in 1944 when this photo was taken.

The crew is ready and the Heinkel is warmed up for a shipping strike in the Channel.

This aircraft appears to be completely painted in a dark green, RLM70 background and medium gray, RLM65in a irregular mottle pattern.

Wilhelm was not assigned to this unit but at the airfield he was stationed they had a He-177 from KG.40.

Wilhelm checked out in the lumbering giant bomber.

He did say that the bomber they had on loan from KG/40 was not painted like the one above.

Here is some great information on the bomber that was painted like the one that Wilhelm flew.

This artwork is from the Revell 1/72 scale plastic model of the He-177. This is a great model.

This would have also been painted like the one Wilhelm flew.

Written by Sir Ernie Hamilton Boyette

Wilhelm Ludwig Kriessmann flew for the Luftwaffe from October 14, 1939 after he received his pilots wings to the end of the war. Wilhelm was selected for multiple engine aircraft and primarily flew them through out the war. His first training was in bi-planes and then the twin-engine open cockpit Donier Do-11. He finished the war flying the first operational jet bomber equipped with a pressurized cockpit and ejector seat. Wilhelm flew many of the most famous Luftwaffe fighters and bombers including many experiential aircraft.

Here are his experiences in the Heinkel He-177. The text in red are quotes from Wilhelm.

"For 4 days in early May 1944 I had a total of 16 take off and landings in the He 177 "Greif" at

the Fassberg airfield in Luenburger Heide which is located in lower Saxonia.

A very unpleasant experience. The airplane had constant trouble with the hydraulic system.

Often uneven functioning of the fowler ailerons caused stalling and fatal accidents.

4 engines were coupled together to turn two propellers caused problems also.

Coloring similar to the He111 but light green and light gray.

Markings were VF+QX."

More will be added in the near future.

This Heinkel He-177 A-3/R2 has all of the RLM light blue replaced with black for night time operations against England in 1944.

Assigned to, KG 100 the top surfaces are two-tone gray which was a medium gray background and an almost white-gray mottle in an irregular pattern.

Luftwaffe night fighter and bomber camouflage experiments tried both painting schemes in the photographs above.

The He-177 at the top of the page has in fact in best night time camouflage. A black aircraft had a tendency to stand out against a night sky.

However the combinations of dark, medium, and light grays applied in irregular patterns blended the aircraft better into the background.

Below is information I got in a 1970 International Plastic Modelers magazine.

Great info for the modeler plus more history on two bombers and the squadrons they flew with.

This is a profile of a He-177 from the same squadron as in the above photo. The rudder, fuselage and bottom wing surfaces were painted black.

We know now that this aircraft was shot down over England.

Great color scheme for the modeler. Also the person that submitted this info to the IMPS was from Gruppe 66!

Another great example of this large bomber.

Aircraft History

In the beginning of the Luftwaffe planning there were two schools of though concerning the development and deployment of heavy and medium bombers.

Some believed that Germany needed both heavy and medium aircraft yet the concept of the Lighting War or Blitzkrieg was causing some in the high ranks to lean towards medium bombers.

Medium bombers were eventually favored because they believed that the bombers would never have to fly far into enemy territory because the aircraft would always move forward with the advancement of the invading armies. No doubt this does makes sense but let's not contemplate our navel too long. The development of heavy bombers were equally pursued in the beginning and Heinkel was working on several examples. The He-177 was conceived in 1938 to meet the specifications for a long range bomber. The design of the airframe was sound however the development of the power-plants came from someone who was thinking "Too Big!" The idea was to somehow combine two engines together working through a gear system to turn one huge propeller.

This transmission system caused much grief with fires either or both in the gear box or an engine fire from RPM maladjustments competing with each other and not working together.

The concept was sound and doable, however not in the middle of needing the aircraft badly at the moment for combat duty. The bomber was all but rushed into service. Just put some engines on it and take off! Many of the engine problems were mended and solved but they were always in the background of things that could go wrong for the pilot to worry about.

The first engines were the Daimler Benz DB 606. These were replaced in 1943 with the Daimler Benz 610. Not much better. The engines needed to be divided up like other large bombers with four engines. The He-274 and the subsequent He-277 did in fact have four individually mounted DB 603's rated at 1,850h.p. each. Had this bomber started out properly with four engines with out the incredible problems the combined engines caused, Luftwaffe leaders would not have been so "put-off" with the He-177.

The problems that Wilhelm spoke of with the hydraulics was based on the shear size of the aircraft and the fact that all the details had yet to be worked out. The aircraft was simply too large for simple stick and rudder pulley system. Hydraulics were needed to pull up the flaps as well as lower them. The system problems were that sometimes the flaps would not deploy equally on both sides. One may lag or even fail which would put the aircraft into a spin just before touchdown. An impossible situation causing the losses of aircraft and their crews. The rudder on the He-177 was as large as a barn roof. It took a little extra power to push and pull it back and forth.

This bomber would have crippled English industries anywhere on the island as well as hitting Russian factories they relocated out of the reach of the He-111.

A state of the art bomber with all the possibilities of being as famous as the B-17, B-24, and the Lancaster if things had been a little different.

I am honored to have the opportunity to review this war bird and interview Wilhelm as a pilot that flew the "Greif".

This is the aircraft that Wilhelm was checked out in.

Should you be interested in owning a painting of a famous Luftwaffe bomber that was flown by Kriessmann please let me know.

This painting has been signed by Wilhelm. Painting size is 24"x48". Painting price $2,500.00

Below are illustrations of the bombers development and influence.