En av de få tyske bombefly fra det en gang så stolte Luftwaffe som det er mulig å dykke på langs Norges kyst befinner seg rett utenfor Tromsø nær Buvik. Her ligger vraket av en tysk Henkel 111 som nødlandet under den andre verdenskrig, nærmere bestemt den 4. Juli 1942. Nøyaktig hvilken produksjons type av He 111 dette er, er ikke kjent, men det kan dreie seg om en type E eller F. Besetningen ombord på bombeflyet kom fra det uten skader, men flyet forsvant ned i dypet utenfor Kvaløya og ble glemt. I følge kilder i Troms ryktes det at flyet ble funnet på åttitallet av sportsdykkere. Restene av denne mellomstore tyske bomberen ligger opp ned på en dybde av trettito til trettiseks meters i relativt god stand like utenfor Malangen nær Bakkejord på Kvaløya. Deler av vingene og motorene med propellene kan fortsatt ses, og med en lengde på seksten meter og et vingespenn på tjuetre meter er dette et spennende dykk. For å dykke på denne Heinkel 111 må du ha en båt...

One of the few German bombers from the once so proud Luftwaffe which it is possible to dive on along the Norwegian coast is located just outside Tromsø near Buvik. Here the wreck of a German Heinkel 111 lies which made an emergency landing under the second world war, more precisely on the 4. July 1942. Exactly what kind of production type of a Heinkel this is, is not known, but it might be a type E or F. The crew on board the bomber got away without injuries, but the plane disappeared in the deep outside Kvaløya and was forgotten. According to sources in Troms county it is rumored that the plane was found in the 80`s by sports divers. The remains of this medium sized bomber lies upside down on a depth of thirty two to thirty six meters in a relatively good condition just outside Malangen near Bakkejord on Kvaløya. Parts of the wings and the engines with their propellers can still be seen, and with an overall length of sixteen meters and a wingspan of twenty three meters, this is an exiting dive. To be able to dive on this Heinkel 111 you need a boat...

 

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Heinkel HE 111
  
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Underwaterpictures: © Jonas Vannar

 

More information on Heinkel 111
http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/he111.html

This German four/five-seat bomber and torpedo dropper was in service from 1937-45 (Spain until 1965). Designed by the Günter brothers, who liked curving elliptical wings and tails, the He 111 made a name for itself in 1935 as a civil airliner, and later as a bomber that gained world records for high speed while carrying a heavy load. In 1938 the first mass-production versions, the four-seat He 111E and F, did very well in the Spanish Civil War, dropping heavy bomb loads and proving too fast for Republican fighters to catch easily. Thus the three hand-held machine guns carried by these aircraft appeared adequate. The E, used in large numbers by the prewar Luftwaffe, carried eight 551lb bombs, dropped tail-first from vertical cells in the beautifully streamlined fuselage to tumble end-over-end in a way that rivals said spoilt accuracy. But by the time World War II broke out the standard production model was quite different. The He 111P had broad straight-tapered wings, and an odd offset nose with no separate cockpit for the pilot. With two 1100hp DB 601A engines it was only slightly slower than the earlier models, at 247mph, but with full bomb load it was slower still. During most of the war the production version was the H-series with 1,350hp Jumo 211F engines. Despite the higher power these were so burdened by bombs, missiles and extra protection
that few exceeded 220mph. It was in the Battle of Britain that the He 111 was recognized as inadequate when intercepted by modern fighters. By May 1941 the RAF's radar-equipped Beaufighters could even shoot the waddling Heinkels down at night, though in the 1940 Blitz they devastated many of Britain's cities, especially in the Coventry raid aided by navigation device. In Russia in 1941 they were again able to bomb effectively, but despite being laden with extra guns and armor the He 111 was never again to be a real menace. Because the Luftwaffe had no replacement, the old Heinkel, called "The Spade" by its crews, stayed in production until the end of 1944, long after it had become obsolescent. About 7,300 were built, and most of the final batches were equipped to launch the "V-1" flying bomb against English cities after the original launch sites had been captured. There were many special
versions, including torpedo carriers, magnetic-mine exploders and barrage-balloon cable-cutters, but the strangest was the He 111Z, for towing the Me 321 glider; it had two He 111's joined on a singel wing, with a fifth engine in the center.

Origin:Ernst Heinkel AG; also built in France on German account by SNCASO; built under licence by Fabrica de Avione SET, Romania, and CASA, Spain.
Type:four-seat or five-seat medium bomber (later, torpedo bomber, glider tug and missile launcher).
Engines:(He 111H-3) two 1,200hp Jumo 211D-2 12-cylinder inverted-vee liquid-cooled; (He 111P-2) two 1,100hp Daimler-Benz DB 601A-1 12-cylinder inverted-vee liquid-cooled.
Armament:(P-2) 7.92mm Rheinmetall MG 15 machine gun on manual mountings in nosecap, open dorsal position and ventral gondola; (H-3) same, plus fixed forward-firing MG 15 or 17, two MG 15's in waist windows and (usually) 20mm MG FF cannon in front of ventral gondola and (sometimes) fixed rear-firing MG 17 in extreme tail; internal bomb load up to 4,410lb (2,000kg) in vertical cells, stored nose-up; external bomb load (at expense of internal) one 4,410lb (2,000kg) on H-3 or two 1,102lb (500kg) on others; later marks carried one or two 1,686lb (765kg) torpedoes, Bv 246 glide missiles, Hs 293 rocket missiles, Fritz X radio-controlled glide bombs or one FZG-76 ("V-1") cruise missile. Speed:maximum speed (H-3) 258mph (415km/h); (P-2) 242mph (390km/h) at 16,400ft (5,000m) (at maximum weight neither version could exceed 205mph, 330km/h).
Climb:climb to 14,765ft (4,500m) 30-35min at normal gross weight, 50min at maximum..
Ceiling:service ceiling (both) around 25,590ft (7,800m) at normal gross weight, under 16,400ft (5,000m) at maximum. Range:range with maximum bomb load (both) about 745 miles (1,200km).
Weight:empty (H-3) 17,000lb (7,720kg); (P-2) 17,640lb (8,000kg); maximum loaded (H-3) 30,865lb (14,000kg); (P-2)
29,762lb (13,500kg).
Wingspan:(H-3) 74ft 13/4in (22.6m).
Length:(H-3) 53ft 91/2in (16.4m).
Height:(H-3) 13ft 11/2in (4m).
Crew:five/six.
History:first flight (He 111V1 prototype) 24 February 1935; (pre-production He 111B-0) August 1936; (production He
111B-1) 30 October 1936; (first He 111E series) January 1938; (first production He 111P-1) December 1938; (He 111H-1)
January or February 1939; final delivery (He 111H-23) October 1944; (Spanish C.2111) late 1956.

Edited 24.06.2007