He 280 V2 and He 280 V3 were a pair of early-form aircraft with the latter being readied into 1943 with some revisions to boot - particularly concerning the troublesome HeS 8 engine. The former would eventually be re-engined with the Junkers Jumo 109-004 turbojet engine at some point. That December, the He 280 V3 was showcased to German authorities, again, in a mock dogfight involving Germany's best fighter of the war - the classic Focke-Wulf Fw 190 single-engine, piston-driven monoplane.
It was this showing that finally convinced the German hierarchy to invest in the jet fighter program and led to a contract for twenty pre-production forms to iron out deficiencies in the design at the operational level. Once successful, a further three-hundred fighters would be ordered from Heinkel. To this point, it was known that the He 280 design carried weaknesses in its tail design (leading to cases of tail "flutter" in flight) and its tricycle undercarriage was weak on anything but prepared runways. Armament provision was limited and fuel stores restricted operating ranges no thanks to the dual turbojet arrangement which proved fuel-thirsty.
The He 280 V4 followed with BMW 109-003 turbojet engines before being reworked to accept six Argus 109-014 pulsejet engines. The He 280 V5 was completed with HeS 8 engines before being graduated to BMW 109-003 engines. V5 also incorporated 3 x 20mm MG151 autocannons as standard armament. He 280 V6 followed with the same forward-facing, fixed battery. He 280 V7 was completed with BMW 109-004 turbojet engines and relegated to high-speed testing for its service life. He 280 carried BMW 109-004 turbojets but included a V-style tailplane arrangement to differentiate it from earlier He 280 marks. The final prototype, He 280 V9, was powered by BMW 109-003 engines.
The German Air Ministry eventually forced airplane makers towards the newer, more advanced HeS 011 series turbojet engine due to ongoing issues with the HeS8 and HeS 30 turbojet models. However, the advanced nature of this new engine was equally problematic for engineers. This is where pulsejets allowed at least some further development to take place regarding the He 280 prototypes. Similarly, the BMW 003 and Junker Jump 004 turbojets were options.
Due to all of its inherent limitations, the Messerschmitt Me 262 "Schwalbe" twin-jet-powered fighter was selected ahead of the He 280 to become Germany's first jet fighter in the war. As such, the He 280 was cancelled in full on March 27th, 1943, and Heinkel was forced to concentrate on German bomber production and development for the remainder of the war.
Content ©MilitaryFactory.com; No Reproduction Permitted.