Self-defensive armament constituted a pair of remotely-operated turrets, one fitted dorsally and the other ventrally, and each was to be armed through 2 x 13mm MG131 machine guns. Additionally, there was a single 13mm MG151 machine gun to be carried in the nose. Due to the bombers expected high-altitude traveling, it was decided to limit gun/cannon armament.
For bombing sorties, the He 174 was rated for up to 8,818lb of internally-held ordnance, this carried in two separate bomb bays along the fuselage.
As flown, the aircraft was able to reach speeds of 360 mile-per-hour and range out to 2,140 miles. Its service ceiling was 47,000 feet, which required pressurization of the crew sections, and rate-of-climb was listed at 780 feet-per-minute.
He 274 Operational History
In July of 1944, the Allies, having gained a foothold in Normandy back in June, were pressing against German territories across Northern France. This forced Heinkel workers to abandon their workspaces even as He 274 V1, the first prototype, was nearing its flying phase. Rather than have this specimen fall into Allied hands, the order was given to destroy it where it lay. However, the initiative rather surprisingly targeted only the engines and little else - the airframe remaining more-or-less intact and ready for collection by the Allies when they arrived. To make matters worse, it seems that there remained a steady supply of engines still to be found around the facility so the future for the He 274, at least in Allied hands, was not so bleak.
Members of the French concern of Ateliers Aeronautiques de Suresnes (AAS) went to work on the prototypes and took the still-intact He 274 airframe to completeness. The aircraft pair was reborn under the local designation of "AAS-1" (also "AAS-01A") and ready to serve the re-established French Air Force in the post-World War 2 period (the war would end in 1945). A first-flight was recorded during December of 1945 with the first prototype and the second (AAS-01B) followed into the air on December 27th, 1947.
In time, AAS was absorbed into SNCASO (Sud-Ouest) and thus the aircraft eventually fell under this better-known/better-remembered association. For the remainder of their flying lives, the pair were limited to strictly high-altitude data-collecting/research work and little else, flying under the banner of the French Air Force. As dedicated bombing platforms it was ruled that the design was largely obsolete by then-modern standards - the turbojet engine was already making its impact. The pair also went on to further several notable French aeronautic projects (principally as "motherships" for air-launching smaller jet-or-rocket-powered subjects) during the post-war period until ultimately scrapped in 1953.
Content ©MilitaryFactory.com; No Reproduction Permitted.