Heinkel HD 55

__NOTOC__ Infobox Aircraft
name=HD 55, KR-1


caption=
type=Reconnaissance flying boat
national origin=Germany
manufacturer=Heinkel
designer=
first flight=avyear|1929
introduced=
retired=
status=
primary user=Soviet Navy
more users=
produced=
number built=ca. 40
variants with their own articles=The Heinkel HD 55 was a biplane flying boat produced in Germany in the early 1930s for use as a reconnaissance aircraft aboard Soviet warships. The design was based on the HD 15 mailplane of 1927 and was a conventional design for its time, with equal span, unstaggered wings, and an engine mounted tractor-wise on struts above the pilot's open cockpit. A second open cockpit was added on the rear fuselage to provide a position for a tail gunner.

The HD 55 came about as a result of a meeting between Heinkel and Soviet officials in May 1929, leading to a contract for fifteen such aircraft, and two pneumatic catapults similar to the type Heinkel had developed to launch the HE 12 mailplane from the SS "Bremen", although this order was substantially increased as time went by. In Soviet service, the designation KR-1 was used (корабельный разведчик - "Korabelniy Razvedchik" - "Shipboard Reconnaissance").

The first catapult was installed on the battleship "Parizhskaya Kommuna" in October 1930, and trials commenced immediately, revealing problems with both the catapult and the aircraft. These difficulties were never fully resolved, and the KR-1 was plagued through its career by various structural defects. Nevertheless, the type was deployed into service, with catapults and aircraft installed at various times aboard the cruisers "Chervona Ukraina", "Komintern", "Krasny Kavkaz", and "Profintern". The type lingered on in service well into obsolence in the mid-1930s, mostly due to the failure of its intended replacement, the Beriev Be-2. The final operational use of the KR-1 was around 1938, and by 1941 all had been scrapped or placed in indefinite storage.

pecifications

aerospecs
ref=
met or eng?= met

crew=Two, pilot and gunner
capacity=
length m=10.35
length ft=34
length in=0
span m=14.00
span ft=45
span in=11
swept m=
swept ft=
swept in=
rot number=
rot dia m=
rot dia ft=
rot dia in=
dia m=
dia ft=
dia in=
width m=
width ft=
width in=
height m=4.28
height ft=14
height in=1
wing area sqm=56.9
wing area sqft=612
swept area sqm=
swept area sqft=
rot area sqm=
rot area sqft=
volume m3=
volume ft3=
aspect ratio=
empty weight kg=1,520
empty weight lb=3,350
gross weight kg=2,270
gross weight lb=5,000
lift kg=
lift lb=

eng1 number=1
eng1 type=Siemens-Halske Sh 20
eng1 kw= 360
eng1 hp= 480
eng1 kn=
eng1 lbf=
eng1 kn-ab=
eng1 lbf-ab=
eng2 number=
eng2 type=
eng2 kw=
eng2 hp=
eng2 kn=
eng2 lbf=
eng2 kn-ab=
eng2 lbf-ab=

max speed kmh=194
max speed mph=120
max speed mach=
cruise speed kmh=
cruise speed mph=
range km=800
range miles=500
endurance h=
endurance min=
ceiling m=4,800
ceiling ft=15,800
glide ratio=
climb rate ms=
climb rate ftmin=
sink rate ms=
sink rate ftmin=

armament1=1 × fixed, forward-firing 7.62 mm PV-1 machine gun
armament2=2 × trainable, rearward-firing 7.62 mm DA machine guns
armament3=
armament4=
armament5=
armament6= aircontent
see also=
related=
similar aircraft=
lists=

References

*