A7He1

A7He1

A7He1

Description

The A7He1 was the Japanese Navy's designation and purchase of the German He 112 B-0 to strengthen the IJNAS in China. The He 112 was a surplus model that Germany had discarded in favour of the Bf 109 and sold to other nations. The Japanese compared the A7He1 with their own A5M fighter, which was their best option at the time. The A6M, a more advanced fighter, was still under development. The A7He1 had superior guns and speed than the A5M4, but it lacked agility and climb performance. It also did not suit the Navy's aerial combat doctrine. The Japanese cancelled the order for more A7He1s and used them only for research purposes, studying their features, engine and equipment.

It was introduced in Update 1.37. It provides an interesting yet different playstyle to the Japanese tree. The main advantages of this plane are speed and firepower. It can reach a maximum speed of 690 km/h, which is very fast for its rank. However, it has a mediocre climb rate, and it is not very manoeuvrable or responsive. The best feature of this plane is its armament, which consists of two 20 mm cannons and two fast-firing 7.92 mm machine guns.

General info

Flight performance

Characteristics	Max Speed (km/h at 2,800 m)		Max altitude (metres)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (metres/second)		Take-off run (metres)
	AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
Stock	482	466		20.0	20.8	11.0	11.0	250
Upgraded	525	502		18.0	19.0	17.3	13.8

Details

Features
Combat flaps	Take-off flaps	Landing flaps	Air brakes	Arrestor gear
✓	✓	✓	X	X

Limits
Wings (km/h)	Gear (km/h)	Flaps (km/h)			Max Static G
		Combat	Take-off	Landing	+	-
		498	469	320	~14	~14

Optimal velocities (km/h)
Ailerons	Rudder	Elevators	Radiator
< 280	< 320	< 360	> 315

Survivability and armour

The A7He1 has no armour protection, but the fuel tanks are self-sealing. All the major modules are located in the nose and wing roots of the plane. This means the pilot and major modules have very little protection, although from the front the engine can absorb shots before they injure the pilot.

• No armour protection
• Self-sealing fuel tanks

Armaments

Offensive armament

The A7He1 is armed with:

• 2 x 20 mm MG FF cannons, wing-mounted (60 rpg = 120 total)
• 2 x 7.92 mm MG 17 machine guns, nose-mounted (500 rpg = 1,000 total)

Usage in battles

The offensive weapons are equal to the Bf 109 E-3 with one exception: the nose-mounted machine guns have half the ammo. While this seems to be a drawback for the He 112/A7He1, it really is not. With 500 rounds per gun, the Heinkel will not run out of ammo any time soon.

The 7.92 mm MG 17s major advantage comes in handy for adjusting shots at long range. The 7.92 mm bullet has better bullet ballistics than the 20 mm MG FF, but they can still be used for predicting the bullet drop of the 20 mm cannon shells. Keep in mind that the MG 17's successor, the 13 mm MG 131, has the same ballistics as the MG 17; a decision deliberately made in real life to allow pilots to immediately use the new MG without having to adjust for a change bullet behaviour.

On paper, the A7He1 appears to be quite well armed, having two machine guns and two MG FF cannons. However, the cannons are quite underwhelming, especially with the Air targets belt. Many of the belts' rounds seem to explode on the surface of enemy aircraft, damaging external features such as control surfaces, but doing very little internal damage. Sometimes, multiple hits can be placed on an aircraft with little or no effect. It is recommended to aim for control surfaces, particularly ailerons and elevators on the wings and tail. This means that if an aircraft can't be knocked out of the sky via firepower, it can be forced to crash due to loss of control.

The A7He1 can perform well in naval battles, especially Naval RB. Compared to other early German and Japanese aircraft which only have poor-penetrating 7.92/7.7mm machine guns, the A7He1 has two powerful cannons which can deal a lot of damage, especially to small boats. It is recommended to use stealth belt in this role, as this belt has lots of APHE rounds.

Manual Engine Control

MEC elements
Mixer	Pitch	Radiator			Supercharger	Turbocharger
		Oil	Water	Type
Controllable	Controllable Not auto controlled	Controllable Not auto controlled	Controllable Not auto controlled	Separate	Not controllable 2 gears	Not controllable

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Good firepower
• Good speed
• Good stability
• Small size
• Plenty of machine gun ammo, decent back-up after cannon ammunition runs out
• Quite manoeuvrable
• Decent roll rate
• Has WEP unlike previous He 112s

Cons:

• Mediocre sustained turn rate
• Low cannon ammunition count
• MG FF cannons' damage can be inconsistent
• No armour or protection around important modules
• Armament can be ineffective in ground attack
• Armament can be ineffective against large bombers
• Poor handling at high speeds

History

As the He 112 was being phased out of German service in favour of the Bf 109, the Germans started considering exporting the design. The first nation placing an order was Japan, who ordered 30 He 112 B-0 to be used on the Chinese front by the Navy. The Japanese Naval designation for the He 112 B-0 was A7He1 (A7 Heinkel 1), as the A6M Zero was still in tweaking stage.

As the first 12 He 112 B-0 arrived, the Navy started comparing their new purchase with some of their own designs. The main comparison was the A7He1 vs A5M. From test results, they concluded that the A7He1 was quite the speed demon compared to the A5M but lacked manoeuvrability and climbing speed. Due this, the Navy scrapped the plan for frontline usage of the A7He1 and used them instead for training and teaching purposes. The planes were also studied to research the wing design, engine, landing gear and auxiliary technology. In addition, a single A7He1 was passed down to the Second Faculty of Engineering, Tokyo Imperial University for further research.

The remaining order of He 112 B-0 was cancelled due to delays and the design being considered inferior to domestic Japanese plane design as well as being too deviant from the IJN's fighter doctrine. The He 112 B-0s of the order remaining in Germany were diverted to the Condor Legion to fight in the Spanish Civil War instead.

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the A7He1 from live.warthunder.com.

See also

Related development

• He 112 (Family)

Other German aircraft tested by Japan

• Bf 109 E-7 (Japan)
• Fw 190 A-5 (Japan)

External links

• Official data sheet - more details about the performance