While the fuselage and flotation gear of the He 114 were conventional, it used a sesquiplane wing, with a much smaller lower wing. The upper wings were attached to the fuselage with cabane struts, and the lower wings were of reduced span but a similar chord.
Operational history
The German battleship Gneisenau with a He 114 on its catapult in 1939
The He 114 was never a great success, was not built in large numbers, and served with the Luftwaffe for only a short time. While the He 60 had handled very well on the water but sluggish in the air, the He 114's handling while afloat was poor and its performance in the air scarcely better than the aircraft it replaced.
A total of 24 aircraft were exported to Romania, where the last 8 remained in service until 1 May 1960. In July 1943 Spain acquired 12 aircraft of the A and C variants, they were retired in 1954.
On 1 November 1939 Sweden ordered 12 aircraft of the B-1 variant. The aircraft were planned to be delivered in December the same year but was soon rescheduled to Spring the following year. In April 1940 Sweden increased the order by 24 aircraft, Heinkel responded by informing that the original order would not be delivered as the German government had enacted a ban on military materiel export to Sweden. When the ban was lifted, the 12 aircraft originally intended for Sweden had already been taken into service of the Luftwaffe. By the end of 1940 Germany gave notice that it could deliver 12 aircraft, Sweden accepted but Germany soon cancelled the order. The purchase could, however, be realized in 1941 and 12 used He 114 arrived in Sweden dismantled in boxes in the spring of the same year. The airplanes were assembled and given a complete overhaul before entering service at Roslagens flygflottilj (F2) in Hägernäs under the designation S 12 (S being an abbreviation for 'reconnaissance aircraft' in Sweden).
The hilfskreuzerAtlantis, Pinguin and Widder were equipped with two He 114 each. They made extensive use of these aircraft during their raiding careers in 1940-41, until the aircraft were lost or worn out. Some were replaced by Arado's brought by supply ships whilst they were still at large.[1]
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