Luft-X German Heinkel Wespe Vertical Take Off and Landing Interceptor - Heinkel Flugzeugwerke, Warnemunde, Germany, 1945 (1:72 Scale)

Home > Combat Aircraft > Luft-X >

German Heinkel Wespe Vertical Take Off and Landing Interceptor - Heinkel Flugzeugwerke, Warnemunde, Germany, 1945 (1:72 Scale)

Luft-X German Heinkel Wespe Vertical Take Off and Landing Interceptor - Heinkel Flugzeugwerke, Warnemunde, Germany, 1945

Additional Images. Click to Enlarge

List Price: $49.99

Our Price: $44.99

You save $5.00!

You'll earn: 45 points

Stock Status: In Stock

Availability: Usually Ships in 24 Hours
Product Code: LUFT013

Qty:

Description

Extended Information

Luft-X LUFT013 German Heinkel Wespe Vertical Take Off and Landing Interceptor - Heinkel Flugzeugwerke, Warnemunde, Germany, 1945 (1:72 Scale) "Hitler's instincts, as always, veered towards attack as the best form of defense. He looked, as did - impatiently and more and more disbelievingly - large numbers of ordinary Germans, to the chance to launch devastating weapons of destruction against Great Britain, giving the British a taste of their own medicine and forcing the Allies to rethink their strategy in the air-war. Here, too, his illusions about the speed with which the "wonder-weapons" could be made ready for deployment, and their likely impact on British war strategy, were shored up by the optimistic prognoses of his advisers."
- Ian Kershaw, "Hitler: 1936-1945 Nemesis"

The Heinkel Wespe (English: Wasp) was a project study by the German company Heinkel for a tail-sitting, vertical take off and landing-interceptor aircraft. The aircraft did not have conventional wings, but instead featured a large rotor. Completed in 1945, it remained untested due to a lack of material at the end of the Second World War. A related project was the Heinkel Lerche.

The aircraft was to be powered by a turboprop in the center of the airframe which was unusual for having a circular wing and would have had a small frontal area, making it a good platform for attacking bombers. It may have been designed for point defense, but due to the situation in Germany at the time, the engine was not completed and none were ever built.

Pictured here is a 1:72 scale replica of a German Heinkel Wespe vertical take off and landing interceptor. Now in stock!

Dimensions:
Wingspan: 3-1/2-inches
Length: 3-1/4-inches

Release Date: November 2023

Historical Account: "Sting of the Wasp" - The Heinkel "Wespe" (Wasp) was designed in late 1944 at the Vienna Heinkel works as a VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing) interceptor. It was mainly to be used around factory complexes as a "point defense" interceptor, much like the Bachem Ba 349 "Natter". The Wespe was designed around a circular wing, with small wing tips protruding beyond the circular wing at the two lower wing support locations. A single He S 021 turboprop (the turboprop development of the He S 011 jet engine), driving a six-bladed propeller, provided 2000 horsepower plus 750 kp thrust and was fed by an air intake located below the cockpit. The Wespe took off and landed on three landing gear, which in flight were covered for aerodynamical purposes. The pilot sat in a normal seated position in the nose under a huge blown canopy, and two MK 108 30mm cannon mounted in blisters on each side of the cockpit were envisioned for the armament. Further development was not carried forth due to the approaching war's end, and that a more aerodynamic, cleaner VTOL project (the "Lerche II") was also in the design phase.