Airworthiness and Handling
The initial production version of the Greif, the He 177 A-1, demonstrated a tendency for instability in the yaw and pitch axes during August 1942, during flight tests, that would have led to poor bombing accuracy in action. Shortly after these tests, the third production A-1 example (factory serial number 15153, with Stammkennzeichen of GI + BN) had its fuselage lengthened by 160 cm (63 in) just aft of the trailing edge of the wing, and tests of the modified aircraft, from the longer distance of the "tail moment" that resulted, gave a marked degree of improvement in the yaw and pitch axis stability, enough to mandate the construction of the He 177 A-3 and all later models of the He 177 with the lengthened fuselage.
In early September 1944, the Royal Aircraft Establishment was ordered to supply an aircrew for a He 177 that the French Maquis and Allied units in Vichy France would take control of at the airfield at Blagnac near Toulouse, where elements of both the He 177A-equipped KG 4 and KG 100 Luftwaffe bomber wings were based. A transport and two escort fighters from the RAE flew to the area to leave the Chief Test Pilot and a flight engineer with the commando group. On 10 September, as Operation Dragoon was wrapping up in the southeast of France, the aircraft was seized and flown back to the UK. Soon afterwards, Eric Brown, a RN pilot currently posted to the RAE as a test pilot flew the He 177. He wrote about the in-flight handling characteristics of the He 177 A-5:.
"...positive about all axes, but the controls were all remarkably light for such a large aircraft. Indeed I had the feeling that the elevator was dangerously light and I was all too aware of the intelligence reports of He 177s breaking up in the air so I decided to treat this control very gently... The aircraft had an automatic pull-out device and an acceleration warning apparatus fitted, but it really was nailbiting to have to treat a giant like this immense Heinkel bomber as if it was made of glass. The stalling characteristics with flaps and undercarriage lowered the aircraft buffeted violently at 140 km/h (87 mph) before the nose dropped at 135 km/h (84 mph). The buffet experienced was so violent that I had some concerns over structural damage. Somehow the He 177 always conveyed an impression of fragility despite its size."
He said it was "one of the very few German aircraft of the period that I tested that I did not enjoy flying".
Read more about this topic: Heinkel He 177
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