Heinkel He 277

The Heinkel He 277 was a four-engine, long-range heavy bomber design, a derivative of the He 177, intended for production and use by the German Luftwaffe during World War II. The main difference was in engine configuration. Rather than using two fire-prone Daimler-Benz DB 606 "power system" engines, each of which consisted of side-by-side paired Daimler-Benz DB 601s, the He 277 was meant from the outset to use four BMW 801E 14-cylinder radial engines, each mounted in an individual nacelle and each turning a three-blade, four-meter diameter propeller. The design was never produced, owing both to the deteriorating condition of the German aviation industry late in the war, and the competition from other long-range bomber designs from other firms, competing for Germany's increasingly scarce aviation production capacity. Although not specifically built for it at first, partially due to the time-frame in the spring of 1942 in which its ultimate niche was requested for by the RLM, the He 277 essentially became Heinkel's entry in the important trans-oceanic range Amerika Bomber competition, struggling to compete against both several other designs from rival firms in the competition for a truly trans-oceanic ranged bomber for the Luftwaffe, and Germany's own rapidly degrading ability, from Allied bombing damage to its aviation plants, to produce military aircraft of any sort.