Heinkel HD 39
Heinkel · Germany · first flew 1926 · transport aircraft
The Heinkel HD 39 was a special-purpose cargo aircraft developed in Germany in the 1920s to distribute the Berlin newspaper B.Z.
Recognition (WEFT)
| W — Wings | Mid-mounted, straight |
|---|---|
| E — Engines | 1 × piston, nose-mounted |
| F — Fuselage | Conventional single-bay biplane with staggered wings, the fuselage nearly filling the interplane gap |
| T — Tail | Conventional |
WEFT is AircraftIQ's four-point recognition method — how it works.
Spot it by:
- Conventional single-bay biplane with staggered wings, the fuselage nearly filling the interplane gap
- Open pilot cockpit and a fixed tailskid undercarriage with divided main units
- Ten separate compartments in the payload bay for air-dropping newspaper bundles
A conventional staggered biplane whose fuselage nearly fills the gap between the wings, with newspaper-dropping compartments in the payload bay.
Specifications
- The Heinkel HD 39 has a length of 10 m (33 ft).
- It has a wingspan of 14.8 m (49 ft).
- Its maximum speed is 166 km/h (103 mph).
- Typical crew: 2.
Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.
History
The design was based on the HD 27 mail plane. Ernst Heinkel learned by chance that B.Z. needed such an aircraft and had ordered two machines from Albatros, then convinced publisher Ullstein-Verlag to buy a third from him.
Variants
Only one was built, a development of the HD 27 with a specially designed payload bay for newspaper bundles of 50 kg.
Where you'll see it
It entered service alongside two Albatros L 72s in April 1926 and remained in use until 1931, when Deutsche Luft Hansa took over distribution of B.Z. by air.
Related aircraft
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