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The He 111 was an outstanding and versatile medium bomber when first produced. However, by the summer of 1940 it was highly vulnerable to modern fighters, such as the British Hurricane and Spitfire. From the earliest days of the war the He 111 was employed in attacks against French and British shipping. Subsequently, the He 111 served as the principal bomber in the Battle of Britain in 1940. British defenses inflicted grievous losses on the He 111s. The Aircraft remained in service throughout the war. In Sept. 1944 the He 111 was employed to launch FZG-76 guided bombs against London from over the North Sea. Through Jan. 14, 1945, these planes launched more than 1,200 missiles against London and other cities. The He 111 was also used extensively on the Russian front as a bomber and anti-shipping aircraft, with torpedo aircraft sinking numerous ships in the Russian convoys. The He 111 had a conventional albeit streamlined bomber design with two in-line engines mounted on a low wing.. The long, slim nose had a glazed bombardier's position. A ventral "dustbin" was soon fitted as well as an open dorsal position for defensive guns (later replaced by a streamlined gondola). The bombardier also fired a gun in the nose position. Recognizing the vulnerability of the He 111, early in the war a pair of machine guns were mounted to fire from side windows and another gun was fitted in the ventral gondola to fire forward. Some aircraft also had a 20 mm cannon fitted in the nose and a few had a remote-control machine gun fitted in the tail. The Heinkel firm began developing the He 111 in early 1934 and finished the first prototype late that year. It flew for the first time early in 1935. When German production finally ended after nine years in the fall of 1944, Heinkel plants had produced more than 7,300 of these aircraft.
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