Title: He 1000
First published: 1956
Description: Written by Bernie Weisz Historian e mail address: BernWei1@aol.com Pembroke Pines, Florida U.S.A.  May 27, 2010 

Why is this book, "HE 1000" so hard to get! It's annoying to find rediculous fictionalized love stories, pornography, absurd athletic sports hero biographies and the like mass produced and readily accessable and a story like this almost impossible to get. Why is that? Maybe because the basic tenant of history per se is the maxim:"those that do not learn the course of history and it's consequences are doomed to repeat it's actions". Pardon the cliche, but it's true:history repeats itself. It's like the definition of the word insanity. Insanity is: "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results". So how does one learn about history to prevent this? Obviously, it must be available! After an exhaustive and expensive search, I finally found this book! One would think that this book would give you insight into the insanity of Adolf Hitler's "Third Reich" and the conflagration that it caused worldwide.  Heinel's book delivered that and more! The reason I gave it only four stars is only because of how technical Heinkel elaborated on the inner intricacies of avionics that only a technician in that field would understand. Regardless, this book is the hard to get, self penned (and translated from German) story of Ernst Heinkel, (born January 24th, 1888 died January 30th, 1958) who was a German aircraft designer and manufacturer. He does not describe his childhood, but starts the book by explaning that his "true life" began on Aug. 5, 1908 when he witnessed at age 20 the "Zeppelin LZ4" mysteriously explode before his eyes. Heinkel relates: "the framework took on strange shapes and fell to earth with an appalling bursting din, while tens of thousands of spectators gave vent to terrifying screams such as I was never to experience again-not even in the worst bombing attacks of the Second World War".  The reader has to realize that at this period of time, airplanes and flying was at it's infancy. Heinkel states,after witnessing this disaster, the following:"Suddenly an idea came into my head, which was the beginning of what I would like to call the purpose of my "true life". It was quite clear to me that the realization of the dream of flying which Graf Zeppelin and others were attempting to realize under the slogan "lighter than air" (since the airships were lifted by the hydrogen gas they contained) could not be the final solution. They would always come to grief as the result of the uncertainty of the elements. If the realization of this dream were to be a possibility, then it could only be with less flimsy contraptions driven by engines and propellers-in fact heavier-than-air machines. I have heard of the existence of such machines in France and America without having paid much attention to the news". It is interesting to note that Heinkel remarks: "In Germany, except for a few luntics, no one saw any possibility of flying with machines which were "heavier than air". After the news broke throughout Germany of the Wright Brother's achievements (Orville and Olliver Wright built an airplane that in 1903 flew 200 yards, 400 yards in 1904 and in 1905 increased it to 25 miles) Heinkel tells of German arrogance. Heinkel writes: "They had flown, although our newspapers would not credit it and spoke of them as the "lying brothers".   Following this disaster, Heinkel became an apprentice machinist at a foundry. In 1910 he built his first aircraft, working in collaboration with Henri Farman. Following this, he started working for LVG (Luft Verkehrs Gesellschaft) who built airplanes for Henri Farman. Next, he switched companies for "Albatross" where Heinkel personally designed the "Albatross B-11" (a reconnaissance aircraft used during the early stages of W.W.I.). Heinkel next describes his thoughts, feelings and observations of life in Germany during the first World War. Heinkel leaves Albatross and goes to work in 1914 for "Hansa-Brandenburg Company". There, Heinkel designed various land and seaplanes. Following Germany's defeat and the limitations placed on aviation because of the victorious power's institution of the "Treaty of Versailles". Heinkel was forced to look overseas for contracts. Heinkel established the "Heinkel-Flugzeugwerke" company at Warnemeunde and built in Sweden (so not to violate the treaty), seaplanes and "catapult-launched" seaplanes for the Imperial Japanese Navy. Heinkel also explained that he also devised a catapult-launched seaplane on the German ocean liner "Bremen" to launch mail planes. Heinkel's description of how Adolf Hitler and his henchmen, particularly Hermann Goering (who Heinkel had an incredible antipathy for) came to power is priceless!  Despite Ernst Heinkel's (SUPPOSED) opposition to Nazism and the tenants of National Socialism  he vividly described how his firm formed a vital part of the Luftwaffe prior to, and for the duration of W.W. II.  Some of the main aircraft Heinkel built for the Nazi war effort were the HE70 and HE111, the ladder becoming the mainstay bomber of the Luftwaffe. Heinkel also describes his work with the HE162, a single engined, jet powered fighter aircraft, the fastest and first generation of Axis and Allied jets. He also described the testing and implementation of the HE176, the world's first aircraft to be propelled solely by rocket power. In addition, Heinkel described his "Flaming Coffin" the troubled long-range bomber that was the only heavy bomber built in large numbers by Germany during W.W. II. The derogatory term was so coined by aircrews because of it's tendency to catch fire during battle. Then there was the HE178, which was the world's first aircraft to fly under "turbojet power".  Heinkel also came out with the "He277" which Heinkel described as a four-engine derivative of the Heinkel He177. Heinkel's final Luftwaffe creation was the HE280, the first "turbojet-powered" fighter aircraft in the world. It is fascinating to read how Heinkel described a combination of technical and political factors that led to it being passed over in favor of the "Messerschmitt ME 262". Heinkel mourned that only nine HE280's were built and none ever reached operational status. It is interesting to read Heinkel's impressions of Adolf Hitler, Ernst Udet (particularly his suicide).  Charles Lindberg, and his link with Nazism, Heinrich Himmler, Joseph Goebbels, Rudolf Hess and Heinkel's personal fight against anti-semtism. In fact, the reader will be surprised to read that Heinkel, with his large protruding nose, was accused of being Jewish! This actually led to the Gestapo investigating Heinkel's geneology. The big question is, of course, would Heinkel have taken this position in a book if Germany was victorious? Clearly, Heinkel blamed Germany's loss in W.W. II to incompetency in the Nazi hierarchy, as well as Hitler's ill-fated decision to fight a two front, east-west war. Before Stalingrad: Barbarossa, Hitler's Invasion of Russia 1941 (Battles & Campaigns) Heinkel also describes his association with Wernher Von Braun, one of the pioneers of investigating rocket propulsion for aircraft, turbojet propulsion, and the world's first I.C.B.M. (Inter Continental Ballistic Bissle) and the research at Peenemunde.The Rocket and the Reich: Peenemünde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missle Era This is a book that is sadly impossible to find, and it is a vital document that gives an incredible account of how the Luftwaffe tried to function under a dictatorship gone mad. Dissected for the reader are stories of personal jealousies, battles for priorities, civilian greed and bitter political rivalries mixed with an insane anti semetic campaign that left six million Jews and thirteen million Soviets and uncountable civilians dead all over the world. This is a book that must be reprinted and disseminated by anyone trying to understand the cataclysm of World War Two. Reissue this book!
Subjects: Aeronautical engineers, Biography, World War II, German Luftwaffe
Places: Germany
People: Ernst Heinkel (1888-1958)
Time periods: Early 1900's to the end of W.W. II
LC classification: TL540.H4 A33 1956