I found the article I wrote back in '99. I'm sure there are some inacuracies, but hey, I'm an amature.
(sorry for the format, it was a txt file.
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One of the first experimental designs to never see service in the Luftwaffe was the He-
100. This experimental fighter showed both great promise, as well as the flaws in the Nazi
procurement system. While this design gained great notoriety for the Fatherland, it was repaid by
never being accepted for service.
In 1937 The Luftwaffe was giving consideration to successors to the BF109. Heinkel
jumped on this opportunity by submitting project 1035, what was to later be known as the He-
100. The design focused on quick manufacture, and high speed. To achieve the highest speeds
possible, Heinkel employed a novel "Surface evaporative cooling system" that was first used in
the experimental He-119 bomber In place of a conventional liquid cooling system. While no one
could predict the outcome of this project, one thing was sure; the He-100 was going to be a
different kind of airplane.
In October of 1937 Heinkel was awarded a contract to build 3 prototypes and 10 pre-
production examples. Now that the He-100 was underway as a fighter, a second, and possibly
more important motivation for the design became known. Ernst Heinkel had decided to use this
design to put the ultimate speed record in the hands of Germany for the first time ever. To this
end, two separate wings were designed for the aircraft. One set was a conventional wing that
would be suited for an operational fighter. The second set however, was designed solely for
speed.
The first attempt at this record took place during September of 1938. Unfortunately for
Heinkel, this attempt had to be aborted due to a faulty mainwheel leg. Unfortunately for test pilot
Gerhard Nitschke, a bailout was necessary, and he struck the tail surface on his way out. A
second attempt proved successful and on March 30th 1939, the He-100 V8 attained an average
speed of 469.9 m.p.h. to set a new ultimate speed record. For the first time in history, this
prestigious award belonged to Germany. The He-100's possession of this record was short lived
however. Less than a month later, The Messerschmitt 209 made a run averaging 469.2.m.p.h.
After this the Luftwaffe requested that the two companies desist in further pursuing the
competition. While the He-100 never regained the speed record, it did hold one thing over the
Me-209. The He-100 was based on an operational prototype, whereas the Me-209 was built with
the express purpose of breaking the ultimate speed record.
While the V8 high speed aircraft was setting speed records, the operational prototypes
were also showing promise. At sea level they obtained a speed of 348 m.p.h, yet at 16,400 ft, a
speed of 416 m.p.h was managed. Contemporary fighters couldn't match these numbers. The
Focke-Wulf 190 was still on the drawing board, and the BF-109D was only able to manage 157
m.p.h. at 11,000 feet. Unfortunatly for Heinkel, the Evaporative cooling system caused engine
overheating problems that forced an early end to many test flights. The He-100 even had greater
range than the Bf-109 by 100 miles!
It was becoming apparent that the Luftwaffe was not going to accept the He-100 as a
replacement for the Bf-109. Focke-Wulf had been awarded a contract to develop the 190, and the
Luftwaffe suggested that Heinkel concentrate on bomber development. Instead of scraping the
program Heinkel asked for, and received, permission to offer the fighter for export. In late 1939
the Soviet Union and the Imperial Japanese Navy expressed interest in purchasing the fighter.
Both the Soviets and the Japanese purchased three of the pre-production fighters, and Japan even
purchased the rights to build the He-100 in Japan. The Imperial Japanese Navy had found its new
land based interceptor. Fortunately for the Allies, the Germans never provided the Japanese with
adequate patterns for building the new fighter. Instead, the Japanese used the licence to build the
DB 601 engine, and designed the Ki-61 Hien around it.
Without the ability to be produced in Japan, and with the war raging in Europe, the He-
100 was destined to never see action. Even though when the heat problems were ironed out, the
plane was able to outrun anything in the air. In the end, the aircraft was used only as a propaganda
weapon, filling fictitious squadrons as the fictitious He-113. Had the Luftwaffe, or IJN been able
to mass produce these aircraft, what a surprise they would have been for the RAF and USN.
While they probably wouldn't have been decisive in the war effort, they would have certainly
made life difficult for the RAF during their finest hour
