Heinkel He 45

The Heinkel He 45 was a German light bomber of the early 1930s and one of the first aircraft taken into service by the newly formed Luftwaffe. It was a conventional biplane with the pilot and gunner seated in tandem in open cockpits. Developed in parallel with the He 46, it appeared in 1931 as a general-purpose biplane. It was employed mainly as a trainer, although the Luftwaffe also used it for reconnaissance and light bombing. Production totalled 512 aircraft, including examples built under licence by Gotha, Focke-Wulf and BFW, and the type also flew with the Spanish and Thai air forces. The three prototypes tested different propellers and armament, and an export reconnaissance version for China was designated the HD 61.