The Heinkel HD 17 was a military

reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...

aircraft produced in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in the late 1920s.

Design

The Heinkel HD 17 was a conventional

single-bay A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a ...

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

with strongly staggered wings of unequal

span Span may refer to: Science, technology and engineering * Span (unit), the width of a human hand * Span (engineering), a section between two intermediate supports * Wingspan, the distance between the wingtips of a bird or aircraft * Sorbitan ester ...

braced with N-type

interplane strut In aeronautics, bracing comprises additional structural members which stiffen the functional airframe to give it rigidity and strength under load. Bracing may be applied both internally and externally, and may take the form of strut, which act in ...

s. The pilot and observer sat in tandem, open

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a Pilot in command, pilot controls the aircraft. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the ...

s, and the main units of the fixed, tailskid undercarriage were linked by a cross-axle.

Operational history

The Heinkel HD 17 first flew in 1924. In 1926, it was evaluated by the ''

Reichswehr ''Reichswehr'' () was the official name of the German armed forces during the Weimar Republic and the first years of the Third Reich. After Germany was defeated in World War I, the Imperial German Army () was dissolved in order to be reshaped ...

'' to equip the secret aviation training school at

Lipetsk Lipetsk ( rus, links=no, Липецк, p=ˈlʲipʲɪtsk), also romanized as Lipeck, is a city and the administrative center of Lipetsk Oblast, Russia, located on the banks of the Voronezh River in the Don basin, southeast of Moscow. Populatio ...

, and was selected in favour of the competing Albatros L 65. Seven aircraft were purchased and used briefly for training until replaced by more modern designs. Two Heinkel HD 17s were evaluated in 1924 by the

US Army Air Service The United States Army Air Service (USAAS)Craven and Cate Vol. 1, p. 9 (also known as the ''"Air Service"'', ''"U.S. Air Service"'' and before its legislative establishment in 1920, the ''"Air Service, United States Army"'') was the aerial warf ...

, being modified by

Cox-Klemin The Cox-Klemin Aircraft Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer based in Long Island, New York in the 1920s. History It was founded by Charles Cox and Alexander Klemin (a professor at New York University) in College Point, New York. Th ...

to use a

Napier Lion The Napier Lion is a 12-cylinder, petrol-fueled 'broad arrow' W12 configuration aircraft engine built by D. Napier & Son from 1917 until the 1930s. A number of advanced features made it the most powerful engine of its day and kept it in produ ...

and

Liberty 12 The Liberty L-12 is an American water-cooled 45° V-12 aircraft engine displacing and making designed for a high power-to-weight ratio and ease of mass production. It saw wide use in aero applications, and, once marinized, in marine use both i ...

respectively. Designated by Cox-Klemin as CO-1 and CO-2 respectively (Project numbers P-377 and P-379 were allocated respectively), these planes had no provisions for military equipment during evaluation tests, but were rejected by the USAAS and returned to Cox-Klemin.

Specifications (CO-1)

Heinkel_HD_17_3-view_Les_Ailes_January_7,_1926

References

{{Heinkel aircraft 1920s German military reconnaissance aircraft HD 17 Single-engined tractor aircraft Biplanes Aircraft first flown in 1924