The Heinkel HD 24 was a

training Training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or fitness that relate to specific useful competencies. Training has specific goals of improving one's capability, capacity, productivity and performance. I ...

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their technological characteri ...

developed 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 betwee ...

in the late 1920s. It was a conventional single-bay

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 a ...

with equal-

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 ...

, staggered wings. The

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...

was braced to both the upper and lower wings with a number of struts on its sides, in addition to the normal

cabane 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 i ...

s. The pilot and instructor 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 controls the aircraft. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the controls that e ...

s, and the undercarriage consisted of twin pontoons, although this could be readily exchanged for wheels or skis. Heinkel entered two HD 24s (alongside two HD.5) in the German ''Seeflugwettbewerb'' seaplane competition in 1926. One of the HD.24 was the third placed - only three aircraft completed the course and completed all the tests in the 11-day competition- leading to orders by the DVS (for 23 aircraft) and the

Swedish Navy The Swedish Navy ( sv, Svenska marinen) is the naval branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. It is composed of surface and submarine naval units – the Fleet () – as well as marine units, the Amphibious Corps (). In Swedish, vessels ...

. The latter aircraft were to be built in Sweden by

Svenska Aero Svenska Aero AB (full name: Svenska Aero Aktiebolaget, , abbr. SA) was a Swedish aircraft manufacturer on Hästholmen in Lidingö. The company was founded September 10, 1921, to license build Caspar-Werke and Heinkel aircraft. The company was b ...

based on two pattern aircraft provided by Heinkel. Before the Swedish examples could be delivered, the

Swedish Air Force The Swedish Air Force ( sv, Svenska flygvapnet or just ) is the air force branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. History The Swedish Air Force was created on 1 July, 1926 when the aircraft units of the Army and Navy were merged. Because of the e ...

had assumed responsibility for Swedish naval aviation, and so took delivery of the six domestically produced machines, designating them Sk 4. One HD 24 was exported to China, and another was bought by German explorer

Gunther Plüschow Gunther Plüschow (February 8, 1886 – January 28, 1931) was a German aviator, aerial explorer and author from Munich, Bavaria. His feats include the only escape by a German prisoner of war in World War I from Britain back to Germany; he was ...

who named it ''

Tsingtau Qingdao (, also spelled Tsingtao; , Mandarin: ) is a major city in eastern Shandong Province. The city's name in Chinese characters literally means " azure island". Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, it is a major nodal city of the One Belt ...

'' and took it on an expedition in 1927–28 to

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and

Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of the Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main island, Isla ...

. The journey was recorded in his book and documentary film '' Silberkondor über Feuerland''. A full size replica of the Tsingtau D1313 is being assembled for static display as of April 17, 2009, in Puerto Madero,

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

. It is located at about 500 of Alicia Moreau de Justo Avenue. This replica was located in the Aeroclub of Ushuaia, Province of Tierra del Fuego, Argentine; during a visit to the aeroclub on 5 November 2022 it was reported to have been scrapped. A new replica is being built for in El Calafate, Province of Santa Cruz, Argentine. It will be locate in the Glaciarium.

Variants

* Sk 4 - HD 24 for Swedish service with Mercedes D.IIIa engine (2 built by Heinkel, 4 by Svenska Aero) ** Sk 4A - Sk 4 with Junkers L 5 engine (2 built by Svenska Aero, plus 3 converted from Sk 4) ** Sk 4B - Sk 4 with Armstrong Siddeley Puma engine (3 converted from Sk 4)

Operators

; *

Specifications (HD 24a landplane)

Heinkel_HD_24_3-view_Le_Document_aéronautique_October,1926

References

;Notes ;Bibliography *

External links

Heinkels at Warnemunde
- image includes HD.24 {{Swedish military aircraft designations 1920s German civil trainer aircraft Floatplanes HD 24 Biplanes Svenska Aero aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1926