Several user made vehicles have made it to the game in the past under the War Thunder revenue share program and we are pleased to announce that another user made creation will be making its way to the game with update 1.77 “Advancing Storm”. Pilots, welcome the long-awaited German He 177 “Greif” strategic heavy bomber to War Thunder!

Development of the He 177 began in 1936 as part of the Bomber A specifications issued by the German Air Ministry (RLM). The specifications called for a long range, high speed bomber with a payload of 1,000 kg. Despite the very demanding specifications, Heinkel began working on a mockup which was submitted for review in late 1937, with an order for 12 experimental machines following shortly after in early 1939. However, throughout its development, the He 177 suffered from a range of problems, some of which weren’t even fixed before further development stopped. For example, one of the requirements (which was soon rejected, since it was impossible to implement) from the Air Ministry was the ability to bomb from a dive, that’s why the engineers had to make various workarounds to provide the required flight technical characteristics. To reduce aerodynamic drag and to ensure flight range, two DB 601 engines were installed in pairs on one gondola and worked with a common shaft which rotated one four bladed propeller. Thanks to this it was possible to create the aircraft using a two-engined scheme. But for this reason, the vehicle suffered from severe engine overheating issues and more often than not experienced mid-flight engine failures and frequent fires. In the process of fine tuning the aircraft, the weight was significantly increased, so it became necessary to install a massive frame which could not be hidden - a relatively thin wing or tightly packed nacelles wouldn't fit. As a result, each frame was divided into two racks, each with a single wheel that could be retracted into the wing on opposite sides of the nacelle.





The He 177 Greif will be available to all War Thunder players and fans of German aviation with the upcoming update 1.77 “Advancing Storm” as a heavy bomber of Rank IV of the German aviation tree.

For more information, read the full Dev Blog article on the Official War Thunder Forums!