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The first of these aircraft flew in December 1932, and set a bunch of speed records in 1933. The Blitz is a long-range fast transport and mail plane built for Lufthansa, but mostly intended as the precursor for military bomber and reconnaissance variants. The fuselage structure and skin are made from magnesium alloy (the wing spars, ribs and skin are made of spruce and plywood), and the screws and rivets are set flush with the skin; the plane is thus fast but very flammable.

The pilot and navigator/radio operator sit under sliding glass canopies offset slightly to the port side of the fuselage; a fire extinguisher is carried next to each seat.

Normally two 2-person passenger couches are fitted into the fuselage, facing each other with a luggage space aft of the rear seat. There is half-height bulkhead between the passenger area and the cockpit, with a curtain normally drawn across the opening. A reasonably agile person could scramble over the bulkhead into the navigator's seat (with the cooperation of the navigator). The passenger compartment has two "dome lights"; the compartment is about 6' long (but about half that with the auxiliary tank in place) and 50" wide, but only about 48" high. Doors are fitted on either side of the fuselage for access to the passenger and luggage compartments.

In the longer-range version Our Heroes obtained from Pierre Boulle, the forward couch is replaced with a 65 gallon auxiliary fuel tank -- access between the navigator's seat and the passenger area is much more difficult. This particular version is labelled the He70A-1.

In short:  the pilot and radio operator enter and leave the aircraft through the canopy; the passengers through the doors on either the left or right sides, just above the trailing edge of the wings.

An inflatable life raft (capacity 600 lbs) and simple first aid kit are stored in the luggage space; the life raft can be inflated quickly from a 10 cubic foot-capacity carbon dioxide cylinder.

The landing gear are retractable; there is no tail wheel, but rather a spring-loaded tail skid. The wings have split flaps fitted. The wingspan is 48' 6", the aircraft is 38' 4" long. Powerful landing lights are fitted on each side of the wing, plus all the usual navigation lights for the period. There is a radio transmitter/receiver fitted, with a radio-direction-finding loop.

The engine is a supercharged BMW VI 7-3 12 cylinder water-cooled inline engine of 750 hp; the two-bladed propeller is made of metal. The cooling system uses ethylene glycol instead of water. The main fuel tank contains 110 gallons; the auxiliary tank, 65 gallons.

Maximum takeoff weight is 7500 lbs; the empty weight is 5000 lbs. Full tanks of gasoline weigh 1085 lbs total; this leaves 1415 lbs for pilot, navigator, two passengers and cargo/luggage. A supercharged engine loses about 1.7% of its power for every 1,000' above sea level, so at about 10,000' altitude (the Merzbacher Lake), we shouldn't take off with more than 6225 lbs total weight, or 1225 lbs including gas, crew, and cargo. Four people is about 800 lbs, so that would leave 425 lbs for fuel: 68 gallons, enough for 800 miles flight. If you cut the fuel down to 600 miles worth (enough for a flight to Gilgit) and only had to take 7 people along, you could fit about 400 lbs of "treasure" into two planes, too.

Performance:  top speed 216 mph (222 mph in a well-prepared test), best cruise speed 190 mph, landing speed 70 mph (59 mph with flaps down), ceiling 20,500', range 1300 miles on main tank, plus 770 miles from auxiliary tank = 2070 miles total (10 hours flight time at cruise speed). Climb rate 1,000' per minute. Keep in mind that the top speed of the Russian I-5 fighter plane is only 173 mph, and the Bristol Bulldog only 178 mph. 

Cost is at least $30,000.

the photographer for this picture is sitting in the navigator's seat

print this out 10.4" wide for figure scale

Here's a video.