The Heinkel He 177 heavy bomber was doomed from the very start.

Conceptual problems and incompatible design elements gave it a terrible reputation. It was often named the "Luftwaffenfeuerzeug XX," or "The Air Force Lighter," for its constant engine fires.

It was also nicknamed the "The Flaming Coffin," the "One Way Bomber," and the "Volcano" for the many accidents pilots had while flying it. During World War II, it only saw limited service with the Luftwaffe.

Most of the crashes the He 177 suffered were caused by mechanical failures, not by enemy fire. Hitler despised it. Göring despised it. But some Luftwaffe pilots still pushed the project in hopes of deploying it as the dive bomber.

The He 177 was Germany's only long-range heavy bomber produced in appreciable numbers. The 35-ton plane, however, would contribute to the German defeat by sucking up valuable resources into an ineffective and compromised project.

Historians even say that all the effort spent trying to fix the aircraft may have doomed the Third Reich to lose the war in the air because of the enormous resources the project required.

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