Type 2-seat trainer
Engine 1 Siemens-Halske Sh 14A-4
Dimensions Length 7,56 m , height 2,95 m ,  span  9,0 m, wing area 20,7 m2  ,
Weights Empty 540 kg, loaded  980 kg, max. take off weight ,  fuel 130 kg
Performance Max.. speed 190 km/h at sea level, 187 km/h at 1000 m, cruising speed 175 km/h at sea level,landing speed 84 km/h,  range 530 km, endurance  , service ceiling  4000 m , climb to 100 m 5,8 min., to 3000 m 18,6 min.
Type Werk.Nr Registration History
V1 1848 D-EEPO First flight 3.10.1935
V2 1849 D-EEHU
V3 D-ELAJ
V4 924 D-EEON Projected seaplane
In late 1934, engineers at Ernst Heinkel Flugzeugwerke began work on an improved version of the Heinkel He.72 Kadett trainer. The new aircraft received a more streamlined fuselage and a Townend ring fairing.

October 3, 1935, the company tester Kurt Heinrich  flew the first prototype aircraft He.172 V-1 (WNr. 1848, D-EEPO). It was a two-seat, single-column biplane, powered by a 160 hp Siemens-Halske Sh 14A radial seven-cylinder engine. (118 kW). This prototype flew without the Townend ring.

Soon Heinrich flew around the second prototype He.172 V-2 (WNr. 1849, D-EEHU). Both machines were handed over for testing at the end of 1935. The conclusions of the commission were disappointing - the flight specification of the new machine was only marginally better than that of the production He.72 aircraft. In addition, another competitor has already entered the series - the Focke-Wulf Fw.44 Steiglitz.

As a result, the project was closed, the third He.172 V-3 prototype (D-ELAJ) was not completed, and the fourth He.172 V-4 (D-EEON) in the form of a seaplane did not begin construction