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    German aviation

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    314 views50 pages

    Heinkel He 219 Uhu

    Uploaded by

    Lupus Teias
    German aviation

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
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    THE eta ee) ay |) ele ae eee @ UN 931835 3aUdd JUIVMLIN IHL MILITARY a) BOOK eT Dressel & Manfred Griehl : ; 7 No t3333 A 21 A UH fm 1 exc1p-cny 3890210) usu Aa pevudea sem NUN 612 BH SUL “| From High- speed Bomber i Night Fighter The Prototypes Joachim Dressel and Manfred Grieh! The He 219 V 1 (VGrLW) on approach fo land. Photo: Held In 1940 the Heinkel design bureau pro. lected several versions of a twin-engined Srcrah as a highspeed bomber (Project ie P 1056) and reconnaissance aircraft (P = 1088), burng he course ofthe your ts was developed ino a mut piace, nha = thage reconnaissance aca at te « quest of the RLM. According to Heinkel company documents, the P 1055 was to have been capable of reaching a speed of Leet fa see eee et The fest prototype dung fight tals. Photo: Fr. V. ing of 9,800 meters. The project was later pursued as a “reconnoiterer” and “day bomber.” November 1840 saw the emer: gence of a heavy fighter variant, as there was obviously “an urgent requirement” for such an aircraft. The machine was to have a defensive armament of up to eight guns {ang two fixed weapons. A heavly-armed escort fighter followed in early 1947 and then finally, the summer of 1941, a night fighter was requested and developed. The project received the designation He 219 in August of the same year. One ‘month later a mockup of the cockpit was ready for inspection by the RLM, folowed by a complete airframe mockup in Novem ber 1941. The final inspection of the mockup was completed on April 7, 1942, The delivery of blueprints for the prototypes and the fabrication of individual parts be Cockpit section of an arly prototype, stil with provision foran af fring MG 131, Photo: Heinkel {gan at the same time. The components were completed by September and final as- sembly of the first prototype was able to begin, By tis time the decision had been made to concentrate He 219 development in Vienna-Schwechat Following extensive ground testing, on November 6, 1942 company pilot Peter took the V 1 (VG+LW) into the air for the first time. ‘On account of Generaifeldmarschall Mich’s skepticism regarding the modern night fighter, a comparative suitabilty test was arranged involving the He 219, the Ju 188 and the Me 410. As a result of this the Bi 110 was adopted as an immediate solu tion, the Ju 88 C-6 as an interim night fightor and the Ju 188 N as a provisional final solution, This was based on a com parison fight on January 3, 1943 involving {Ju 188 whose defensive armament and external bomb racks had been removed The extensively lightened Junkers ma: chine proved to be 30 kph faster than the He 219. By January 15, 1942 the He 219 \V 1 had made a total of 46 fights, totaling ‘30 hours and 40 minutes of fying time, The aircraft was test flown by Oberstleutnant Petersen, Fight Staff Engineers Battcher, Beauvais and Neidhardt and Major Streb among others. ‘Tests revealed that the airera's per- {formance in horizontal fight was about 15, kph less than the company had guaran teed. As wel stability about the yaw axis was inadequate and there was some vi bration in the area of the tall assembly. ‘Several days later, on January 10, the He 219 V 2 (GG-WG) took off on its ‘maiden fight. By this time the V 1 had com pleted 46 fights, in the course of which its performance was assessed as good. In particular the testing of the machine by Major Streip on January 15 and his pos tive report to Goring led to the order to in ‘crease monthly production to 100 aircraft ‘The Ho 219 V 1 at Marionono. Photo: Hold Final assembly ofan He 219 4.0, Photo: Heinkel Wreckage ofthe He 219 V 2. Photo: Heinkel I wase’t untt March 1943, however, that the He 219 was cleared for service se, after the planned remotely-controlleg defensive armament was dropped and the fuselage was lengthened. Lengthening the fuselage and enlarging the vertical tall su. faces eliminated the following problems: inadequate stabilty about the yaw axis vibration inthe fuselage and tall surfaces = major trim changes during activation of the landing flaps Another comparison trial between the He 219 V 1 and the Ju 188 on March 25: 26, 1943 led to better results. Oberst von Lossberg and Staff Engineers Friebel and Bottcher informed Generalfeldmarschall Miich and others that the maximum speed of the He 219 was between 25 and 40 kph higher than the Ju 188 and that rom a pro duction standpoint the He 219 would be ‘one of the best and most modern of ser: Vee aircraft. Production costs were esti mated as loss than those of the He 111 ‘and two-thirds less than the Ju 188. The prototypes V7 through V 9 were ssont to Venlo for frontine testing. They wero followed by several Zoro-Seres (ore- ‘Production aireraf beginning in July 1943. ‘The He 219 V 9 flew the frst combat sor ties by the type in June 1943. In the beginning, however, a fully- ‘equipped He 219 Gruppe remained an i- lusion, as did the requested 2,000 He 2198, (oF the rapid changeover from the Zer Series to the He 219 A-2. Even after Heinkel’s repeated requests for more skiled workers for series production — in ‘August 1943 — it stil proved impossible to ‘achieve a production rate of even ten ar. craft per month, ‘On September 17, 1943 Gener: feldmarschall Milch spoke out in favor of {an acceleration in He 219 production in spite of this problem and his intial nega- tve attitude toward the aircraft. However, {as deliveries continued to be slow until the fend of the year, it appeared that a halt in [production might be imminent. In the end, however, Mich decided that Heinkel-South in Vienna should produce fity He 2198 rmonthiy, while Heinkel-North in Rostock \was to simultaneously construct fity Ju 88 G night fighters per month. There was, however, no concentration of production on the modern and advanced He 219 as Kammhuber and Galland had vehemently demanded. Finally, on May 25, 1944, Géring sur prised his subordinate by ordering that pro uction of the He 219 was to be halted in {avor ofthe Ju 988, even though the crews of the Heinkel night fighter were enjoying ‘great success in combat. Atthe same time Production and service testing continued ‘at Schwechat and Venlo respectively. By ‘ow the first examples of the He 219 A-S were available and its armament and per formance were convincing. As a result, on June 13 Géring reversed his earlier deci Front view of the He 219 V5. Photo: Heinkel ‘Above: An original page trom the report on the instalaion ofa BMW 008 et engine an attempt ‘to obtain increased performance. Left:A wind tunnel model ofan He 219 usage wth underslung jet engine. Gri. sion. Nevertheless, authorization for an imerease in production from 50 to 150 air- craft per month was not forthcoming ‘The He 219 enjoyed an excellent repu- tation among the crews of /NJG 1 based ‘at Venlo (commander Hauptmann Meurer) Iwas clearly preferred to the Me 110 and the Ju88. The crews especialy valued the type's increased endurance. In the course ‘of "Wild Boar’ missions crews were able to take off from Venlo and fly to Munich or the Hannover-Rostock-Stettin area and then return to base. This was especially important, because in autumn 1943 air- craft-specific servicing for the He 219 was ‘available only at Venlo. Changes were made to the type's planned armament on account of short fages of the MK 103 and MK 108 cannon Increasingly the MG 151, which was readily available, was substituted for the large caliber weapons. True tote drawing ofthe jot boosted prototype by H. Heumann ‘The nosewhee of the He 219. Photo: Heink ‘The frst He 219 A-7 was handed over for frontline testing in July 1944. Apart from prototypes and mackups the B- and C-Se- fies progressed no farther than the plan- ning stage. The He 219 D and E got no farther than the drawing board, Worthy of note are the He 219 V 18 with four-bladed propellers and Jumo 2220/8 engines and the He 219 V 28 Roar vow ofthe He 219's main undercarriage. Photo: Hoink (VO+8C) and V 31 (DV+0B) with braking chute (tactical speed brake). Ejector seat trials were carried out with the He 219 V'6 ‘and thase were later continued with He 219 ‘Werknummer 190113 (DV+D)). The crews ‘OfNJG 1 were at first highly skeptical about the use of the ejector seat. On November 19, 1942 General Kammhuber himself took Partin atest, which Involved being fred to ‘a height of four meters at 6 G, inorder to ‘gain an impression of the Heinkel ejector Seat, The prototypes appeared in a variety of guises. For example, the He 219 V 18 was frst modified 1o A-O/R6 and then to A- 5 standard, the latter incorporating an SN 2 airborne radar. In the end this aicraf, like the V 19, was said to have been lying tost bod for ejector seat tals. Photo: Creek Takon from an instructional manual, a photograph ofthe He 210 rr 1a armor glass windscreen, Not the olded-down armored iso in front ofthe gunsight. Photo: Heiko! handed over to NIG 1 equipped with ob- lique-fring armament ‘The V 28 (RL+AH) was the forerun nor of the He 219 A-S/R3. The machine artived in Venlo in June 1944, The V 22 served as a fiying test bed for the DB 603, G. In July 1944 the V 25 flew as the three: seat A-5/R4, The same month Director Francke announced the results of performance test- ing: ‘The maximum speed of the He 219 equipped with DB 603 A engines, SN-2 antennas and flame dampers was 585 kph. Heinkel noped to achieve afurther increase in performance through the installation of more powerful engines, however Jumo failed to develop the Jumo 222 to produc. tion standard, while both the DB 603 L and Jumo 213 with MW 50 boost continued to Present problems, With the Jumo 222 A/B the He 219 could have attained a maximum speed of {620 kph at 7,500 meters. Acombination of the Jumo 222 E/F and an improved Lichtenstein array would have increased maximum speed by 46 kph at maximum boost altitude. It was hoped that with this ower plant a further fwe-percent increase in performance would be achieved through the use of methano-water injection, but only at high altitude, Powered by the Jumo 213 E, which was derived from the stan- dard A-2 engine, the He 219 was capable Folding armored visor with cutout for the Revi 16 gunsigh. Photo: Heinkel 8 Fragments of the He 219 V11 at Vienna. Schwechat. Photo: Henkel ‘Side vow ofthe He 219. Photo: Grieh! ‘of 635 kph at 10,500 meters, 605 kph with- ‘out methanol-water injection. However in- Stallation of the engine required extensive redesign in the area of the engine block, ‘cowiing, exhaust and lubrication systems ‘and fire wall attachment points, Junkers ran into dificultes with the supercharger and only six aircraft were converted tothe Jumo 213 with MW 50 by the end of 1944, The problem persisted and even at the begin: ning of 1945 the type's service debut was sii inthe future due to overloading of the supercharger drive elements. Winhout the use of methanol-water injection pertor mance was not significantly better than with the DB 603 and the He 219 was therefore never capable of attaining “Mosquito speeds.” The remains ofa DB 60 with lame damper. Photo: Heinkel Tho He 219 V 1 in fight over Marianehe. Photo: Grioh! From High-speed Bomber to Night Fighter The He 219 4-5/1 (OVIR}) at Munich Rie inthe summer of 1944, Photo: Bekker The first part of the He 219 story pro- vided an overview of the prototypo: What follows is a description of the ‘most important service variants. In the period from 1943 until March 1945 Heinkel completed 268 He 219s as so- called “new construction aircraft.” AS well, six aircraft were constructed from ‘Surplus spare parts. More than 27 night {fighters were repaired following in some ‘cases major damage and wer to NJG 1. The front-line units, mainly NJG 1, received only 195 He 219s. The rast wore used for test purposes or wore lost through enemy action. Forty-six He 219s were written off as total losses and ‘more than 17 were seriously damaged. [An He 219 A.0 of NUGF 10 at Rechin, Photo Thole He 219 Prototypes (@s of March 14, 1944, EHAG) Werk- Aircraft_| nummer | Test Missions T vi 000001 | Handling tests, stall tests ve 000 oo2 Diving fights v3 190 003 Engine, fuel jettisoning, warm water heating trials, new undercarriage, pedal steering and lengthened cockpit glazing va 190 004 Power plant tests vs 190 005 Weapons testing, prototype MK 108 installation v6 190 006 Ejector seat trials and radio equipment testing v7 190 007 Operational aircraft v8 190 008 Undercarriage testing ve 190009 | Operational aircraft v10 190010 | Operational aircraft vit 190011 Diving fights (safety parachute and electrical tailplane trimming) vie 190012 Operational aircraft AON 13 | 190052 Testing of fel jettisoning and warm water heating, lengthened cockpit, | glazing AON 14 | 190058 Performance increase and vertical stabilizer tests AON 15 | 190064 Prototype GM-1 system installation, installation and testing of FuG 16ZY AON 16 | 190 192 Prototype Jumo 222 A/B installation, lengthened wings and larger wheels AON 17 | 190060 Operational aircraft with G-supercharger, “anti-Mosquito" trials AON 18 | 190071 Prototype installation of six MK 108 cannon in ventral tray AON 19 Planned 1st prototype pressurized cockpit AON 20 Planned 2nd prototype pressurized cockpit AON 21 | 190117 4st prototype DB 603 A standard engine AON 22 2nd prototype DB 603 G standard engine AON 23 2nd prototype with Jumo 222 A/B, lengthened wings and larger wheels AON 24 Prototype installation of two MK 103 cannon under the fuselage as well as, possible installation of BMW jet engine AON 25 | 190 122 Prototype installation of single-conductor cable for radio gear and electri- | cal equipment (simplified electronics) AON 26 | 190120 Obliquely-mounted MK 108 in fuselage behind Frame 20 AON 27 Prototype for B-1 series, flattened canopy and miniaturized standard ‘equipment AON 28 | 190068 Duration trials with DB 603 E engine and testing of tactical brake (braking parachute trials) AON 29 | 190 069 De-icing and heating tests (warmwater heating) AON 30 | 190101 2nd prototype with BMW jet engine under fuselage AON 31 | 190106 | Operational aircraft; also structural strength test fights A0IV 32 | 190121 | 2nd prototype with GM-1 system, miniaturized standard equipment ‘033 | 190063 | Installation of parabolic reflector | | (antenna test bed) Aon 34 | 190112 Prototype three-man cockpit, oblique armament, increased range and MG 131 (hand-operated) in cockpit Operational aircraft of /NJG 1 at Westerland, Sy, Photo: Frankie Production output of the He 219 was distributed as folows: tst-4th quarters 1943: 11 airerat 1st quartor 1944; 27 aircrat 2nd quarter 1944: 55 aircraft 3rd quarter 1944 50 aircraft 4th quarter 1944: 63 aircrat tst quarter 1945: 62 aircraft aircraft rom replacement parts, Werknummern were assigned as fol lows: 190 000 prototypes and Zero-Series (pre production) 4190 100 prototypes and Zero-Series 190 200 prototypes and Zero-Series 290 000 A-2 series 200 100 A-2 series 290 200 A-2 series 310 300 A-2 series 310 000 A-7 series 310 100 A? series With more than 100 built, the A-O was the most-produced variant of the He 219, Different versions of the A-0 appeared with diverse modifications; these were reflected In Ristsatz (R) designations, because a ‘Rew designation, for example A-1 or A-2, was not chosen as was usual practice. For

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