Heinkel He 219

The Heinkel He 219 was originally a private project, the P.1060 recon-bomber, but it got no attention
until 1941, when it was accepted as a nightfighter. The He 219 had two crew members;
the pilot and the navigator, both back to back on the world´s first ejection seats in action.
It was also the first german military plane in action with a bow-wheel landing gear.
The first prototype had his first flight on 15.11.1942 with two 1.750PS DB 603A, the second flew in december.
After a simulated air combat between the He 219 and the Dornier Do 317, Junkers Ju 88S and Ju 188,
the first order of 100 planes was increased up to 300 planes and more prototypes were build.
Since april 1943 flew a small number of He 219A-0 pre-serial nightfighters for the 1. NJG
(Night Fighter Wing) at Venlo, and within the first six sorties 20 enemy planes were
downed, even six mosquitos!
Many different versions entered service, although there were only 268 (others say 294) He 219 build.
Discussed recon and bomber versions were planned, but none was realized, even not as a prototype.
The weapon equipment, the powerplants and the electronic equipment changed quite often, but the really
important changes were, that a third crew member was added (for a rear-shooting 13mm MG131 against
mosquito nightfighters, more for warning than for killing), and the only planned B version for mosquito-hunting
at very high speeds (He 219A´s had an operational ceiling of only ca. 9km) which was later the basic
for the planned He 419 very high altitude/high speed night interceptor with greater wing span.

The main problems were the lack of fuel, the poor german radars and the high wing area load
(causing the weak ceiling, high landing speeds and the need for long runways).
sadly, the performance figures were seldom achieved in combat sorties. With all the extras, a He219A wasn´t
faster than 580km/h and in 8000m altitude only as fast as 500km/h.
Its performance and good landing characteristics made it the best nightfighter against heavy bombers,
but it wasn´t good enough to intercept Mosquito pathfinders which flew with a pressurized cockpit and two-stage
superchargers in high altitude.
Interesting is also the Huetter Hu 211evolvement, which was an extremely long range recon plane
(calculated performance: 710km/h in 7900m, 6100 !!! km, 9.5-17.5t, 24.55m spanwidth)
with 15:1 laminar wings, wooden construction and two of the never-built Jumo 222 quadruple radial engines.
For some inexplicable reasons, the He 219 program ended in May, 1944.

My Comment:
Although it came quite late, it had a great chance of stopping the british night terror, which makes
it very sympathetic. If the 200 He 219 per month, that the leader of the german nightfighter network,
Kammhuber, demanded for, were really build in every month of autumn and winter 1943, the british
losses would surely have exceeded the critical 15% marking for a long time.