Heinkel He 219 - Operational History

Operational History

The He 219 had an auspicious combat debut. On the night of 11–12 June 1943, Werner Streib flew the V9 and shot down five bombers between 01:05 and 02:22 hours, before crashing on landing. A claim has consistently been made that, "In the next 10 days the three Heinkel He 219A-0 pre-production aircraft would shoot down a total of 20 RAF aircraft, including six of the previously "untouchable" de Havilland Mosquito fighter-bombers. Greatly encouraged, Kammhuber continued to press for immediate production." No record of corresponding Mosquito losses or any documentary evidence exists, however, to suggest that He 219 pilots actually made claims for six Mosquitos during this time.

The first major production series was the He 219 A-0, although initially the preproduction series, it matured into a long running production series due to numerous changes incorporated into the design, along with the cancellation of several planned variants. Production problems as a result of Allied bombing in March meant the A-0 did not reach Luftwaffe units until October 1943. The A-0 were usually armed with two 20 mm MG 151/20 cannon in the wing roots and up to four 20 mm or 30 mm cannon in a ventral weapons bay. The first 10 to 15 aircraft were delivered with the 490 MHz UHF-band FuG 212 "Lichtenstein" C-1 radar set, complete with its 4 x 8-dipole element Matratze antenna array. A total of 104 He 219 A-0s were built until the summer of 1944, the majority of them at EHW or Heinkel-Süd in Wien-Schwechat.

The first planned version to reach production was the He 219 A-2 model, which had longer engine nacelles containing extra fuel tanks, 1670 PS DB 603AA engines with higher critical altitude and often also two 30 mm (1.18 in) MK 108 cannons as an offensive Schräge Musik upward-firing system in the rear fuselage. With the Schräge Musik system installed, the ventral weapons bay was only capable of holding two cannon due to space limitations. The A-2 featured an updated, 90 MHz VHF-band Telefunken FuG 220 Lichtenstein SN-2 radar system, complete with their larger, high-drag 4 x 2-dipole element Hirschgeweih aerials. It initially had less range than the C-1 radar, but improved accuracy and resolution and was also less vulnerable to chaff jamming through the late summer of 1944. A total of 85 He 219 A-2s were built until November 1944, the majority of them at EHR or Heinkel-Nord in Rostock-Marienehe (today's Rostock-Schmarl).

The He 219 was a capable fighter aircraft, allowing the pilots a large degree of autonomy. Ground control simply sent the aircraft into the right area and then the pilots took over and hunted down the bombers on their own; the SN-2 radar's 4 km (3 mi) range was greater than the distance between the bombers. While the performance of the A-2 was not extraordinary — approximately 580 km/h (360 mph) speed — it was enough of an advance over the Messerschmitt Bf 110Gs and Dornier Do 217Ns to allow the aircraft to chase several bombers in one sortie.

In order to combat the Mosquito, the He 219 had all excess weight removed. With some weapon and radio systems deleted, the aircraft was able to attain a speed of 650 km/h (400 mph). This version was given the designation A-6. None of these were produced but weight saving measures could be done at the unit level.

The last major production version was the A-7 with improved DB 603E engines. The A-7 was typically outfitted with two 20 mm MG 151/20 cannon in the wing roots (inboard of the propeller arcs), two 20 mm MG 151/20 in the ventral weapons bay, and two 30 mm (1.18 in) MK 108s as Schräge Musik. The production was to start in November/December 1944 with 210 aircraft ordered. The number produced is not exactly known as the original documents have either been lost or contained no subversion number.

The follow-on series was to be the He 219B fitted with the new, but very troublesome, 1,864 kW (2,500 hp) Junkers Jumo 222A/B 24-cylinder engines - a multibank inline engine, with six rows of cylinder blocks having four cylinders each - which would have allowed the He 219 to reach 700 km/h (440 mph), each of which were almost the same displacement and only very slightly heavier apiece as compared to the Double Wasp radial engines in the American P-61 purpose-built night fighter. The He 219B's wing was also to have had an increased wing span of 22.06 m (72.38 ft) for better high altitude performance. The Jumo 222s did not reach production status however, with just under 300 examples built in at least two differing displacement sizes, and only a test machine or two were ever fitted for the engines; some additional airframes with the enlarged wing were slated to fly with high-altitude versions of the DB 603. But again, only one or two test machines ever flew in that configuration.

A further adaptation would have been the He 219C, also intended to use the big wing and Jumo 222 powerplants as well as an all-new fuselage of 17.15 m (56.27 ft), with a complete three-man Ju 388J cockpit section forward and a manned power tail turret aft. Day bomber and night fighter versions were proposed and metal was cut for the project but, without the Jumo engines, they never flew.

Paper projects include the very-high-altitude He 219E with a vastly increased wingspan of 28.5 m (93.5 ft) and DB 614 engines, which were apparently an uprated DB 603G capable of 1,491 kW (2,000 hp).

A more reasonable project was the Hütter Hü 211, a design by Wolfgang Hütter that took a standard He 219 fuselage and tail and added a long-span, high aspect ratio wing of 24.55 m (80.54 ft) to create a fast, high altitude interceptor. Since this design was also meant to be powered by the ill-fated Jumo 222 it never flew, although work continued on two sets of wings until they were destroyed by Allied bombing.

The He 219 was the only piston-engined night fighter capable of facing the British Mosquito on equal terms, given its speed, manoeuvrability and firepower, but it never played a significant role in the war because the industry failed to make it available in sufficient numbers.