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Heinkel He 219 Uhu Letov LB-79
 He 219A-0
The Heinkel Projekt 1060 private venture received little response from the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (air ministry) when it was first shown to them in mid‑1940.It was a multi-purpose aircraft suitable for use as a long-range fighter, dive or horizontal bomber, torpedo plane, or reconnaissance aircraft. The He 219 featured tricycle landing gear, ejector seats, and dual wheels. It was equipped with a crew dingy, cockpit heating, retractable crew access ladder, armoured radiatios, armoured curved windshields with wipers, cleaing spray, hot air defrosting, and armoured fuel tanks. It had a complete wing, fuselage, and tail de-icing system, was well as elaborate radio and radar equipment including a directional gyroscope. Originally the Luftwaffe did not consider a craft of this type necessary and buried the project.
By late 1941 they were in desperate need of a good night fighter for intercepting Allied bombing attacks. In January 1942 the design was revised for adaptation as a night fighter but then was delayed by RAF bombing which destroyed all of the engineering drawings in the Heinkel factory at Rostock-Marienehe.
An all-metal shoulder-wing monoplane, the He 219 seated the pilot and navigator back-to-back, was the first operational aircraft in the world to introduce ejection seats, and was also the Luftwaffe's first operational aircraft with tricycle landing gear. The first prototype, the He 219 V 1, powered by two 1305kW / 1750‑hp DB 603A engines, made its first flight on November 15, 1942. The second prototype, flown in December 1942, had a different armament installation.
They proved fast and manoeuvrable, and had provision for a range of armament including two 20‑mm (0.79‑in) MG 151 cannon in the wings; two 30‑mm (1.18‑in) MK 108 cannon in a ventral tray; two oblique upward‑firing and fixed 30‑mm (1.18‑in) cannon, nicknamed 'Schrage Musik' (jazz music), in the rear fuselage; and a 2000kg (4410‑lb) bombload carried internally. The He 219 Uhu (owl) was a midwing monoplane and carried a crew of two.
Tests were so successful that the German Ministry ordered 130 pre-production machines in lieu of the usual ten.
General Milch, in charge of Luftwaffe procurement, was unimpressed with the He 219 and favoured converting existing types such as the Junkers 88 into night fighters. To determine the most suitable machine for nocturnal interception, comparative tests were set up for 25 March 1943 between the Heinkel He 219 and the Junkers Ju 88S. During a series of mock combats between a He 219 with Werner Streib at the controls and a Ju 88S with Oberst Lossberg in its cockpit, and a Dornier Do 217N, the 219 proved superior in every way. Heinkel soon received an order for 100 aircraft, and following evaluation of one of the prototypes in mock combat, an 'off the drawing board' order for 100 aircraft was increased to 300 by April 1943. Twenty pre-production He 219A‑0s had been delivered by that time. These had slightly differing armaments, two MG 151s in the wings, with various weapons in the central position and only one MG 131 in the rear‑upper position.
The V4‑V10 prototypes were also fitted with FuG 212 Lichtenstein C‑1 radar systems.
The calibre and number of cannon varied according to the armament available when each Heinkel left the production line. As a rule four 20mm or 30mm rapid fire cannon were located under the fuselage in a ventral tray and one 30mm cannon was installed in each wing root. In addition, two 30mm cannon were utilised mid-fuselage as upward-firing Schrage Musik. About one thousand rounds of ammunition were carried. All guns were located behind the pilot so that their muzzle flash would not disturb his vision at night.
Based on the success of the 219 during June 1943, General Kammhuber demanded the production of 1200 He.219 but General Milch fought the request which further delayed mass delivery. Finally Albert Speer took over the control of aircraft procurement and the Heinkel design was given priority status in early 1944.
A Fighter Emergency Program was announced in the Autumn of 1944. For reasons of economy all twin-engine fighter production was ordered halted, except for the jet powered Messerschmitt 262 and Dornier 335.
Heinkel ignored the directive and continued to produce 219 until his factories in Poland and Austria were overrun by the Russian Armies.
Six final aircraft were built from spare parts by staffel maintenance crews. These were secretly operated and their existence concealed from Luftwaffe headquarters.
Total overall production of the series was 294 aircraft. Early models were fitted with Daimler-Benz 603A engines of 1750 hp but the majority were powered by the more powerful Daimler-Benz 603-Gs of 1900 hp. There is no doubt that the He 219 was one of the best‑armed and most effective night fighters of the Second World War. Although the 219s did remain in service with the Nachtjagdgeschwadern (night fighter groups) until the end of the war, development of the type was discontinued in favour of two other designs‑both failures.
The first use of an ejection seat in combat came on 11 April 1944 when the two crew ejected from a Heinkel He219.
Letov LB-79 - Czech Air Force designation for two Heinkel He 219A-5 (lehký bombardér) built from recovered components, 1951, 1 ("34") used as jet engine testbed.
He 219
Engine: Daimler-Benz 603-G, 1900 hp
Weight: 33,730 lb
Fuel capacity: 293 gal
Maximum speed: 416 mph at 22,965 ft
Range econ cruise: 1243 miles at 335 mph
Climb to 32,810 ft: 18.8 min
Maximum ceiling: 41,660 ft
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