Nouveauté 2012
The Heinkel He 219A was the first German fighter plane to be designed from the outset as a night fighter. No other aircraft throughout the world, is shrouded in as much mystery and accompanied by so many myths as the He 219. The maiden flight of the He 219V1 on 6 November 1942 was followed by a whole series of further prototypes prior to the first production aircraft - an He 219A-0 - being delivered in June 1943. Further development eventually led to the He 219A-2 series in July 1944. In the meantime the He 219 had long since passed its Baptism of Fire with flying colours. During the night of 11th / 12th June 1943 Major Werner Streib in a He 219A-0 of No1 Night Fighter Wing was able to shoot down 5 enemy bombers. During succeeding night missions the He 219A proved to be an excellent, but still far from perfect fighter aircraft. A request to add one additional crew member for aerial observation was followed by a series of prototype He 219A-5's which were tested by No1 NFG. An increasingly long list of complaints led to a fundamental revision based on the A-2. Mass production was planned under the designation He 219A-7. The DB 603G or ultimately the Jumo 222 were envisaged as power units. Since neither of these engines were however available, it was decided to start mass production using the DB 603AA in order to later upgrade to the A-7 standard when the new engines became available.