Tamiya's 1/48 scale
Heinkel He 219 A-7

by Roland Sachsenhofer

Heinkel He 219 A-7

Tamiya's 1/48 scale Heinkel He 219 A-7 is available online from Squadron.com

Even as a model, the He 219's sleek lines and compact but pugnacious appearance looks impressive, but not everybody was convinced of its value when the first prototypes of the real thing appeared in the spring of 1943.

One of the more influential opponents in the RLM was “Generalluftzeugmeister” Erhard Milch, who preferred Junkers Ju 188 as the Luftwaffe’s future night fighter, whereas Josef Kammhuber, chief of the night fighter force, recognising the promising qualities of Heinkels new combat plane, vehemently argued for mass production and fast deployment into the units of his service.

This high-level controversy added much to the delays and the slow progress in development and production of the He-219. The situation was worsened by Germany’s chronic lack of high performance engines needed for such a thoroughbred.

In the end only one nightfighter unit, NJG 1, was entirely equipped with the new type. In January 1945 68 machines counted to the inventory of the night fighter unit, 268 were produced in total between April 1943 and June 1944.

Combat pilots practical experiences with the He 219 can be described as mixed. On the one hand stories as Major Streibs, commanding officer of NJG 1, daring score of five heavy bombers during the He 219s very first combat mission lay the cornerstone of the type’s lasting fame.

On the other hand, pilots of the II. Gruppe of NJG 1, being equipped with Bf 110s, got more kills on a in a reference period as a matter of fact.

My model depicts a He-219 A-7 of I/NJG 1 stationed in Sylt, spring 1945.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

• 

Thumbnail panels:

Tamiya's wonderful kit was a trouble free joy to build, if you are interested in the building process, please have a look on the workbench at the JAM Forum:

http://www.razyboard.com/system/morethread-heinkel-he-219-a7-tamiya-148-raidenjack-2293882-6342212-0.html

As ever, remarks will be appreciated: ro.sachsenhofer@gmx.

Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2016 by Roland Sachsenhofer
Page Created 29 January, 2016
Last Updated 29 January, 2016

Back to HyperScale Main Page