Heinkel He 219

The Heinkel He 219 Uhu ("Eagle-Owl") is a night fighter designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Heinkel. It primarily served with the Luftwaffe in the later stages of the Second World War. Work on the He 219 began in mid 1940 as a multi-purpose aircraft designated P.1055. It was a relatively sophisticated design that possessed a variety of innovations, including a pressurized cockpit, twin ejection seats and remotely controlled defensive gun turrets. The P.1055 was initially rejected by the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM – the German Aviation Ministry), but Heinkel promptly reconfigured it as a night fighter, designated P.1060. In this capacity, it was equipped with a Lichtenstein SN-2 advanced VHF-band intercept radar (also used on the Ju 88G and Bf 110G night fighters). The He 219 was also the first operational military aircraft to be equipped with ejection seats and the first operational German aircraft to be equipped with tricycle landing gear. The prototype performed its maiden flight on 6 November 1942. Both the development and production of the He 219 were protracted due to various factors, including political rivalries between Josef Kammhuber, commander of the German night fighter forces, Ernst Heinkel, the manufacturer and Erhard Milch, responsible for aircraft construction in the RLM. Other aircraft programmes, such as the Junkers Ju 188, Dornier Do 335 and Focke-Wulf Ta 154 Moskito, competed for attention and resources; Milch advocated for these programmes over the He 219. Furthermore, the aircraft was relatively complicated and expensive to build, as were the powerful DB 610 V-12 inline engines that powered it. Nevertheless, the He 219 made its combat debut on June 1943 and was quickly recognised for its value as a night fighter, even being allegedly effective against the Royal Air Force's de Havilland Mosquito fighter-bombers. In addition to its limited use as a night fighter, Heinkel worked on numerous different models of the He 219,

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