luftwaffe 'also-rans'

[Rolf Steiner]

Picking up recently a copy of Bill Gunston's Illustrated dictionary of fighting aircraft of WWII, there seems to be a recurring theme in the German entries, namely the potential contenders that for some reason were left undeveloped, uncommissioned, under-used, relegated to 'factory defence' etc etc; The Uhu, the Pfiel, the Heinkel single engine fighters, the FW 187, etc etc. I can understand that late in the war there weren't too many resources for unproven types, but even so, what was up with the RLM??

[phylo_roadking]

Rolf...WE know about them because of 60+ years of research, nice pictures in books, Airfix kits etc....

In reality what they had was two or three comopetitors for each design competition...some of which went as far as pre-production "A" series batches of a dozen or more aircraft...and some of which ended up being commissioned in tiny numbers as "prioduction" types, ALONG with the actual competition winners. Hence....the already discussed 26 B&V 141 alongside the actual Fw 189 winner. Ditto the Heinkel fighters...and so many others.

It's a psycholopgical thing; we see lots of nice pics, and build the kit when we're kids, and grow up thinking *X* must have been a REALLY important WWII aircraft...when it really wasn't

Jaap Teeuwen's RAF site was great for this for the RAF - he listed every type on charge with the RAF during the war - INCLUDING commandeered civvie types in twos and threes. WE did it every bit as much as the RLM....the ONLY stage we seem to have missed out was that "pre-production BATCH" idea, we went straight into first-"production" marks...but fully ready to modify and mend! We just didn't give them that "pre-" A-0...A-* classification the LW used.

[Rolf Steiner]

Hi Phylo

Thanks for the response... I think I get the picture, but there appears to be cases, as with the Uhu, where glowing reports, outstanding performance ('immune to mosquitoes' according to the book), and LW enthusiasm seem to have been almost wilfully overlooked, when presumably at the same time they're still churning out ME110s?

Incidentally, what is 'high wing loading' - japanese pilots testing the heinkel single engine fighters found this objectionable?

[phylo_roadking]

Rolf, buried in there is a perfect example of the sort of thing I'm talking abiout - how legends can grow

as with the Uhu, where glowing reports, outstanding performance ('immune to mosquitoes' according to the book),

..given that the He219A-6 with its two-stage supercharged DB603L engines with water/methanol and nitrous oxide injection to provide 1750hp at 29,600feet was specifically designed as a "Mosquito Hunter" had to be described as IMMUNE to Mosquitos....sort of hints broadly that the tables were turned not a little!

Due to political rivalries between Josef Kammhuber, Ernst Heinkel, and Erhard Milch, the development and production of the aircraft was tortuous. Furthermore, the aircraft was complicated and expensive to construct, a factor that further limited the number of aircraft produced to only around 300. Because of the infighting, the Ju88- and Me210-based alternatives were brought to service earlier and in preference to it. Daimler Benz engine development - the bugbear of German aviation before and during the war - took FAR longer than expected.

The Uhu supposedly had an auspicious combat debut. On the night of 11th-12th June 1943, Werner Streib flew the V9 prototype aircraft and shot down five bombers. A claim consistently made is that "In the next 10 days the three Heinkels 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." http://www.michael-reimer.com/CFS2/CFS2 ... _NJG1.html

There are however no corresponding Mosquito losses REPORTED, nor any documentary evidence to suggest He-219 pilots actually ever made claims for six Mosquitos during this time!!!

Its REAL contribution was its performance improvement over other current LW nightfighter types. It meant that the Uhu could beat back and forth over the landscape more times in a night and bring down more bombers. The Kammhuber defensive Line worked by a nightfighter "orbiting" in a map box until tasked by a DEDICATED ground controller to a bogie that was passing through its box. The fighter THEN turned to chase the bogie, accelerating to match and outmatch its speed, catch it, then attack it....but THEN it would have to fly BACK into its OWN map box to be tasked to the NEXT target the Uhu's speed simply meant it could do this transiting faster and more often in a given night.

Another element of the Uhu issue is that production then effectively froze with the first series aircraft; the intended Junker engines for the He219B series never materialised that would have given the aircraft a power/speed improvement, ditto the C series that would have incorporated these, a "big wing" for better lift at high altitude, and a redesigned fuselage.

BUT...because it was arguably the "pride" of the nightfighters, it gets talked about more often than its deeds and performance and numbers actually warrant And therefore BECAUSE it's talked about more - the idea has grown that it actually DID more...

[Njorl]

Incidentally, what is 'high wing loading' - japanese pilots testing the heinkel single engine fighters found this objectionable?

If I get it right, you get 'wing load' when you divide airplane mass/weight by area of its wings (to put it simply). The more kg/m^2 (or pounds per square feet), the higher take-off and landing speed but IIRC higher top speeds as well. The lower wing load, the shorter strip needed to land and take-off, also the higher maneuverability.

Regards,
MJU