JU-88 as a Nightfighter

[Commissar D, the Evil]

I simply can't believe that, in the five years since this Thread's inception, nothing else has been learned about the Nachtjager forces of Germany or the JU-88 and the HE-219!!!

That is simply beyond belief, so Guys, help me out here!!!!!

Best,
~D, the EviL

[diversdream]

The Heinkel He 219 Uhu (Owl) was a night fighter serving in the later stages of World War II with the German Luftwaffe.

The requirement for an advanced night fighter was issued in 1942 and the He 219 was the product of this program.
A relatively sophisticated aircraft, some speculate that had the Uhu been available in quantity it may have had a significant effect upon the strategic bomber offensive of the Royal Air Force.
However very few of the aircraft saw service and the He 219 had no appreciable impact upon the course of the war.

Design and development

Due to political rivalries between Josef Kammhuber, commander of the German night fighter forces, Ernst Heinkel, the constructor and Erhard Milch, responsible for aircraft construction in the Reichsluftfahrtministerium 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.

When Robert Lusser returned to Heinkel from Messerschmitt, he began work on a new high speed bomber project called P.1055.
This was an advanced design with a pressurized cockpit,twin ejection seats(the first to be planned for use in any combat aircraft), nose wheel landing gear and remote control defensive guns similar to those used by the Me 210.
Power was to be provided by two DB 610 "coupled" engines producing 2950 hp each,delivering excellent performance with a top speed of approximately 750 km/h (465 mph) and a 4,000 km range with a 2000 kg bombload.

The RLM rejected the design in August 1940 as too complex and risky.

Robert Lusser quickly offered 4 versions of the fighter with various wingspans and engines in order to balance the performance and risk.
At the same time,he offered the P.1056 dedicated night-fighter with four 20 mm cannons in the wings and fuselage.

The RLM rejected all of these on the same grounds in 1941.

Heinkel was furious and fired Robert Lusser on the spot.

About the same time as Robert Lusser was designing the P.1055, Josef Kammhuber had started looking for a dedicated aircraft for his rapidly growing night fighter force.
Heinkel quickly re-designed P.1055 for this role as the P.1060.
This design was similar in layout but somewhat smaller and powered by the smaller and simpler DB 603 engine.
This engine wasn't known for its altitude performance, which was a problem for this design with its short wings, but Daimler offered a new "G" version that addressed that issue.
Heinkel was sure he had a winner and sent the design off to the RLM in January 1942 while he funded the first prototype out-of-pocket.

Nevertheless the RLM again rejected the He 219 in favour of new Junkers Ju 88 and Messerschmitt Me 210 based designs.

Construction of the prototype started in February but suffered a serious setback in March,when Daimler said that the DB 603 G would not be ready in time.
Instead they would deliver a 603A with a new gear ratio to the props, with the new designation 603C.
Even these took until August to arrive, thus the prototype did not fly until the 6 November 1942.
When Josef Kammhuber saw the prototype on the 19th he was so impressed he immediately ordered it into production over Milch's objections.

Milch, who had rejected the He 219 in January, was enraged.

Stability problems were noted but Heinkel overcame the problem by offering a cash prize to the engineers who could fix the problem.
Further changes were made to the armament; the dorsal rear defensive guns - mounted atop the fuselage, and firing from a fixed, internal-mount position at a point just aft of the wings' trailing edge, were removed due to their ineffectiveness. The forward firing armament was increased to two 20 mm guns in the wing roots and four more guns or cannons mounted in the ventral tray.
Production prototypes were then ordered as the He 219 A-0 (V-series aircraft) and quickly progressed to the point where V7, V8 and V9 were handed over to operational units in June 1943 for testing.

Operational history

The He 219 had an auspicious combat debut.

On the night of 11-12 June 1943, Werner Streib flew the V9 and shot down five bombers.

In the next ten 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, Josef Kammhuber continued to press for immediate production.

Production finally got underway with the He 219 A-2 model which included a longer engine nacelle containing an extra fuel tank and typically included the R1 kit with two MK 108 30 mm cannons installed as 'Schräge Muzik'.
Production problems due to allied bombing meant the A-2/R1 did not reach Luftwaffe units until October 1943.

The first 10 to 15 aircraft were delivered with the FuG 212 (Lichtenstein C-1) 490 MHz UHF frequency RDF (radar)

Milch repeatedly tried to have the program killed and in the process Josef Kammhuber was removed from office.

Production ceased for a time but then restarted because the new Junkers Ju 388s were taking too long to get into service.

Only 206 He 219s had been produced in the previous 15 months.

Soon the A-5 began production and was the first major production variant He 219 to enter production.

The A-5 featured an updated, 90 MHz VHF frequency Telefunken FuG 220 Lichtenstein SN-2 RDF system which had a reduced range from the C-1 but was less vunlerable to 'wINDOW'/ jamming etc and improved its accuracy and resolution.

The He 219 was a capable fighter aircraft,allowing the pilots a large degree of autonomy.

Ground control simply got them into the right area and then the pilots took over and hunted down the bombers on their own – the SN-2 4 km range was longer than the distance between the bombers.
The performance of the A-5 was not extraordinary – about 580 km/h or 360 mph – but it was enough of an advance over the Bf 110s and Ju 88Gs that the aircraft could chase several bombers per Operation.

In order to combat the Mosquito, the He-219 had all excess weight removed.

Some weapon and radio systems were deleted and the aircraft was able to attain a speed of 404 mph (650 km/h).

This version was given the designation A-6.

The last major production version was the A-7 with improved DB603E engines.

The A-7 could be outfitted with two 30 mm Rheinmetall MK 108s in the wing roots, two 30 mm long-barreled Rheinmetall MK 103s and two 20 mm Mauser MG 151/20s in a ventral tray and two MK 108s in a "Schräge Muzik" installation.

However, for a lighter load out, the Mk 103s were not usually fitted.

The follow on series was to be the He 219B and were to fitted with the new, but very troublesome, Junkers Jumo 222A/B 2500 hp 24-cylinder engines which allowed the He 219 to reach 435 mph (700 km/h).
They were also to have had increased wing spans of 22.06 m for better high altitude performance.

However, with the Jumo 222s not going into proper production, only a test machine or two were ever fitted with the Jumo, some additional airframes with the big wing were slated to fly with high altitude versions of the DB 603.

But again, only a test machine or two ever flew with the big wing.

A further adaption would have been the He 219C, also intending to use the big wing and Jumo 222 powerplants, with an all new fuselage of 17.15 m fitted with a complete three-man Ju 388 J cockpit section forward and a manned power tail turret aft.

Day bomber and night-fighter versions were proposed and metal was cut on the project, but without the Jumo engines, they never flew.

Paper projects include the very high altitude He 219E with a vastly increased wingspan of 28.5m and DB 614 engines, which were apparently an uprated DB 603 G capable of 2000 hp.

A more reasonable project was the Hü 211, a design created by Wolfgang Hütter, that took a standard He 219 fuselage and tail and added a long span, high aspect ratio wing of 24.55 m to create a fast high altitude machine.
While this design as was expected to be powered by the Jumo 222, so seemed doomed to never fly, work continued on two sets of wings until they were destroyed by allied bombing.

The He 219 gained an almost mythical reputation.

However the aircraft was clearly underpowered and certainly not the "Mosquito killer" that it is generally reputed to be.

Its heavy wing loading meant that its manouevreability was poor, and turn radius worse than that of the Ju 88 G-6.

Nevertheless, it is clear that the aircraft should have been allowed to continue to be produced and a night-fighter wing armed with this aircraft instead of their motley collection of outdated heavy fighters and converted medium bombers would have been considerably stronger opposition for the RAF.

Variants

He 219 A-0 initially used for pre-production aircraft but became first major production version with 104 built,
1750 PS DB 603A engines

He 219 A-1 Proposed reconnaissance-bomber aircraft. The project was abandoned.

He 219 A-2 similar to A-0 but extended engine nacelles with additional fuel tanks, 1670 PS DB 603AA engines, 85 built

He 219 A-2/R1 Two-seat night-fighter version, armed with two 30-mm MK 108 cannons in a ventral tray, two 20-mm MG 151/20 cannons in the wing roots, plus two MK 108 cannons just behind the cockpit.

He 219 A-5 planned three-seat night fighter, only some prototypes built from A-2 airframes known

He 219 A-6 planned Mosquito-hunter, stripped-down version of the He 219 A-2, armed with four 20-mm MG 151/20 cannons

He 219 A-7 Improved night-fighter version, powered by two 1800 PS DB 603E engines, 210 ordered as of November 31, 1944

Survivors

Starting June 16 1945, the U.S. Army Air Force Intelligence Service as part of "Operation Lusty" (LUftwaffe Secret TechnologY) took control of three He-219s at Grove in South Jutland Germany,base of the 1 Nachtjagdgeschwader when the war ended.
These aircraft were made flight-worthy by "Watson's Wizzers" and flown to Cherbourg, France.

He 219 A-2 Werknummer 290202, was shipped to the United States with 21 other captured German aircraft on board the British aircraft carrier HMS Reaper and were reassembled at Ford Field Newark New Jersey.
Werknummer 290202 was given the foreign equipment number FE-614 and later T2-614.
It was flown to Freeman Field, Indiana for flight testing along with a second of the three He 219's;
a He 219 A-5 prototype Werknummer 290060 and given the foreign equipment number FE-612.

The fate of Werknummer 290060 is unknown.

Following testing the He 219 A-2 Werknummer 290202 was then moved in 1946 to Orchard Place Airport in Park Ridge, Illinois.
It was stored in a vacant aircraft factory and then transferred to the Smithsonian's National Air Museum on 3 January 1949. Finally the He 219 was crated and shipped to the Smithsonian's Silver Hill, Maryland storage facility in early 1955.

He 219 A-2 Werknummer 290202 is undergoing restoration in the collection of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C., USA.
Recently the fuselage has been put on display at the Udvar-Hazy Center by Dulles Airport, however the wings are still being restored at the Paul Garber Facility in Suitland Maryland.
Today the fuselage can be seen displayed near the museum's Dornier Do 335 and Arado Ar 234 aircraft that accompanied it across the Atlantic over 60 years ago.

(Yank sources hope its right lol..s)

Specifications

He 219 A-7

(Data from Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II)

General characteristics

Crew: 2

Capacity: 3 passengers

Length: 15.5 m (51 ft 0 in)

Wingspan: 18.5 m (60 ft 8 in)

Height: 4.4 m (14 ft 5 in)

Wing area: 44.4 m² (478 ft²)

Empty weight: kg (lb)

Max takeoff weight: 13,580 kg (29,900 lb)

Powerplant: 2× Daimler-Benz DB 603E liquid-cooled inverted V12 engine, 1,800 PS (1,324 kW) each

Propellers: VDM three blade constant speed airscrew

Performance

Maximum speed: 616 km/h (333 knots, 385 mph)
Range: 1,540 km (831 nm, 960 mi)
Ferry range: 2,148 km (1,160 nm, 1,335 mi)
Service ceiling 9,300 m (30,500 ft)

Armament

Guns:

up to 4× 20 mm (0.787 in) MG 151 cannon in a detachable fairing under the fuselage, 300 rounds/gun
2× 20 mm (0.787 in) MG 151 cannon in wing roots, 300 rounds/gun
2× 30 mm MK 108, Schräge Musik (oriented 65° above horizontal), 100 rounds/gun

References

Jane, Fred T. “Heinkel He 219.” Jane’s Fighting Aircraft of World War II. London: Studio, 1946. ISBN 1-85170-493-0.

Remp, Roland. Heinkel He 219, An Illustrated History Of Germany's Premier Nightfighter. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing Inc., 2007. ISBN 0-7643-1229-4.

[diversdream]

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[jerijerod]

How did the Ju88 rate to the Me 110 nightfighter? I would have thought the 110 would have been better at dealing with the Mosquito but not as durable as the 88.

[phylo_roadking]

The Me110 had a number of major issues as a nightfighter; Eric Brown test captured examples during and just after the war. The nightfighter version was down on power compared to the zerstorer day fighter; the louvres over the exahusts on each engine to hide the exhaust flare ruined the "tuned length" of the exhaust. There were a number of attempts to tease more power out of the engines to compensate, but each attempt was further compromised by the extra equipment the Me110 was loaded down with - successive and multiple radar installations added to the weight, and their antennae ruined the aerodynamics of the aircraft...

...for the Me110 was an aircraft designed for a very narrow performance band; Eric Brown discovered that the ME110 was VERY heavy on it's controls UNTIL it was operating right up at the limits of it's performance and moving enough air over it's control surfaces. THIS was not helped at all by the fact that it was VERY sluggish at building up airspeed when the throttles were opened! It was this weakness that allowed the RAF to pull down in large numbers what had been a relatively successful fighter in Europe until the BoB - a boom-and-zoom tactic, bouncing an Me110 from the rear, firing at it, then passing and accelerating away...the 110 simply couldn't pick up speed fast enough to chase effectively, and without speed couldn't manouver as a fighter required. And being tied to the speed of the bombers it was escorting....

Exactly the same disadvantages gave the Mosquito nighttime fighter-hunters a considerable edge; an Me110 stooging in it's "box" would be vectored onto a bomber entering it's box, would have to accelerate to chase it and gain altitude and speed...and thus was ALREADY right at the edge of it's performance envelope when jumped by a Mosquito - which had speed and manouverability to spare at that point.

[Erich]

more later but ............

as I noted on earlier pages on this thread the Ju 88G-6 was superior to the Bf 110G-4 in nearly every way, the reasons I listed on other pages. Even with I./NJG 1 flying He 219 A variants the rest of the high scoring gruppen still kept the Bf 110G's, as they had flown them from day one, so why change was possibly the philosophy.

One of the problems with the Bf 110G-4 except during the latter stages of 1945 was that the a/c was not equipped with rear warning radar as standard fit, you can easily visualize the rest...........

E ~

[phylo_roadking]

Erich - I'd forgotten that one! It was effectively blind to the rear at high speed, a real disadvantage when the 110G was later used in DAYLIGHT again for a three-week period in 1943 (ealy 1944? could stand to be corrected) when the USAAF recommenced daylight raids still without an effective fighter escort; at the start of the fourth week the P-47 arrived...and its FIRST task was to FOLLOW the bomber formation - and when the 110G's fell in behind the bombers, at full acceleration in pursuit...the American fighters simply dropped tanks and repeated the RAF's tactics of 1940 - with VERY severe losses for the LW. Tied to the bombers ahead, and already at the limits of their performance envelope, they simply couldn't attempt to outfly the P-47s

[Erich]

friend

the Bf 110G in daylight missions were ordered up in the fall of 43 and were almost overwhelmed in the spring of 44 replaced by the Me 410A and B to attack US heavy bombers. The 110G-2 was a good weapons platform but struggled in staffel formation to keep up with the US bombers with all the cannons and underwing rocket launchers plus the external fuel tanks under each wing they really had a hard time on the attack and as you brought up the P-47's and later the P-51's had a field day against them.
Even the night fighter arm was called up with their Bf 110G-4's and Ju 88C's to attack US heavies and sad for them the same outcome - too slow, too awkward and completely worthless in a fighter vs fighter scenario.

E ~

[Commissar D, the Evil]

Again, dear friends, the question remains of the utility of the JU-88 as a night-fighter. More importantly, the question hasn't been answered, despite the literature, as to whether or not the JU-88 with the Jumo 213E engines or the He-219 with DB603G engines ever flew in battle.

Sorry to assert the hard truths of history. But, I think we need evidence that the He-219 A-7 and the Ju-88 G-6 were real combatants or simply "paper projects" on the order of "Luftwaffe 1946".

Bestens,
David

[phylo_roadking]

I think its likely the He219A-7 saw combat...for A/ it gets referred to as the last production variant so went into series production, and B/ Heinkel turned out the 219B, worked on the 219C and the He419 after it, including building 6 419B-1 fighters using spare 219A-5 fuselages. This is quite a design effort in time terms from getting the A-7 into series production to the end of the war, so I assume the A-7 was operative to some extent in Spring 1945 while all the above was underway at Heinkel.

Ditto with the Ju-88G6 - for the G-7 made it into series production - Just! Actually have just found the G-6 WAS in operation, with at least NJG 101 at Ingolstadt in late 1944, which flew G-6bs. G-6As and G-6Bs seem to have been built - the only difference being the 6B's had an FuG 350 Naxos Z receiver onboard in addition to the 6A's equipment suite. The 6C saw the use of Jumo 213A liquid-cooled engines. So yes, there were two variants pf G-6 with the 801G engines in service - I just don't have numbers.

[Commissar D, the Evil]

Hi Phylo, the JU-88 G-6 is much better documented than the He-219 A-7. But, as the premier Luftwaffe Night-Fighters, every now and then I need a bit of reassurance from the Night Fighter Experten , like Erich, as to their existence and combat history!!!!!

Bestens,
David

[Andy_F]

"I think we need evidence that the He-219 A-7 and the Ju-88 G-6 were real combatants or simply "paper projects" on the order of "Luftwaffe 1946"

Ju 88G-6 definitely flew operationally (many loss returns with crew details, W.Nr., vkz), not sure this is the case with the He 219A-7. Don't believe the Lw ever used the Ju 88G-6a/b/c designation even though this appears in many books. Maybe Erich could confirm this.

IMHO the Ju 88G-6 was the best operational piston engined Lw nightfighter of the war. The He 219A has been totally overated post war.

[phylo_roadking]

Don't believe the Lw ever used the Ju 88G-6a/b/c designation even though this appears in many books.

I've always had this feeling too, that retrospectively we've applied variant numbers - particularly to the difference between A's and B's - that would not have been recognised in real life. The "only difference being the 6B's had an FuG 350 Naxos Z receiver onboard in addition to the 6A's equipment suite" is not much of a difference, after all - and probably only down to supply problems. If time and the war had permitted I assume that the G-6s's would have one by one have been uprated anyway with the extra fitment...given that its predecessor the G-5 seems to have had the Naxos Z set as standard fitment!

[Erich]

scratching my head as I just returned from a trip....where to start/answer the interesting questions.

First yes David, the G-6 came into production with NJG units in November of 44 and inf act the latter part of September 44 in dribs and drabs - NJG 2 and NJG 3 as to of the units, reamined throughout till wars end. As mentioned the losses reports do show actions-losses with RAF bombers and Mossie night fighters including too many losses over the Ardenne either by air combat or suicidal night ground attack missions in support of the Wehrmacht land forces.

pilot/vet and ace Heinz Rökker has written two different books on his life as a Ju 88 pilot as well as his I./NJG 2 which was equipped with the Ju 88G-1 and alter the Ju 88G-6 nf.

Friend and ace Peter Spoden of NJG 6 has also written his bio in German/English and mentions his flights in 1945 with the Ju 88G-6 being shot down twice in them.

the so-called sub variants of the G-6 a, b, and c did not exist, the craft was simply the 88G-6 but with different Radar senarios right up to the advanced FuG 240 Berlin AI.

As to the He 219A cannot say much as to unit ops except I./NJG 1 flew the bird, it was tested in NJGr 10, NJG 3. From what I gather A-7's were issued to NJG 3 but were not flown on missions, I./NJG 1 also had them on hand but not sure if they indeed were flown either, I would assume so as their A-0, A-2 and A-5's were quite busy over the northern Reich.

[jerijerod]

I've got tge G7 as having the jumo 213E, armed with a MG 151/20 and Mk108 nightfighter.

According to Manfred Griehl in "junkers 88; the star of the luftwaffe." the G7 was ordered in september 44 by the RLM, an initial batch of 570 machines for 74,100000 RM but only 8 prototypes in two different formats were built at Dessau early in 45.
The "Mosquitojager" had reduced offensive armament but was fitted with the Jumo 213E engine. on 7th march though Dessau was the main target of allied bombing and one prototype was destroyed but the repaired one was flown til march 45.
Although Griehl does suggest that one or two units may have made it to frontline service by 8th May 45.
Its hard to say.

Thats all i have on it!