
Heinkel He219 Uhu (Owl):

On the night of June 11-12, the He219 night fighter received
its first combat test.  MAJ Streib, the Gruppenkommandeur of
I/NJG 1, flew the He219A-0 and shot down five British bombers
in the course of the evening.  Generalfeldmarschall Milch was
hard to impress, though.  His comment was, "Yes, they are
enthusiastic about this aircraft as it shot down five on its
first sortie.  One can hardly  ask more, but perhaps Streib
would have shot down as many bombers had he been flying
another aircraft!" Regardless, the work on the He219 "Uhu" (Owl)
continued, and it became regarded as one of the finest night
fighters of WWII.
The primary model represented is the He219A-7/R1, which had 2 x
MG151 20mm cannon (300 rpg), 2 x Mk108 30mm cannon (100
rpg), and 2 x Mk103 30mm cannon (100 rpg), all firing
forward.  It also had 2 x Mk108 30mm cannon (100 rpg) in the
"Schrage Musik" configuration, firing forward and upward at a 65
degree angle.  The pilot was protected by a 335 pound frontal armor
shell, with an armored glass screen, and both crewmembers had
ejection seats. Top speed was 416 mph at 22,965 feet with a
cruising speed of 391 and a range of 960 miles.  The ceiling was
41,660.  Climb rate was 1810 feet/minute.  The Schrage Musik guns
are activated by pressing <G><5>.  This mod was designed by Gregory
Smith.
Two other versions of this warplane are included for your
experimentation;  the He219A-5/R4 and the He219B-2 were variants of
the Uhu developed as potential counters to the Mosquito menace. 
The He215A-5/R4 was a Rustsatze (field conversion set) that added
additional fuselage space for a third crewman to act as rear
gunner. The cabin roof hump that resulted from this installation
imposed severe drag penalties, reducing speed to 382mph.  To save
weight, only 2 20mm cannon were mounted in the ventral tray.
Activate the rear gunner by pressing <G><2>. This variation proved
unsuccessful against the Mosquito due to the speed loss.
The He219B-2 was another attempt to fulfill the same task.  It used
higher-power engines and reduced weight to increase speed. In fact
most of the armor was removed, and all of the guns save 2 20mm
MG151s and the Schrage Musik weapons were deleted. A special high-
altitude wing was used, giving better maneuverability due to larger
control surfaces. Top speed was (estimated based on engines)
437mph.
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