this is my first post, and I hope I haven't posted on a dead thread. hello all.
I'll admit from the start I like the he 219(perhapes to much for my good) so if I'm biased toward the aircraft I hope you'll understand. But I will challenge the ulmighty erich in his posting "the he 219 uhu was a dog in sheeps clothing"(and Ive edgucated miself as much as posible on the subgect, thnk you)
I do find most information on the he 219 never mentioning a fault with the aircraft, which is a little disconcerting. but some of Erichs arguements on pg 1 of this disscusion do not make sense
for one he says that the side 20mm caused side blindness. Why would they? They're mounted behind the pilot. admittedly the tracers came close to the pilot, but compared to the mosquito that had 4 MG right in front of the cocpit(can't spell) and the me 110 that had 2 30mm cannons right in front, it cant be worse (the later misq. had them deleated to make room for radar)
2, engines were unreliable, DB 603 powered many aircraft, including the Do 217 N&M, Do 335, Me 410 and Ta 152C. Underpowered, in later models, yes. the never-put-in-production B model was to be powered by Jumo 222(an engine with a troubled history), apparently an A-7/r6 reached 435 mph on this engine
3, later models did have the FuG 218 Neptun radar (not sure on which, perhapes source error).
4, in reference to 2, reliability issues, the first in action were pre production model A-0, which is sure to have issues. the A-5 was the first main production model. AND 6 uhu's were assembeled in the field. how could the reliability be that much of an issue when they can actualy assemble them from spare parts? the uhu was liked by both pilots and matenence crews:quote
5, Luffwaffe non-acceptance=milch non-acceptace. He wanted emphasise on models already in production. this was more timely, and doesn't seem to reflect on bad performance of the he 219 (he also had a personal grudge against henkel). he empasized production on the FW misq. and ju-388, none of which reach opperation.
overal it was faster, more heavly armed, and more manuverable then the ju-88G. The ju made up for the speed issue by having increadible range though. And one of the best reasons it was a good nf was its ability to accept more equipment without effecting handeling/performance. but one argument is that the ju-88 had a rear fireing gun. WHEN HAS A HAND AIMED REAR FIRING GUN BEEN EFFECTIVE? tail warning radar should do the trick(personal oppinion)
the uhu did have an issue with high wing loading, but the lanc flew under 20,000 ft, and it made it quite manuverable. Ex. a stirling had high wing loading and could out turn a ju 88
I agree the uhu in later models was overloaded and definatly not a misquito killer, but I believe it was better then the ju-88G
now that i've lobed my few arguments, i shall now seal the hatch, retreat to my bunker, and await with trepidation the coming bombardment.