This is #49 in their Monographs collection and is listed as Volume 1. You may recall that it wasn't that long ago that Kagero produced a volume on the He-219, but apparently there has been enough additional information on the aircraft so that two volumes are now required. I have not read the earlier edition so am not sure what, if anything, has been repeated in this one. I can tell you that this volume is marked '3D edition'. Now this does not mean you need special glasses to read it, but it does mean that there are going to be a number of pages of superb computer developed art work on various parts, pieces and systems.

The He-219 was a plane that none of the high mucky-mucks in the Luftwaffe wanted. Heinkel had been told early in the war after the failure of his He-112 and He-100 to reach production status that he needed to concentrate on bombers and leave the fighters to someone else. What eventually became the He-219 was originally proposed as a fast recce aircraft, then a destroyer capable of carrying a respectable bomb load. After the usual back and forth meetings, the design, which had reached the wooden mock-up stage was rejected. As Heinkel had put company money into the design it was a blow. However, by this time of the war, there became a real need for night fighters and so the design was modified and the rest is history.

Kagero's book starts off with a section by an unknown He-219 test pilot who describes what it was like to first see the plane and then the procedures for getting it airborne, what it was like to fly the plane and what it was like to land it. The thing I found interesting is that most pilots felt that the 219 was underpowered and that losing an engine on take-off more than likely meant a crash as the other was unable to keep the plane in the air. I also found it interesting that the aircraft was considered rather tricky to land as well. Though it was hoped that the He-219 would be able to handle the high flying Mosquito recce birds, the plane was often unable to reach the Mossie's altitudes. Apparently 10,000 meters was pretty much it. However, this was more than sufficient to nab bombers.

The book then goes into the development of the aircraft, then on to prototypes, first combat and more testing, and then into serial production. This latter section covers the different variant. I am assuming that Vol 2 will concentrate on its combat use. Kagero provides an excellent set of scale plans in both 1/72 and 1/48 scale, the latter being provided as separate sheets due to their size.

We next get into the 3D section of the book with many pages of excellent art work, concentrating on the cockpit in both overall and detail views. This is especially well done and a real boon to modelers. Then there is a section showing parts of the lone extant airframe, still under restoration. The book ends with several pages of full color profiles.

In all, it is a great offering and one that Luftwaffe fans should not pass up.

January 2013

Review book courtesy of the fine folks at Kagero. Visit them for more books.

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