He 219A-2 Uhu "Night Fighter"

This injection-moulded kit contains 35 parts, one clear part (the cockpit canopy) and a small fret with 41 photo-etched parts. For modellers convenience a display base, made of pasteboard card, depicting a section of the Luftwaffe military airfield is added. A comprehensive instruction leaflet and a decal sheet are included.

The He 219 Uhu was a German heavy night fighter, employing a number of the then novel radar and antennae equipment, and was the first operational military aircraft to be fitted with ejection seats. After protracted development the prototype flew in November 1942. The first production variant was the He 219A-2/R1 night fighter, equipped with four cannons in the ventral tray, two guns in the wings and another two as a Schräge Musik installation behind the cockpit. It was a two-seat, all-metal monoplane powered by two Daimler-Benz DB 603 in-line piston engines. A total of 85 He 219A-2s were built, while two more major variants were later also produced.

Although the He 219 was a capable fighter, it saw only limited service; had they been available in quantity, they might have had a significant effect on the strategic night bombing offensive of the Allied forces carried in the latter half of the war.