Heinkel He 119

Heinkel He 119

Company type	Experimental aircraft
Industry	Aerospace
Founded	1936
Founder	Heinkel (private initiative)
Headquarters	Germany
Products	Reconnaissance bomber aircraft prototypes

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The Heinkel He 119 was a pioneering monoplane featuring a single propeller driven by two coupled engines, developed in Germany. Conceived as a private initiative by Heinkel to explore innovative concepts from the Günter brothers, this aircraft was designed as an unarmed reconnaissance bomber with the aim of outrunning any enemy fighters through superior speed and performance.

Development

Work on the design commenced in late summer 1936. A key characteristic was its sleek fuselage, which incorporated a heavily glazed cockpit positioned just aft of the propeller. The crew of three were seated with two members flanking either side of a driveshaft that extended rearward to power a pair of coupled Daimler-Benz DB 601 engines. These engines were mounted above the wing center-section within a shared housing; notably, the starboard engine featured a "mirror-image" centrifugal supercharger. Both engines were linked via a common gear reduction unit at their front ends, creating the DB 606 powerplant. This setup marked the first German application of the high-output engine concept intended to deliver over 1,500 kW (2,000 PS) while weighing approximately 1.5 tonnes each.

The DB 606 engine assembly was located just behind the rear cockpit bulkhead near the aircraft’s center of gravity. Power was transmitted through an enclosed extension shaft running along the cockpit centerline to drive a large four-blade variable-pitch propeller situated at the nose. The initial prototype (V1) utilized an evaporative cooling system, whereas subsequent prototypes incorporated a semi-retractable radiator beneath the engine to enhance cooling during takeoff and ascent.

File:Daimler-benz DB 606 (37481252504).jpg

A DB 606 engine displayed at the Technik Museum Sinsheim

Only eight prototypes were completed, and the model did not enter mass production primarily due to limited availability of DB 601 engines required for assembling the heavy DB 606 power units. The first two prototypes were equipped with retractable landing gear for land operations. The third prototype (V3) was adapted as a seaplane featuring twin floats and underwent testing at the Erprobungsstelle Travemünde military seaplane evaluation site on the Baltic coast before being dismantled in 1942 at Heinkel’s Marienehe factory airfield near Rostock.

On 22 November 1937, the fourth prototype (V4) achieved a world-class speed record by flying at 505 km/h (314 mph) while carrying a payload of 1,000 kg (2,205 lb) over a distance of 1,000 km (621 mi).Template:Fix/category The final four prototypes were completed between spring and early summer of 1938. Among these, V5 and V6 served as A-series production prototypes for reconnaissance roles, while V7 and V8 represented B-series production prototypes intended for bombing missions.

These later models accommodated three crew members and were armed defensively with a single 7.92 mm (0.312 in) MG 15 machine gun mounted dorsally. The V7 and V8 variants could carry either three standard bombs weighing 250 kg (551 lb) each or a maximum bombload totaling 1,000 kg (2,205 lb). In May 1940, V7 and V8 were sold to Japan for thorough examination; findings from these studies contributed to the development of the Yokosuka R2Y.Template:Fix/category The remaining prototypes functioned primarily as test platforms for various experimental versions of the DB 606 and DB 610 engines (the latter being twin-coupled DB 605 units), as well as for the strictly experimental DB 613 engine configuration based on paired DB 603 engines.

Variants

He 111U

Propaganda code name assigned to the He 119.

He 119

Initial model, with eight prototype units constructed.

He 519

Conceived in 1944 as a high-velocity bomber, this design was a private initiative by Heinkel aimed at experimenting with innovative concepts developed by the Günter brothers. Planned to be powered by the 24-cylinder Daimler-Benz DB 613, the He 519 never progressed beyond the conceptual stage and was discontinued following the conclusion of the war.

Sources

• Donald, David, "An Industry of Prototypes - Heinkel He 119", Wings of Fame, Volume 12. Aerospace Publishing Ltd., London, UK/AIRtime Publishing Inc., Westport, Connecticut, 1998, ISBN 1-86184-021-7 / 1-880588-23-4, pp. 30–34.
• Green, William. Warplanes of the Third Reich. New York: Doubleday, 1972. ISBN 0-385-05782-2.