[pbhawkin]

Hi all,
I have received a reply from Mr Volker Koos and he very kindly translated his information on the He-119.
Here are three paragraphs from what he kindly sent to me:

In the Flugzeug-Entwicklungsprogramm (FEP, i.e. aircraft development program) of the RLM (1.7.1936) for this reason the He 119 V-1 and V-2 are listed as fast bombers. But it is already said, that this Heinkel aircraft would not be ordered in greater numbers. The FEP of 1.10.1936 gives some more details. Here the He 119 V-1 (Wnr. (c/n) 2402), V-2 (2403) and V-4 (2405) are planned as fast bomber prototypes and the V-3 and V-5 (2404 and 2406) are listed as prototypes for the world flight. At that time also a pre-series of seven fast bombers was planned. Already in January 1937 the number of He 119 prototypes was reduced to three, that should be used for engine-trials. The FEP of 1.4.1937 omitted the idea of the world flight. Only the He 119 SV-1, SV-2 and SV-3 (Wnr. 2402, 2403 and 2405) are listed as engine-testbeds. Later the c/ns were fitted to the row, so that the V-3 became the 2404. (SV means Sonder-Versuch, i.e. a V-machine für special tests).

also,

After the first flight in June 1937 and the above mentioned record-flight in November, the He 119 V-1 was again prepared for a record-flight, because the first record was beated on December 10 by an Italian Breda 88. During the second record-flight attempt on December 16, 1937 the He 119 SV-1 (Wnr. 2402, D-AUTE) crashed in Travemünde. The accident was caused by a failure in the tank switching. Nitschke suffered hard injuries, Dieterle only a little bit. (In the literature it is always said and copied again and again, that the record machine D-AUTE was the V-4, but that is total nonsense, because at that time only the V-1 was built and flown.)

and:

The number of the built machines is not exactly known.The RLM gave the export permission after the procurement was rejected. But at Heinkel they tried further to build a bomber on the base of the He 119. The sixth of such projects became the He 119 SV-4. It was planned with the DB 610 (two connected DB 605), a four-bladed airscrew of 4,2 m Diameter, a 3 man-crew (one in a cabin behind the engine) and two 7,9-mm-guns MG 81 and further two 13-mm-guns MG 131 in the cockpit. A further MG 81 was operated by the gunner (third crew-member). The bomb-load of up to 600 kg and another tank of 600 liters ware placed in the fuselage. The planform of the wings was like that of the SV-3 straight not elliptical. The He 119 SV-4 was first flown in May 1940. After seeing the He 119 in Rostock-Marienehe on 1.12.1938 the Japanes Navy ordered two machines. These were delivered in 1941 by ship. Heinkels chief pilot Gerhard Nitschke also travelled to Japan for demonstration of the He 119 and He 100. Both He 119s crashed at landing after short-time testing in Japan. On the base of the He 119 the Japaneses developed the R2Y1 "Keiun" in the flight technical arsenal of the Navy in Yokosuka. Construction leader was Shiro Otsuki.
The two He 119s delivered to Japan were with great probabiliy the SV-2 and SV-4. In Japanese Literature the engine of both machines is said to be the DB 606. So it could have been, that the SV-4 never had the projected DB 610. (But in Japan often the older and often false German literature is copied too.)

So it would seem that 2 He-119s made it to Japan and may well have been V-2 and V-4.

Many thanks to Mr Koos for his time and trouble and to others for their interest in this matter.

regards
Peter H