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Old 6th January 2005, 00:27
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George Hopp George Hopp is offline
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George Hopp
He 219 and the DB 603G

I am seen the number of He 219s built in the 3rd Quarter 1944 many times but have never bothered to check them. The C-Amts report gives the following production of new a/c as follows: July-16, August-17, Sept.-25. To me that looks like 58 a/c. Just for your info, the numbers for the next 2 months are: Oct.-18, Nov.-19; and, apparently, from Dec.-23; for a total of 60. And, although the numbers are again increasing, they still have quite a distance to go to get to 35. But, I can even accept the number of 35 more than I can accept that these were ALL A-7s.

Oh yes, the DB 603G was planned for several a/c, especially for the Me 410. And, in many references that you might look at today you will see notes that say the Me 410B was powered by the DB 603G. But, already in a meeting in June 1943 DB made the point that the Me 410 couldn't possibly be powered by the DB 603G before Dec. 44; and as you know, the Me 410 stopped production in Sept. 44.

Since the letter from DB to VDM of 8.8.44 I quoted, was by an engine maker to the firm that is making propellers for its engines, I would assume that it would ensure that the list was accurate and complete.

Yes, it is possible that the DB 603E was meant to power the A-7. I haven't been looking for original documentation on the He 219, so really can't comment on that aspect of it. If that is so, would there be high enough production of the engine to enable the powering in one month of 35 Heinkels? I really do doubt it because it took several months for the DB 603A production to become great enough to enable the Me 410 to reach its planned production of 50 units per month. I would expect the same for the DB 603E, or any other DB engine, and so would expect to see a slow build-up in the numbers of a particular series produced.

So, who knows, I may yet have to apologize to Artie, and put on my sack-cloth and ashes; but, as of right now, it doesn't seem probable. The start to a partial solution might be to know what the production mix of He 219s was for Dec 44.

Thanks for your comments, Robert. It's the questions of people like you who keep us so-called experts, honest. For what it's worth, I responded to the original question only because I have spent many years researching the DB 603A and G engines, and not because I think of myself as very knowledgeable on the He 219.
George
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