He162 Location? Mar1945

[robinh]

Found a neat photo at a show recently. He162 Wnr: 310012. Taken on Photo Lunox paper. Penciled on back is the notation "He 162 Das schnellste Jagdflugzeug der ehe. Luftwaffe. Mar 1945."

Would there be any information on where this aircraft was parked and what happened to it? Thank you.

Thanks for posting your picture. Sorry I can't help with the location. This particular Heinkle looks like it was produced as a sub-contract by the Junkers- Bernburg facility. The camoflage seems to indicate this with the sloping leading edge to nose fuselage demarcation line. The Werk numbers however are in the 310001-31002X range. Can you actually make out the Werk Nr. In the photo you have?

Without and markings I'm wondering if it's located at the factory before being ferried to the JG-1 perhaps. Obviously this is an assumption totally on my part.

Thanks for sharing your great picture with us.

Kind regards,

Troy

[robinh]

From some internet research from various sources it appears He 162s were based at the Rostock-Marienehe turf runways in March 1945. The barren background of this photo and the maybe two workmen beside the plane to the rear that would seem to be german groundcrew makes me think this might be the location. Would any of the more experienced forum members be able to confirm or comment on these observations? Thank you.

[robinh]

With a 10x eye loupe I can clearly make out the werknumber on the tail in small white letters of 310012. Can I understand that there is documentation that He 162's in the low 3100xx range were at Junkers - Bernburg in the Mar45 timeframe?

[Vince Malfara]

Hi

A quick search for information at this website indicates some information for 310012.

http://memorial.flight.free.fr/He162uk.html

Regards

Vince...

PS: There is also a link at http://www.lwag.org/forums/showthread.php?t=3290

[robinh]

Thank you for this wonderful roadmap to He 162A-1 Wnr 310012 history. To recap from the various sources and sites:

- The photo of 310012 shows a color pattern style of a type produced at Mittelwerk-Dora. Also documentation indicates the 3100xx series of He162's to be assembled there.

- The Mar45 photo showing an unmarked, uncoded He162A-1 could be from several possible airfields getting it ready to turn over to 1/JG 1.

- 310012 is documented as captured intact at Leck airfield in May45 and five planes (including 310012) were turned over to the French. At that time 310012 was marked as "red 7".

Any mistakes or further observations from anyone?

Thanks again for this great and fun research.

[Simon Schatz]

robinh, there were no He 162 built by Mittelwerk-Dora!

3100XX planes were all built by Junkers Bernburg at Tarthun salt mine.

Cheers, Simon

[robinh]

Must be some confusion between references.

Textbook "Arming the Luftwaffe" by D. Uziel describes He-162 series 3100xx as being in the final assembly line within Mittelwerk. Fuselages are credited as being made in Tarthun salt mine.

Online site airvectors.net shows a photo of the final assembly in a mine near Mauthausen.

I note the same photo of underground assembly of the He-162 being credited in three different underground facilities (a mine) in Germany and Austria. The same mine cannot be in three places.

Seems parts making and assembly was widely scattered and thus not well known in the chaos at the end of war. Probably just safe for me to say the He-162 had parts made and was assembled in various underground facilities.

Thanks for that discussion.

[robinh]

In the Adolf Galland book I lifted the following:

"Heinkel’s factories were gearing up for full production – a
quota of 30 He 162A-1s was expected by the end of
January 1945.
There were five facilities involved: EHAG (Ernst Heinkel
AG) Nord Rostock-Marienehe, EHAG Süd Wien-
Schwechat, Junkers’ Bernburg factory and the underground
facilities at Hinterbrühl, codenamed ‘Languste’, and
Mittelwerk Nordhausen."

Again it appears things were scattered and chaos was the norm.

[RolandF]

This list seems to contain the manufacture locations of prefabricated parts ("Großteile") like fuselages etc. and the factories where final assembly took place