AP 118 · No. 10 Section II · Aircraft Plate 59 / 112

Plate 59 of 112 · Second World War · Single-seat jet fighter

Heinkel He 162 Salamander

He 162 A-2, painted as Werknummer 120227, a Heinkel He 162 A-2 Volksjäger single-seat jet fighter built at Rostock-Marienehe, delivered to II./JG 1 at Leck in the last days of April 1945 and surrendered there in May, brought to Britain as Air Ministry 65 (later 8472M) and kept by the RAF Museum, painted as it is shown at RAF Museum London, Hendon: dark green upper surfaces over light grey sides and undersides with a soft wavy demarcation, the dorsal BMW 003 nacelle green overall with a red intake lip, a dark blue-black nose cap with cream and red rings and a red JG 1 arrow on each side of the nose, a red ‘2’ behind the canopy (the museum describes the number as believed rather than proven), black outline crosses on the rear fuselage and under the wings, a black swastika and ‘120227’ on the outer face of each fin, a red nose-leg strut and ‘nicht anfassen’ stencils on the elevators; it is shown with the gear down and the gear doors hanging open as displayed, an ejection seat is modelled although the museum records the original seat as missing since 1976, and the nose markings are placed to within a few centimetres from photographs.

3D model

Turn it over

A procedural model built in Blender from published dimensions, drawings and photographs, painted as Werknummer 120227, a Heinkel He 162 A-2 Volksjäger single-seat jet fighter built at Rostock-Marienehe, delivered to II./JG 1 at Leck in the last days of April 1945 and surrendered there in May, brought to Britain as Air Ministry 65 (later 8472M) and kept by the RAF Museum, painted as it is shown at RAF Museum London, Hendon: dark green upper surfaces over light grey sides and undersides with a soft wavy demarcation, the dorsal BMW 003 nacelle green overall with a red intake lip, a dark blue-black nose cap with cream and red rings and a red JG 1 arrow on each side of the nose, a red ‘2’ behind the canopy (the museum describes the number as believed rather than proven), black outline crosses on the rear fuselage and under the wings, a black swastika and ‘120227’ on the outer face of each fin, a red nose-leg strut and ‘nicht anfassen’ stencils on the elevators; it is shown with the gear down and the gear doors hanging open as displayed, an ejection seat is modelled although the museum records the original seat as missing since 1976, and the nose markings are placed to within a few centimetres from photographs. Drag to orbit, scroll or pinch to zoom · download .glb (953 KB)

Data plate

Specification

First flight, number built and top speed are for the whole family (); engine, crew and dimensions are for the He 162 A-2 modelled here.

History

The He 162

By the autumn of 1944 the Luftwaffe was losing the air war over Germany, and the Reich Air Ministry called for a Volksjäger, a ‘people’s fighter’: a small jet that could be built quickly in huge numbers from wood and other materials that were not in short supply, by semi-skilled labour, and flown by young pilots with little training. The specification went out in September 1944 and Heinkel’s design, the P.1073, was chosen within weeks. It was a compact aircraft with a single BMW 003 turbojet mounted on top of the fuselage behind the cockpit, a high wing with drooped tips, twin fins at the ends of a dihedral tailplane to keep clear of the jet blast, and a tricycle undercarriage.

The first prototype flew at Vienna-Schwechat on 6 December 1944, barely ninety days after the requirement was issued. Four days later it broke up in front of an audience when a wooden wing failed, and its pilot, Gotthard Peter, was killed; the glue used in the wing proved unreliable, and the type was never free of structural worries. With the engine intake just behind his head, the pilot sat on a cartridge-fired ejection seat, one of the first to be fitted to a production fighter. The production A-2 carried two 20 mm MG 151/20 cannon. Factories at Rostock-Marienehe, Vienna and the underground works at Nordhausen built about 320 before the war ended, many more lying unfinished.

Only one unit flew the He 162 operationally. Jagdgeschwader 1 began converting in February 1945 and took its jets to Leck, in Schleswig-Holstein, in April, where it fought a handful of combats before the surrender. Allied pilots who tested captured examples found it fast and lively but unforgiving, and a British test pilot was killed in one at Farnborough in November 1945. The plan to train Hitler Youth glider pilots to fly it was never carried out. Two survive in Britain: 120227 at RAF Museum London, and 120235, which belongs to the Imperial War Museum and has been shown at Lambeth and Duxford.

This airframe

He 162 A-2 Werk Nr 120227 “Red 2”

120227The airframe modelled

Werknummer 120227 was built by Heinkel at Rostock-Marienehe and delivered in the last days of April 1945 to the second Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 1 at Leck, where it was surrendered to British forces in May 1945. It was shipped to Britain as Air Ministry 65 for evaluation at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough; the RAF serial VN679 was allotted but never carried. It was displayed at RAF Colerne from about 1958, restored there in 1974–76 and given the maintenance serial 8472M, moved to St Athan in 1976 and came to the RAF Museum at Hendon in November 1989. The model shows it as displayed there: dark green upper surfaces over light grey sides and undersides with a soft wavy demarcation, the engine nacelle green with a red intake lip, a dark blue-black nose cap with cream and red rings and a red Jagdgeschwader 1 arrow on each side of the nose, a red “2” behind the canopy, black outline crosses on the rear fuselage and under the wings, and a black swastika and “120227” on the outer face of each fin. No unit code was recorded in 1945, and the museum describes “Red 2” as believed rather than proven. The undercarriage is down with its doors hanging open, as displayed; the ejection seat is modelled although the museum records the original as missing since 1976.

See it at Royal Air Force Museum London

Where to see one

In the gazetteer

The gazetteer records the He 162 in 2 UK collections. The airframe modelled here is marked.

Every airframe and serial All 112 plates

Profiles and models are procedural interpretations built in Blender from published dimensions, three-view drawings and photographs of each airframe. Treat the museum aircraft as the reference.