Power To The Volk!

Historical Background

The Heinkel He 162 jet fighter was a lightweight fighter designed for easy mass production. Late in World War 2, when Germany was being pounded day and night by the Allies, the Luftwaffe needed new approach using the newly developed jet propulsion in order to counter the mass bombing and also the threat of the superlative P-51 Mustang escorts. Basically two school of thoughts developed: the one led by General der Flieger Adolf Galland preferred hi-tech approach and demanded more Me 262 jet fighters to the detriment of other aircraft production. Another group, supported by Hermann Goering and Albert Speer noticed the shortcomings of the Schwalbe and proposed a new design which is to be cheap, and simple to built to the point that it can be discarded if damaged. Galland and most of the Luftwaffe's senior officers were against the light fighter programme, but since it received the support of two of the Reich's big brass, it was green-lighted with the name Volksjager (Peoples' Fighter).

Official requirements specified that the plane is to be powered by a single BMW 003 jet engine, which has a slightly lower thrust than the Jumo 004 (and thus not in demand for the Me 262 and Ar 234). The main structure are be built using wood and other non-critical materials plus the design should be simple enough that even non-skilled labor (or, in case of the Third Reich, slave labour) could assemble the airframe. Specifications include a weight not exceeding 2,000 kg, maximum speed of 750 km/h at sea level, operational endurance of at least 30 minutes and a take-off run of no more than 500 meters. Armament would either be two 20 mm MG151/20 cannons with 100 rounds each or two 30 mm MK108 with 50 rounds each. The aircraft should also need to be easy to fly that even glider or student pilots could fly it effectively in combat. It has also been suggested that Hitler Youth members be taken as pilots of this new fighter after receiving rudimentary training in gliders.

The requirements were issued on 10 September 1944. As this was going to be a huge contract, nearly every German aircraft manufacturers submitted their proposal. Heinkel was seen to be the leading contender for this project as they had already been working on lightweight single-engined fighter designated P.1073. Although some design, such as Blohm und Voss P.211 were technically superior, Heinkel's design was accepted as the winner in October 1944. The RLM chose airframe designation 8-162 (originally for a proposed Messerschmitt bomber aircraft) to confuse Allied intelligence, while the construction programme was given the codename 'Salamander'. The He 162, called 'Spatz' (sparrow) by Heinkel, was fairly small, aircraft with a slim and sleek fuselage. In fact it looked quite modern for its time. The BMW 003 jet engine was mounted in a nacelle atop the fuselage, directly centered over the wings' centre section. The highly dihedralled tailplanes mounted the rectangular tailfins at the ends. The wing was mounted high with a marked degree of dihedral and forward-swept trailing edge. The pilot was provided with an early ejection seat. The prototype flew on 6  December of that year. The flight was fairly successful although the acidic replacement glue (the originally specified glue was unavailable as the factory was bombed) attaching the nose gear strut floor failed during a high-speed run, forcing the test pilot, Flugkapitan Gotthold Peter to land. Other problems were also noticed, notably pitch instability and sideslip due to the rudder design. They were however considered to be minor, so as not to disturb the test programme.

On 10 December, during the second test flight the glue failed again, this time causing a structural failure. The aileron separated from the wing, causing the aircraft to crash, killing Peter. The investigation into the cause of the accident resulted in a strengthened wing structure and from the third ('M3') and fourth ('M4') prototypes onwards, small, anhedral, drooped wingtips were added in an attempt to cure the stability problems. Both M3 and M4 were armed with the MK 108 30-mm cannons of the A-1 anti-bomber variant. However tests showed that the recoil of these powerful weaposn were too much for the light airframe and plans for production turned to the MG 151/20-armed A-2 variant (the A-1 was reworked into the strenghtened A-3). Various other changes resulted in an escalation of weight, raisng from 2,000 kg to 2,800 kg. Nevertheless the He 162 was the fastest fighter aircraft during World War 2, with speed up to 905 km/h at 6,000 meters. It however has a short duration of just 30 minutes. This was mainly due to the limited amount of fuel it could carry. And despite the hope that the aircraft can be flown by Hitler Youth members, the He 162 was a complicated enough aircraft that only the most experienced pilots can handle them.

In January 1945, test unit Erprobungskommando (EKdo) 162 was formed at Rechlin with 46 aircraft. In February, the He 162 was delivered to its first operational unit, I./JG 1 'Oesau' (the mad idea of using young, inexperienced pilots was finally shelved). The Gruppe was transferred to Parchim where the pilots can pick up their new jets and start training immediately. On 7 April, Parchim was heavily damaged in a raid by the USAAF, forcing them to relocate to Ludwigslust and then to Leck.  II. Gruppe of JG 1 moved to Marienehe on 8 April to begin conversion to the type whilst the proposal to re-equip III. Gruppe was abandoned. Officially the He 162 was never operational but apparently they saw combat in April 1945. On 19 April, Feldwebel Kirchner was credited with shooting down an RAF aircraft but he himself was lost in a crash before he can return to base. I./JG 1 claimed a number of unverified kills in April, with just one confirmed kill: a Tempest shot down by Leutnant Rudolf Schmidt some time in early May 1945. The Gruppe on the other hand lost 13 of their number, mainly due to accidents and structural failures.  All JG 1's aircraft were grounded on 5 May 1945 and turned over to the Allies the following day. EKdo 162's aircraft were turned over to JV 44 and were destroyed along with the unit's Me 262 before they surrendered. By 8 May 1945, 120 He 162s were delivered, 200 were completed and awaiting delivery with another 600 in various stages of production.

The Kit

Tamiya came out with a 1/48 scale kit of the He 162, using the project code name Salamander, a few years back (2006 actually). Portraying the A-2 version, the kit comes with the usual Tamiya quality. Details are sharp and generally excellent, although the panel lines may be a bit heavy. The engine can be displayed in an open nacelle or posed separately from the aircraft (superdetailers can go crazy on the engine alone!) The engine nacelle is mounted on polycaps so that one can swap the pose of the engine cowlings. In fact one can display both style of engine cowls at the same time with one mounted on the supplied trolley. To help modelers align the wings, a T-shaped plastic spar was included (it also act as the mounting for the engine nacelle). Also included is a ball bearing to act as nose weight. Decals provided markings for four aircraft:
1.'Yellow 11/20' Oberleutnant Emil Demuth, 3./JG 1, Leck, Germany, May 1945
2. 'White 1' Leutnant Rudolf Schmidt, 1./ JG 1, Leck, Germany, May 1945
3. 'Nervenklau' / Red 1', Leutnant Gerhard Hanf, 2./JG 1, Leck, Germany, May 1945
4. 'White 23', Oberst Herbert Ihlefeld, JG 1, Leck, Germany, May 1945

Construction

The instructions have you build the...engine display trolley first. I of course skipped that and went straight to the cockpit. There is no cockpit tub per se here - there are basically sub-assemblies of the instrument panel, the nose gear bay and the seat/rear bulkhead. The whole of the cockpit parts plus the side walls were painted Tamiya XF-63 to represent RLM 66. Part A13 (nose wheel strut mount) is shown to be a slip-in affair. While friction may held it in place, I doubt whether friction can withstand the force of inserting the nose wheel strut, so I glued it in place. The next step in the instructions is concerned with the landing gear. The struts and wheels were assembled but I left it off first while I assembled the main landing gear bay. I then dry-fitted the fuselage and the landing gear bay together to see whether I can leave the landing gears off until later (the instructions have the bay inserted into the fuselage, landing gears and all). I judged that it can be done and I continue with the build.

The panels on the cockpit sidewall and part of the cannon barrel were then cemented to their places on the cockpit walls. The cockpit bulkhead/seat assembly and the nose gear bay were then cemented to the right fuselage half. The ball bearing / nose weight was then inserted behind the bulkhead where the latter plus protrusions on the fuselage and part of the plane's belly trapped the weight in place. The main gear bay and the wing spar was then cemented into their places and the fuselage was then closed up. The tail plane was then cemented to the fuselage and afterwards the tail fins were attached to the ends of the tail plane.

Next to be assembled are the wings and the engine nacelle. The wing halves were mated together and inserted onto the protruding spar. Fit is very good and the spar set the wings at the proper angle. This is followed by the engine nacelle. As mentioned before, there is an option of having the engine nacelle displayed open. If so chosen, there is fairly detailed engine to be shown and one can add more details as they see fit. Since I want to have it closed, the steps involved were lesser as there only some minor assembly of the intake and exhaust to do. The only thing I left from the engine assembly at this moment was the loop aerial. The poly caps inserted during the build secured the engine nacelle to the fuselage. This however resulted in a less than perfect fit and I have to add some putty to close the gap.

Painting and Decalling

I decided to do the second option - 'Yellow 11/20' of Oberleutnant Emil Demuth of 3./JG1 with his previous kill markings on the tail and 3. Staffel's insignia. I painted the model overall RLM76 using Gunze Aqueous H417. Once dry, the top part is painted RLM83 using Gunze Aqueous H413. Now the instructions stated that the top right wing and elevator is to be painted RLM82. However, a color profile of Yellow 11/20 in an issue of Scale Aircraft Modelling International showed that the top is RLM83 overall. Lacking RLM82 in my arsenal (which I found out later that XF5 can be used to represent RLM82), I decided to follow the sample in the SAMI magazine. The intake lip was also painted according to the same colour profile instead of Tamiya's instructions. The decals went on next without much problem. For Yellow 11/20, Tamiya supplied two sets of the 3. Staffel's 'Devil' insignia decals - one depicting the devil in red and another in tan. I use the tan one as my resources show the latter option. Mr Mark Softer was later applied to conform the decals on the surface. 

Finishing

As the real plane was meant to be a simple affair, the same goes with its 1/48 counterpart. The assembled landing gear can now be inserted into their places, allowing the model to stand on its own. The completed instrument panel was cemented into place (I totally forgot about it, good thing I have not cemented the cockpit transparencies yet). The landing gear doors, in a rather retro step by Tamiya, was moulded as one (or in the closed position) and need to be cut into its constituent parts before being cemented to the fuselage. Finally the loop aerial and the nose probe were attached. The model then received a sludge wash before everything was sealed with Flat Clear.

Conclusion

Being a modern Tamiya kit, there is really no big problem with the build. The parts fit well generally speaking and the details are nicely done (although the panel lines are a bit deep for a Tamiya kit plus a few missing details). The inclusion of the nose weight and wing spar/alignment are very welcomed in assisting the modeller. Although the Spatz is the lesser known jet than the Me 262 or the Ar 234 (plus having a very short operational life), Tamiya is to be commended for producing this little jet - I believe a must if one builds or collects World War 2 planes, especially the early jets.