Manufacturer: Revell
Scale: 1/72
Additional parts: parts from an Airfix Do 217
Model build: Feb - Apr 2019
Luftwaffe Heinkel He 115 N
Matchbox
1/72
1/72
Night Eyes Over the Thames
September, 1940
Hauptmann Franz Schmidt gripped the control yoke of his Heinkel He 115 N, the “Nachteule,” his night owl. Moonlight spilled across the instrument panel, casting an eerie glow on the dials and switches. Tonight, Franz wasn't hunting mice; he was a predator of a different kind, his quarry the sprawling city of London, still smoldering from the relentless Luftwaffe attacks.
Franz wasn't your typical bomber pilot. His He 115 N, a modified version of the lumbering seaplane, was stripped of bombs and bristling with cameras. His mission: capture infrared images of the city, intel for the next wave of bombers. It was a vital, but lonely job.
Tonight, though, the usual hum of the BMW engines was punctuated by a staccato stutter. Franz cursed under his breath. Engine trouble. He nursed the aircraft onward, the vast sprawl of London creeping closer. He could almost feel the heat of the fires below.
Suddenly, a flicker on the radar. An enemy fighter! Unlike the lumbering bombers, the He 115 N was surprisingly fast, but against a dedicated night fighter... Franz pushed the throttles forward, the whine of the engine drowning out the frantic beeps of the warning system.
The darkness behind him erupted in flame. Tracers arced towards his plane, stitching lines of fire across the night sky. Franz felt the aircraft shudder as a round found its mark. Smoke filled the cockpit, stinging his eyes. He fought back panic, focusing on the instruments. He had to get those photos back.
He banked the He 115 N sharply, throwing the fighter off balance. The g-force pulled at him, threatening to dim the already flickering instrument lights. He glanced at the Thames River below, a dark ribbon winding through the city. A desperate plan formed in his mind.
With a final burst of speed, Franz skimmed the water, using the river's twists and turns as cover. The enemy fighter roared in pursuit, its tracers splashing harmlessly into the water. Franz pushed the He 115 N even harder, the engine screaming in protest.
He knew he couldn't keep this up forever. But then, a stroke of luck. A low-hanging bridge loomed ahead. Franz gambled everything. He dipped the nose of the He 115 N, skimming beneath the bridge with inches to spare. The sound was deafening, a scraping screech against the metal beams.
He heard a startled yell from behind, followed by a sickening crunch. He glanced back, a brief flash of fire illuminating the wreckage of the enemy fighter tangled in the bridge supports. Relief washed over him, so intense it almost made him dizzy.
Franz nursed the battered He 115 N back to base, the precious infrared images safe in the belly of the aircraft. He landed with a groan of tortured metal, the aircraft barely a shadow of its former self. But it had flown, and Franz had done his duty. As he climbed out of the cockpit, exhausted and exhilarated, he knew this wasn't just about capturing images. It was about survival, his own and that of his city. He was the Nachteule, the hunter who flew in the dark, and tonight, he had emerged victorious.
In late 1938, the RLM was searching for a new reconnaissance aircraft for the Luftwaffe that was able to have an operational range of 4000km and a speed of at least 420 kph. Among others, Heinkel entered the competition with a modified version of the Heinkel He 115 float plane.
While the original He 115 float plane was a quite slow aircraft that proved not very useful for military combat operations during WW2, the He 115 N was different. Without the drag caused by the huge floats and the usage of the much more powerful BMW-801-A/B engines (1600 hp compared to the original BMW 132 K with 960 hp) the plane was able to reach speed close to 500kph.
Equipped with external fuel tanks and the internal bomb bay mostly used to carry additional fuel, the range of the plane was increased to 4250 km. The remaining part of the bomb bay was filled up with various cameras which were operated from the former bombardier position.
First flight of the He 115-D was in march 1939 and although the first prototype crash landed six weeks later, the Luftwaffe ordered a first series of 20 He 115 D-0 and later additional numbers of improved He 115 D-1 and He 115 D-2. A total of 232 He 115 D were build, more than of the original float plane.
Introduced in Luftwaffe service in late summer of 1940, the he 115 D saw its first operations during the Battle of Britain. There, it was very vulnerable during daylight recon missions, however it was very successful in night recon flights. Equipped with IR sensitive film material, the now nicknamed "Nachteule " - "Night-Owl" was used to evaluate the effects of the Luftwaffe bombing raids.
The He 115 N was also used during Operation Barbarossa, but later usage over Britain in 1944 made them an easy prey for British Mosquito night fighters.
None of the He 115 N has survived today.
The model shows a Heinkel He 115 N during operations over Britain in April 1941.
This is an old Revell 1/72 scale He 115 kit. I had used the floats for an other projects, so i decided to build the He 115 on wheels. Wheels and drop tanks are from an Airfix Do 217 kit and the photo recon pod is taken form the spare par box. The rest of the model is build OOB. The model was airbrushed using Revell Aqua Colour.
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