Now here is an aircraft that isn't seen that often on contest tables. The He-111 was probably the Luftwaffe's most prolific bomber in the early war. It was supplanted by the much faster Ju-88 and later used as cargo transports that saw much use on the Eastern Front. Since the Germans had lost a huge number of Ju-52s in the Crete operation in 1941, the He-111 was a natural as its replacement. There were lots of them and they could still be used as bombers. It was quite easy for the Germans to have local air superiority, unlike the European theater, so their slower speed wasn't that critical. In Europe, they were later used to air launch V-1 missiles, though their success rate wasn't as high as what was initially hoped.

This sheet has markings for four aircraft, two H-4 and two V-1 carrying H-22s. For kits your best bet are the various Italeri boxings. New they aren't, but they are better than the Matchbox and Airfix versions which are even older than the nearly 20 year old Italeri one.

First is an H-4 from 8./KG 54 on the Eastern front. It is in RLM 70/71/65 with some patches of RLM 75 used to overpaint some of the previous codes.

Next is an H-22 V-1 carrier from III./KG 3 in 1944. It is in RLM 70/71/65 with large patches of RLM 75 or 74 over the upper surfaces.

Next, from II./kg 26 is this Eastern front bird with its standard bomber scheme overpainted with large RLM 75 or 77 areas on the upper surface. It has a slimmer than normal fuselage band.

Finally, another H-22 from I./KG 53. In addition to the white rudder, it has large patches of RLM 75 or RLM 77 painted over the upper surfaces. These planes launched at night so that is undoubtedly the reason for all the grey. 

It appears that there are enough common markings to do all four bombers.

Review sheet courtesy of me.

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