1/72 Italeri Heinkel He-111Z

by Bob Bartolacci

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The Heinkel 111Z came about as one solution to the need for towing the massive Messerschmidt Me-321 Assault Gliders to their destinations. The task was originally assigned to multiple Messerschmidt Me-110 twin engine fighters. Due to the problems of having multiple twin engined aircraft towing a huge glider this proved impractical.

The Heinkel Company came up with an imaginative solution with the Heinkel He-111Z, or Zwilling, for twin. Two standard Heinkel 111 bombers were modified by removing the outer right wing from one and the outer left wing from the other. These were joined by a straight chord section mounting an additional engine. This aircraft proved up to the task. The original Z-1 aircraft was the glider tow, while there were discussions about creating the Z-2 to perhaps fill the need for a long range bomber.

Only a relative few of the 111Z-1 were built, most being expended on the Russian front in efforts to resupply different German pockets such as at Stalingrad. The Me-321's were eventually supplanted by the six engined Me-323.

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Italeri has had the He-111Z, the Me-321, and the Me-323 kits in their 1/72 catalog for quite some time now. The Zwilling is basically two of their He-111 kits with the necessary conversion parts included as well as different decals. The kit in the article is built strictly out of the box, and is intended to hang in a local hobby shop posed towing an Me-321 Gigant.  Hopefully there will be another article about the Gigant and photos of the two hanging at the shop.  Then maybe a Bf-109 or two...

The fit of the model is comparable to it's vintage. The wing fit to the fuselages takes some work, and the drop tanks under the fuselages need a lot of work to smoothly fit in. Transparencies are nice especially after a dip in Future. The one omission that I have been researching for when the time comes is the complete lack of towing fittings or diagrams. Anyone with a set of good drawings will earn my gratitude if they can help out, as well as Jerry & Barb at JBAR Hobbies in Tecumseh, MI!!!

The finished product looks like a Zwilling, and with a Gigant in tow it should make quite a display :-)

Bob

Photos and text © by Bob Bartolacci