Wednesday 26 April 2017

MÁVAG Héja II

The MÁVAG Héja II (Goshawk II) was an Hungarian fighter from the World War 2 that was based on the Italian Reggiane Re.2000.
Unlike the Héja I, which was a license-built Re.2000, the Héja II was entirely made in Hungary with locally produced airframes, engines and armament.
Unlike the Re.2000, it was armed with two 12,7mm Gebauer machine guns placed in the upper nose and was powered by a single Manfred-Weiss built Gnome-Rhône 14kfs air-cooled piston radial engine which delivered 1030hp of power. The first Héja II flew for the first time on 30th October 1942 and in total 203 of them were built for the Magyar Királyi Honvéd Légiero (Royal Hungarian Air Force). The production continued until 1st August 1944 when it ceased.
It served primarily as a fighter trainer as the type was already obsolete against more modern Soviet and allied fighters. Their last operational action took place on 2nd April 1944 when an USAAF raid targeted Danube Aviation Works in Budapest and the Héja II from 1/1 squadron, together with Messerschmitt Me.210 and various Messerschmitt Bf.109G battled against American fighters and bombers.









Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MÁVAG_Héja
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

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