COBI Heinkel HE 111 H-22 with V1 Flying Bomb - Executive Edition Set 5771

COBI's Heinkel He 111 H-22 with V1 Executive Edition is a 1:48 set built from 927 blocks: the bomber at 34 cm long with a 46 cm wingspan, and a separate V1 flying bomb of 20 cm that mounts under the wing. The propellers and ailerons move, the wheels turn on rubber tires, the glazed nose has a modelled interior, and the cockpit opens. A display stand with a transparent stem, a black plaque and desk scenery — lamp, magnifying glass and V-weapon drawings — complete the set. Two figures are included.

Why they launched them from aircraft

The V1 was designed to be fired from a ramp. Those ramps were in northern France, aimed at London, and after the Normandy landings the Allies overran them.

The answer was to carry the missile into the air. From summer 1944 a special Luftwaffe unit flew He 111s out over the North Sea at night, at low level under British radar, climbed briefly to launch a V1 towards England, and went home. It also extended the reach — targets could be approached from angles no fixed ramp could cover.

It worked badly. Launching a large rocket-propelled object from under a bomber's wing at night is dangerous; a number of Heinkels were destroyed by their own weapon igniting. Around 1,200 V1s were air-launched, and the unit lost a substantial share of its aircraft doing it.

The second figure

Alongside the pilot is a man in a coat, hat and glasses: Robert Lusser, the engineer who led the Fieseler team that designed the V1. He had previously worked at Heinkel and Messerschmitt, where he was involved in the Bf 109.

After the war he went to the United States, worked on missiles, and formulated what is now called Lusser's law — the principle in reliability engineering that a system made of many parts in series is less reliable than its weakest component, which is a lesson the V1 taught him thoroughly.

In the COBI range

Set 3135 is the V1 on its ground transport trolley at 1:35.

Specifications

Pieces: 927 · Figures: 2 · Scale: 1:48 · Age: 10+ · Two models in one set · No stickers
Model dimensions: Heinkel 34 × 46 × 9 cm, V1 20 × 11.5 × 3 cm