Henschel Hs 129

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henschel_Hs_129

The Henschel Hs 129 was a World War II ground-attack aircraft fielded by the
German Luftwaffe. The aircraft saw combat in Tunisia and on the Eastern Front

By the mid-1930s, the German military, as well as its counterparts in other
countries, had come to see the main role of ground-attack aircraft as the
interdiction of logistics and materiel, a task in which targets were often
poorly protected and less likely to be protected by strong, well-coordinated
defences. For high-value, well-protected tactical targets dive bombers had
become the conventional solution. However, the experience of the German Kondor
Legion during the Spanish Civil War (1936–39) refuted this idea. Even though it
was equipped with types unsuited to the role, such as the Henschel Hs 123 and
cannon-armed versions of the Heinkel He 112, the Kondor Legion proved that
ground-attack aircraft were a very effective weapon. This led to support within
the Luftwaffe for the creation of an aircraft dedicated to this role, and the
Reichsluftministerium (RLM; "Reich Air Ministry") requested tenders for a
specialized ground attack aircraft.

It was anticipated that the main source of damage to such an aircraft would be
small arms fire from the ground, meaning that the plane had to be well-armored
around its cockpit and engines. Similar protection was also needed in the
canopy, in the form of 75 mm (2.95 in) thick armored glass. The aircraft was
expected to be attacking in low-level, head-on strafing runs, so the cockpit had
to be located as close as possible to the nose, in order to maximize the
visibility of its targets. Another, non-operational, requirement severely
hampered the designs: the RLM insisted that the new design be powered by engines
that were not being used in existing aircraft, so that the type would not
interfere with production of established types deemed essential to the war
effort.

The Hs 129 was designed around a single large "bathtub" of steel sheeting that
made up the entire nose area of the plane, completely enclosing the pilot up to
head level. Even the canopy was steel, with only tiny windows on the side to see
out of and two angled blocks of glass for the windscreen. In order to improve
the armor's ability to deflect bullets, the fuselage sides were angled in
forming a triangular shape, resulting in almost no room to move at shoulder
level. There was so little room in the cockpit that the instrument panel ended
up under the nose below the windscreen where it was almost invisible; some of
the engine instruments were moved outside onto the engine nacelles'
inboard-facing surfaces, as on some models of Messerschmitt's Bf 110 heavy
fighter, and the gunsight was mounted outside on the nose.

Henschel's plane came in 12% overweight with the engines 8% underpowered, and
understandably, it flew poorly. The controls proved to be almost inoperable as
speed increased, and in testing, one plane flew into the ground from a short
dive because the joystick forces were too high for the pilot to pull out. The
Focke-Wulf design proved to be no better. Both planes were underpowered with
their air-cooled, inverted-V12 Argus As 410 engines, and very difficult to fly.

The RLM nevertheless felt they should continue with the basic concept. The only
real deciding factor between the two designs was that the Henschel was smaller
and cheaper. The Focke-Wulf was put on low priority as a backup, and testing
continued with the Hs 129 A-0. A series of improvements resulted in the Hs 129
A-1 series, armed with two 20 mm MG 151/20 cannons and two 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG
17 machine guns, along with the ability to carry four 50 kg (110 lb) bombs under
the fuselage centreline.


Role
Ground-attack

Manufacturer
Henschel

First flight
25 May 1939

Introduction
April 1942

Retired
1945

Primary users
Luftwaffe
Hungarian Air Force
Romanian Air Force

Produced
June 1940 – September 1944

Number built
865

B-1s started rolling off the lines in December 1941, but they were delivered at
a trickle. In preparation for the new plane, I./SchlG 1 had been formed up in
January with Bf 109 E/Bs (fighter-bomber version of Bf 109 E) and Hs 123s, and
they delivered B-0s and every B-1 that was completed. Still, it was not until
April that 12 B-1s were delivered and the 4th staffel (squadron) became ready
for action. They moved to the Eastern Front (to the Crimea) in the middle of May
1942, and in June they received a new weapon, the 30 mm (1.2 in) MK 101 cannon
with armor-piercing ammunition in a centerline pod.

Specifications (Hs 129 B-2)

General characteristics
Crew: one, pilot
Length: 9.75 m (31 ft 11¾ in)
Wingspan: 14.20 m (46 ft 7 in)
Height: 3.25 m (10 ft 8 in)
Wing area: 29.0 m² (312.15 ft²)
Empty weight: 4,020 kg (8,860 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 5,250 kg (11,574 lb)
Powerplant: 2 × Gnome-Rhône 14M 4/5 14-cylinder radial engines, 522 kW (700 hp)
each

Performance
Maximum speed: 407 km/h (220 knots, 253 mph) at 3,830 m (12,570 ft) (clean)
Range: 690 km (372 nmi, 428 mi)
Service ceiling: 9,000 m (29,530 ft)
Rate of climb: 8.1 m/s (1,595 ft/min)

Armament

2 x 7.92 mm (0.31 in) MG-17 machine guns, later models from 1943 to 1944
replaced the MG-17s with 2 x 13 mm (.51 in) MG 131 machine guns
2 x 20 mm MG 151/20 cannons
4 x 50 kg (110 lb) fragmentation bombs on belly racks or a 30 mm (1.2 in) MK 101
armor-piercing gun in a conformally mounted gun pod. Later models could also
carry a MK-103 gun pod, or a BK-3.7 gun pod.
2 x 50 kg bombs on underwing mounts




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