Germany's Henschel Hs 129 close support

Photos

Henschel Hs 129 close support:	Henschel Hs 129 close support:	Henschel Hs 129 close support:	Henschel Hs 129 close support:
Henschel Hs 129 close support: Aeronautics Aircraft Spotters' Handbook	Henschel Hs 129 close support: Aeronautics Aircraft Spotters' Handbook
Henschel Hs 129 close support:	Henschel Hs 129 close support:

Design

In 1937 the Technische Amt issued specifications for a close-support, with a cannon, aircraft.^1,2 The competing designs were the Focke-Wulf 189 and the Henschel Hs 129.¹ Both didn't perform well and the Hs 129 won mostly due to the fact it was 2/3s the cost of the Fw 189.¹ Friedrich Nicolaus was the designer of the Henschel Hs 129.²

The Henschel Hs 129 was designed from the start to destroy tanks.¹

Cockpit

The Hs 129 was designed to have a small cross section and this resulted in the cockpit being very small and cramped.¹ Some pilots couldn't fit into the small cockpit.¹

The cockpit had 0.5" / 12 mm armored plating on the floor and the front.^1,4 There was 0.25" / 6 mm armor on the sides.^1,4

The gun sight was mounted in front of the canopy.¹

The engine controls were mounted on the engine nacelles.¹

Undercarriage

The undercarriage retracted rearwards into the engine nacelles with a little bit of the wheel left exposed to help minimize damage in the case of a wheels up landing.¹

Fuselage

The fuselage was light metal with a stressed skin.¹ This was joined to the armored cockpit.¹

The bottom was armored to protect against ground fire.⁵

Engines

The Hs 129 would have been a great close support aircraft except for its engine problems.³ The initial Argus engine was underpowered, and the Gnome-Rhône were vulnerable to ground fire and prone to fail.³

Prototype

Henschel received an order to build three prototypes in mid-1938.¹

The very first one flew in March 1938.¹
The first prototype flew in the spring of 1939.^3,4

The Hs 129V1 had two Argus As 410 inline engines (465 HP) and first flew in 1938.²

The Hs 129A-0 had French Gnome-Rhône 14M radial engines (700 HP) installed.²

The Hs 129A-0 had Argus As 410A-1 engines that proved to be under-powered.¹

The Hs 129B had the Gnome-Rhône installed.¹ The cockpit was modified with larger areas of armored glass.¹

Production

Production ended in September 1944.¹

• Prototypes: 3³
• Henschel Hs 129A-0: 8³
• Henschel Hs 129B-0: 16³
• Henschel Hs 129B: 843³
• Total: 870³, 871¹
  • Manufacturer: Henschel Flugzeugwerke A.G.⁴

Variants

• Henschel Hs 129V: Fitted with Argus As 410A-1 inverted V 12 engines (495 HP).³
• Henschel Hs 129A-0: Fitted with Argus engines.¹ These were underpowered and were assigned to a training unit.¹
• Henschel Hs 129B-0: Had a larger cockpit and electrically operated trim tabs.² Delivered in December 1941.²
• Henschel Hs 129B-1: Delivered in 1942.²
• Henschel Hs 129B-1/R2: 30 mm MK 101 cannon under the nose with 30 rounds.²
• Henschel Hs 129B-1/R3: Had four 7.9 mm machine guns in a ventral pack.³
• Henschel Hs 129B-1/R4: Had up to 551 lb / 250 kg of bombs.³
• Henschel Hs 129B-1/R5: Had a ventral camera.³
• Henschel Hs 129B-2/R2: 30 mm cannon under the fuselage.³
• Henschel Hs 129B-2/R3: 37 mm cannon under the fuselage.³
• Henschel Hs 129B-2/R4: 75 mm cannon under the fuselage.³
• Henschel Hs 129B-3/Wa: Had 75 mm PaK 40 gun installed with 12 rounds.^1,2,3 There were no guns in the wings.³ 25 Hs 129B-2s were converted.³
• Henschel Hs 129??: Tested with SG 113A installed which fired tubes of explosives that were triggered by light-sensitive cells.¹

Usage

Germany, Hungary, and Romania used the Hs 129.³

North Africa

At the end of 1942, Hs 129s were sent to North Africa.¹ The engines were prone to seizures and the Hs 129 was withdrawn to Tripoli for overhauls.¹

Romania

Romania was supplied with the Hs 129 and in 1944, after Romania switched sides, they were used against the German army.¹

Specifications