Photograph:
Henschel Hs 129B as FE-4600 in the United Kingdom after capture, circa 1945 (RAF Museum)
Country of origin:
Germany
Description:
Single-seat close-support aircraft
Power Plant:
Two 522 kw (700 hp) Gnome-Rhone 14M 4/5 fourteen-cylinder two-row air-cooled radial engines
Specifications:
- Wingspan: 14.2 m (46 ft 7 in)
- Length: 9.75 m (31 ft 11¾ in)
- Height: 3.25 m ((10 ft 8 in)
- Wing area: 29 m² (312.15 sq ft)
- Max speed (clean) at 3,830 m (12,570 ft): 407 km/h (253 mph)
- Max speed: with two 30 mm Mk 103 cannon at 3,000 m (9,845 ft): 320 km/h (196 mph)
- Range at economical cruising speed (clean): 690 km (428 miles)
- Initial rate of climb: 486 m/min (1,595 ft/min)
- Service ceiling: 9,000 m (29,530 ft)
- Empty weight: 3,810 kg (8,400 lb)
- Loaded weight: 5,250 kg (11,574 lb)
Armament:
Two 13 mm AG131 machine guns and one 30 mm Mk 101 cannon; provision for four 50 kg (110 lb) SC 50 bombs, 96 2 kg (4.4 lb) anti-personnel bombs, or one 250 kg (551 lb) bomb
History:
The Henschel Hs 129 was one of a number of designs put forward to the German State Ministry of Aviation in 1937 for a dedicated close air support aircraft, becoming known as the “winged can-opener”. The prototype Hs 129 V1 (D-ONUD – c/n 129 3001) was built by Henschel at Schoenfeld near Berlin and began its flight test program on 26 May 1939 initially fitted with two 321 kw (430 hp) Argus As 410A-O engines. The type was noted for its sturdiness of construction – Henschel also built steam railway locomotives – and there was a considerable amount of armour for both the engines and the pilot. Armament was two 7.9 mm MG17 machine guns and two 20 mm MG PF cannon.
Test pilots criticized the poor vision but the Hs 129 V1 was transferred to the Luftwaffe Test Centre at Rechlin in Mecklenburg Western-Pomerania in December. The second prototype Hs 129 V2 (c/n 129 3002) was flown on 30 November 1939 but it was lost in an accident on 5 January 1940.
In July 1940 construction of a pre-production batch of 23 Hs 129A-0s commenced, the first flying on 1 August 1940, but only 14 were delivered. Despite problems with the aircraft, the Luftwaffe required a dedicated ground-support aircraft and examples were delivered to 4/SG 101, a ground attack wing in Paris, France.
However, performance with these engines was well below that required and, in 1941, a change was made to the French Gnome Rhone unit, this model becoming known as the Hs 129B-0 series. This series commenced operations on the Eastern Front, where the Gnome Rhone engines showed they were unreliable and sensitive to dust and sand. However, the type was to continue in production, seeing service in North Africa and on the Russian Steppes.
Crews found the aircraft sturdy and well protected from ground fire, but it was able to carry no more than the Junkers Ju 87D and was less manoeuvrable. Hs 129s saw considerable service in the anti-armour role, a variety of weapons being installed, including 210 mm and 280 mm tube-launched rocket projectiles, 70 mm and 55 mm Panzerblitz missiles, a flame thrower, an automatic mortar with six individual mortars installed vertically, 37 mm cannon, and the 75 mm Pak 40 anti-tank gun.
Following completion of trials the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM) refused to accept the Hs 129A-1 and the design team at Henschel began work on a new project along the same lines but with 522 kw (700 hp) Gnome Rhone 14M 04/05 handed radial engines with three-blade Ratier variable-pitch propellers. The first aircraft so fitted was the V3 (c/n 129 3003) and this aircraft, known as the Hs 129 V3/U1, was first flown on 19 March 1941. Production Hs 129A-1s were fitted with this engine. The Hs 129B-1 series varied in some minor detail. At one time Henschel transferred production from Schoenfeld to Johannisthal south-east of central Berlin. In December 1941 production commenced of a batch of 250 Hs 129B-1s for desert operations, but in April 1942 the order was cancelled.
A number Hs 129s were converted so they could be used to tow the DFS 230 assault glider, some were fitted with a 37 mm Bk 3 cannon for anti-tank operations, and a few Hs 129B-3s were fitted with the 75 mm Bk 7.5 cannon.
By August 1943 production had reached 25 aircraft per month, lifting to 40 by June 1944. As would be expected with an aircraft used in this role, attrition was high, and by the end of 1943 of the 664 aircraft delivered some 495 had been lost in combat, accidents, or were abandoned on airfields which had been over-run. Bombing of production facilities was also a problem and eventually some 1,267 were completed by May 1944 when production closed. Many were found abandoned on airstrips due to un-serviceability or due to a lack of fuel.
Production stopped in favour of the “emergency fighter program”. One captured Hs 129B-2 (Wk nr 0297) was flight tested in the United Kingdom as NF756 by No 1426 Flight at Collyweston in Northampshire, and then at the Enemy Aircraft Flight at Tangmere in West Sussex, before being placed in storage at Sealand east of Suffolk in the North Sea, but is assumed to have been broken up.
The forward fuselage of Hs 129B-2 (Wk nr 0385) built at the Berlin – Schoenfeld facility in 1942 has survived in Sydney, NSW. After attacking an Allied convoy on 7 April 1943 and suffering Flak damage, it made a forced landing, being abandoned at Tourbakeur in Tunisia. Luftwaffe personnel dismantled the aircraft and took it to El Aouina airfield in Tunis, Tunisia where it was captured by United States forces. Shipped to the USA and repaired at Wright Field, Ohio, it underwent some flight testing with the Foreign Evaluation Unit as FE-4600. It did very little flying and, after an accident on 24 July 1946, it was scrapped. The forward fuselage was subsequently stored for many years until shipped to Australia where it has been restored by Mr G Mednis in Sydney.