Specifications
Year: 1942
Status: Retired, Out-of-Service
Manufacturer(s): Henschel - Germany
Production: 865
Capabilities: Ground Attack; Close-Air Support (CAS);
Status: Retired, Out-of-Service
Manufacturer(s): Henschel - Germany
Production: 865
Capabilities: Ground Attack; Close-Air Support (CAS);
Crew: 1
Length: 31.99 ft (9.75 m)
Width: 46.59 ft (14.2 m)
Height: 10.66 ft (3.25 m)
Weight (Empty): 8,400 lb (3,810 kg)
Weight (MTOW): 11,266 lb (5,110 kg)
Length: 31.99 ft (9.75 m)
Width: 46.59 ft (14.2 m)
Height: 10.66 ft (3.25 m)
Weight (Empty): 8,400 lb (3,810 kg)
Weight (MTOW): 11,266 lb (5,110 kg)
Power: 2 x Gnome-Rhone 14M-4/5 14-cylinder radial engines developing 700 horsepower each driving three-bladed propeller units.
Speed: 253 mph (407 kph; 220 kts)
Ceiling: 29,528 feet (9,000 m; 5.59 miles)
Range: 429 miles (690 km; 373 nm)
Rate-of-Climb: 1,595 ft/min (486 m/min)
Ceiling: 29,528 feet (9,000 m; 5.59 miles)
Range: 429 miles (690 km; 373 nm)
Rate-of-Climb: 1,595 ft/min (486 m/min)
Operators: Hungary; Nazi Germany; Romania
The Hs 129 was by far a perfect aircraft for close-support duty. It was relatively underpowered - even with the twin Gnome-Rhone radial engines - and the cockpit small enough to cram just one person. Visibility was reported to be far from superior though something about the overall design likened the Reichsluftahrtministerium to it. Armament consisted of two nose-mounted MG FF 20mm cannons and two MG 17 7.92mm machine guns. The Hs 129V-1 prototypes gave birth to ten Hs 129B-0 developmental models which, in turn, produced the initial Hs 129B-1 production series. The Hs 129 was immediately fielded to the Eastern Front to take on the divisions of Russian armor in force.
By 1942, the Hs 129B-2 came about as a need to "up-gun" the existing Hs 129B-1 production models. The B-2 became a series that varied in armament provisions that would include the R1, which was fielded with 2 x 20mm cannons and 2 x 13mm machine guns, and the R3 which removed the machine guns in favor of a larger caliber 37mm gun along with the standard twin 20mm cannons. The B-3 model series would produce 25 or so with the larger 75mm gun system and would become the final production Hs 129 systems in service.
The Hs 129 was fielded in the East against the might of the Soviet Union by design, though later they were consequently fielded throughout North Africa and Europe (post D-Day) by necessity. By all accounts, performance results of the system proved sublime, with the Hs 129 accounting for the destruction of hundreds of Soviet tanks, particularly at the Battle of Kursk in 1943. The Hs 129 proved to be a viable asset in the close-support role, capable of engaging even the most stubborn of Allied armor with an array of cannons, machine guns and bombs.
Armament
STANDARD:
2 x 20mm MG 151/20 cannons
2 x 13mm MG 131 machine guns
OPTIONAL:
Up to 900lb of conventional drop ordnance OR 1 x 30mm MK 191 gun pod.
Variants / Models
• Hs 129V-1 - Prototype Model
• Hs 129B-0 - Developmental Model; fitted with 2 x 20mm MG 151/20 cannons and 2 x 7.92mm MG 17 machine guns; ten such models produced.
• Hs 192B-1 - Initial Production Model
• Hs 129B-2
• Hs 129B-2/R1 - Fitted with 2 x 20mm cannons and 2 x 13mm machine guns.
• Hs 129B-2/R3 - Fitted with 2 x 20mm cannons amd 1 x 37mm BK 3.7 cannon.
• Hs 129B-3 - Final Production Variant Model; 25 such models produced; fitted with electro-pneumatic 75mm BK cannon.
• Hs 129C - Proposed improved form; never completed nor produced.
