„Henschel Hs – 129B“ – the German ground attack aircraft

The Henschel Hs - 129 was the Luftwaffe's only ground attack aircraft during World War II. In 1937 the Technical Bureau of the Aviation Ministry of the Third Reich published the requirements, that a ground attack aircraft must meet. These requirements were received by 4 firms: "Blohv und Voss", "Focke-Wulf", "Gotha" and "Henschel". The projects of only two companies, which were to produce prototypes for polygon tests, were selected: "Focke-Wulf" and "Henschel". After the tests, the "Henschel" prototype was recognized as more suitable and it was sent to serial production as the Hs - 129. At first, planes were produced with Argus AS - 410 engines, but they were too weak and the machines were not good and still difficult to pilot. After the French occupation, the Hs - 129 began to be fitted with Gnome - Rhone 14-M engines, which were almost 1.5 times more powerful, but they were radial and air-cooled (the Argus was a water-cooled linear) and this forced the engine nacelles to be redesigned. This is how Hs – 129B came about. After these changes, the flight characteristics of the plane improved significantly, piloting became easier. Produced almost until the end of the war.

A well-designed and richly detailed model of medium complexity for intermediate and advanced modelers. Antiquarian publication.