Henschel Hs 123
The Henschel Hs 123 was a German single-seat biplane dive bomber and ground-attack aircraft, first flown on 1 April 1935. Built as a stopgap until the Junkers Ju 87 was ready, it disappointed as a dive bomber in Spain but proved outstanding at close support, and front-line units kept it in service. Only 265 were built, in 1936–37; they fought over Poland, France, the Balkans and the Eastern Front, the last withdrawn in 1944 as the supply of airframes ran out. A 1943 request to restart production failed because the jigs had been scrapped. No example is known to survive.
Why It Mattered
The Hs 123 was a stopgap: the quickly built first stage of the Luftwaffe's two-stage dive-bomber programme, meant to serve only until the advanced Junkers Ju 87 was ready. Instead, as a ground-attack aircraft, it stayed in front-line service into 1944, long after the Stuka had taken over dive bombing. Built strongly, it could absorb heavy battle damage and still make it back to base. It could also operate from very basic fields that no more modern aircraft could have used, a quality that kept it in demand from Poland to the mud of the Eastern Front. Only 265 were ever built, so when the Luftwaffe wanted more in 1943, Henschel could not oblige: the production rigs had been scrapped.
Design Notes
Friedrich Nicolaus designed the Hs 123 in 1934 as a single-seat, all-metal biplane — strictly a sesquiplane, its lower wing much smaller than the upper. The wings were joined by large outward-canted struts, with no bracing wires; the upper wing was carried above the fuselage, and the open cockpit sat some way behind the wings. Power came from an 880 hp BMW 132Dc nine-cylinder radial in a tight cowling with eighteen fairings over the valve gear. The Hs 123 quickly outpaced Fieseler's rival Fi 98, and Henschel won the production contract. Rechlin testing then exposed a serious flaw: two of the first three prototypes were lost when their top wings came off after the central struts broke. A fourth prototype with stronger central struts solved the problem. As a dive bomber the Hs 123 carried two fixed 7.9 mm machine guns, a single 250 kg bomb on a swinging crutch between the main wheels, and four 50 kg bombs under the wings. In wartime ground-attack use the racks instead carried four SC 50 bombs, two pods each holding a 20 mm MG FF cannon, or two containers of 92 small anti-personnel bombs, with an extra fuel tank on the centreline.
Operational History
The Hs 123 entered Luftwaffe service in the summer of 1936, with Stukagruppe I/162 'Immelmann'. Its combat debut came in Spain, where three aircraft equipped a Condor Legion Stukakette in autumn 1936 and went into action in the Málaga offensive of January 1937. There it disappointed as a dive bomber; the Legion's chief of staff, Wolfram von Richthofen, switched his aircraft to ground attack, which the sturdy biplane did much better. The survivors passed to the Spanish Air Force, which took 28 in all; 12 more went to China, attacking Japanese warships on the Yangtze. From 1937 the Ju 87 took over dive bombing, but the Hs 123s were formed into a dedicated ground-attack group, II (Schlacht)/LG 2. That group opened the invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, flying up to ten sorties a day from very basic fields close behind the armies. In 1940 it supported the advance into Belgium and the Meuse crossing at Sedan, but its short range kept it out of the Battle of Britain. Recalled for the Balkans in April 1941, it fought in Yugoslavia and Greece; when Barbarossa began, the group had 22 Hs 123s, 17 serviceable. At the end of 1941 the group became the basis of Schlachtgeschwader 1; Hs 123s fought in the Crimea and towards the Caucasus, but by 27 July 1942 only six were serviceable. In January 1943, Generaloberst Wolfram von Richthofen asked whether production could be restarted, as the type coped where mud, snow, rain and ice took a heavy toll on modern aircraft. The request failed: Henschel had dismantled the tools and jigs in 1940, and the suggestion was vetoed because the production rigs had been scrapped. A shrinking number stayed with II./SchlG 1 into 1944, until withdrawn because no more aircraft were left.
Afterlife
No Hs 123 is known to survive: the Luftfahrtmuseum Hannover states that, to its knowledge, no examples have survived, and Wikipedia says the same. The last German aircraft left front-line service in 1944; in 1945 the handful that could still fly were given supporting work instead, towing gliders and dropping supplies. At the Hannover museum the type can be shown only in miniature, as 1/72-scale models in its showcases, there being no original left to display. Its legacy sits with its stablemate: the Hs 123's success in Spain led the Reich Aviation Ministry to seek a purpose-built successor for the close-support role, and the aircraft chosen was the Henschel Hs 129.