World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseThe Hs 129 aircraft were developed as ground attack aircraft with particular specialty in anti-tank operations. Because low-flying ground attack aircraft were vulnerable to small arms fire, these aircraft were designed with a single piece of steel enclosing the entire nose areas of the aircraft, protecting their pilots up to head level. Because there were so little room inside the cockpit. some instruments and the gun sight were mounted outside the cockpit in an unorthodox manner. In the end, because of the heavy armor, the aircraft maneuvered poorly, but the design was accepted anyway because the Luftwaffe decided the aircraft was cheap enough to become a base of a continuous experiment for a better ground support aircraft. By the time the war ended, only small numbers were built. Pilots of the few deployed Hs 129 aircraft nicknamed them Panzerknacker for their ability to take out enemy armor with a few well-placed shots with their armor-piercing cannons.

SPECIFICATIONS

B1

Machinery	Two Gnome-Rhône 14M 14-cylinder radial engine rated at 700hp each
Armament	2x7.92mm MG 17 machine guns, 2x20mm MG 151 cannons, up to 8x50kg bombs or 1x30mm armor piercing gun
Crew	1
Span	14.20 m
Length	9.75 m
Height	3.25 m
Weight, Empty	4,060 kg
Weight, Loaded	5,110 kg
Speed, Maximum	408 km/h
Rate of Climb	7.08 m/s
Service Ceiling	9,000 m
Range, Normal	880 km

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