Airfix Model World – July 2018

IN FOCUS

HENSCHEL Hs 123

7272 Airfi x Model World Airfi x Model World

W

hen World War One

fighter ace turned

stunt pilot, Urnst

Udet, returned from

a tour of the US extoling the

dive-bombing prowess of the

Curtiss Hawk II, he was offered

funds to purchase two examples

by the newly established

Reichluftfahrtministerium

(German Air Ministry - RLM).

This gave German designers

not just the opportunity to

study state-of-the-art American

technology, but it also afforded

Hermann Göring, as head of

the fledgling Luftwaffe, the

opportunity to entice national

hero Udet back into military

service. The dual-role capability

of the Curtiss machines

prompted the technical office of

the RLM to issue specifications

in February 1934, for a single-

seat aircraft to fulfil the joint

fighter/dive-bomber role. The

winning design, in the shape

of Henschel’s Hs 123, made

its public debut in May the

following year, flown by Udet

himself. Although the chubby

sesquiplane appeared somewhat

anachronistic when compared to

other aircraft designs then being

proposed, not least the gull-

winged Ju 87 Stuka designed

by Junkers, the Henschel was

duly ordered. Intended purely

as an interim aircraft to bridge

the capability gap until more

advanced designs were available

for manufacture, in 1936 a small

batch of pre-production Hs

Dive-Bombing Debut

Jay Blakemore

offers a glimpse of

the Hs 123’s relatively

short career

Notable details in this factory view include the trademark ‘blistered’ engine cowling, tubular steel struts in front of the BMW

engine and louvres just below and ahead of the cabane struts.

Above: These Hs 123s are early A-series airframes,

recognisable by the lack of crash pylons behind the

cockpit. They hail from St.G 165 ‘Immelman’ and are

pictured in 1937, wearing the pre-war ‘A’ camouflage scheme.