Henschel Hs 132

The Henschel Hs 132 was a jet-powered dive bomber and interceptor aircraft designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Henschel Flugzeugwerke AG. It was developed during the latter portion of the Second World War with the intention of being adopted by the Luftwaffe, but this did not come to fruition.

Work commenced on the Hs 132 in February 1943 in response to a specification issued by the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM – the German Aviation Ministry) for a new attack aircraft. Henschel opted for a relatively unorthodox design that, amongst other features, used a top-mounted BMW 003 jet engine (identical in terms of make and position to the powerplant used by the Heinkel He 162), a retractable nosewheel undercarriage and the pilot in a prone position. The aircraft intentionally made as little use of strategic materials as possible, such as its use of wooden wings, and had a relatively simplistic structure despite it being designed to withstand 12 g, considerably more than typical dive bombers of the era.

In response to the RLM's approval of the project, construction of three prototypes was started during March 1945. However, two months later, Henschel's plant at Schönefeld was captured by the advancing Soviet Army; accordingly, all of the incomplete prototypes fell into Soviet hands and their fate thereafter is unknown. At that point, Hs 132 V1 was scheduled to commence flight testing only one month later.

Design and development

Background

By the mid point of the Second World War, it had become clear that the dive bombers operated by the Luftwaffe, such as the Junkers Ju 87 Stuka, were highly vulnerable to high performance Allied fighter aircraft and thus there was great interest in improving Germany's bombing capability.

Separately, there had long been interest in the idea of combat aircraft being flown by pilots in the prone position, which would reduce the effect of g-forces during manoeuvring. Several aircraft had already experimented with this layout for various reasons, the Horten IIIf had a prone pilot, but this was primarily to reduce drag in this high-performance glider, while the DFS 228 reconnaissance glider also used a prone pilot to make it easier to seal its pressurized cabin. It was not until the Berlin B9 was built specifically to test this arrangement for improved g-load that any serious effort toward development could be carried out.

Starting in early 1943, the Berlin B9 twin-piston engined experimental aircraft demonstrated that it was indeed possible for a pilot to fly the aircraft lying down, and that it did improve his ability to handle high loads. The pilot had an extremely restricted field of view upward or to the rear that made it suitable only for certain roles, including bombers or fighters or interceptors with a major speed advantage over their opposition. Based on this research, several late-war German designs followed the B9's lead and used a prone pilot. Better g-load performance was not the only reason, however, as this layout also reduced the frontal area of the aircraft. This was a serious concern for interceptors attacking the USAAF's Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, as calculations showed that the chance of being hit by its defensive guns was largely a function of frontal area.

Design effort

On 18 February 1943, the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM – the German Aviation Ministry) released a specification that called for a single-seat shipping attack aircraft to counter an expected Allied invasion of Europe.

Several other factors were taken into consideration during the design phase. As Germany's position declined sharply during the latter portion of the war, there were shortages of both key materials and skill labourers. The cockpit was completely faired into the fuselage contour along with a rounded clear nosecone on the front of the aircraft. Every flight control surface was fitted with trim tabs. Due to the intended shallowness of the aircraft's dive attack, there were no dive brakes fitted. It was to begin its attack in a shallow dive outside the ships' range of fire, and after reaching a speed of , the pilot would "toss" the bomb at the target using a simple computerized sight, and then climb back out of range. This computerized bombsight was not delivered in time to be fitted to the aircraft.

Prototypes and envisioned developments

During April or May 1944, Henschel submitted their proposal to the RLM, by which point wind tunnel testing of the basic layout had already commenced. A contract for six prototypes was approved in May 1944. Construction of three prototypes commenced at the company's Schönefeld facility during March 1945. Hs 132 V1 was scheduled to have its first flight in June 1945, however, advancing Soviet forces captured it along with the other two incomplete prototypes during May 1945. Allegedly, while the wings and fuselage of He 132 V1 had been completed, they were never mated and the wings had never been transferred from their factory outside of Dresden.

Several other versions of the basic airframe were proposed by Henschel. The Hs 132B was to have been powered by a single Junkers Jumo 004 engine in place of the BMW 003; it also would have added a pair of MG 151/20 cannons. The HS 132C was a more extensively modified version that was intended for bomber interception; it featured the larger Heinkel HeS 011 engine, two 151/20s and two MK 103 or MK 108 cannons.

|prime units?= met

<!--

General characteristics

-->

|crew= 1

|capacity=

|length m= 8.9

|span m= 7.2

|upper span m=

|mid span m=

|lower span m=

|width m=

|height m=

|wing area sqm= 14.82

|aspect ratio=

|airfoil=

|empty weight kg=

|gross weight kg= 3,400

|max takeoff weight kg=

|fuel capacity=

|more general=

<!--

Powerplant

-->

|eng1 number= 1

|eng1 name= BMW 109-003E-2

|eng1 type= turbojet engine

|eng1 lbf= 1,760

|eng1 note=<br/>

:::Hs 132B 1x Junkers Jumo 109-004B turbojet

:::Hs 132C 1x Heinkel-Hirth 109-011A turbojet

<!--

Performance

-->

|max speed kmh= 780

|max speed note= without bomb at ; with bomb<br/>

Landing speed:

|cruise speed kmh=

|stall speed kmh=

|never exceed speed kmh=

|minimum control speed kmh=

|range km= 680

|range note= at ; at

|combat range km=

|ferry range km=

|endurance=

|ceiling m= 10,250

|g limits=

|roll rate=

|climb rate ms=

|time to altitude=

|wing loading kg/m2=

|fuel consumption kg/km=

|power/mass=

|thrust/weight=

|more performance=

<!--

Armament

-->

|armament=

:Hs 132A

::1x SD 500 bomb semi-resessed under the fuselage

:Hs132B

::2x nose mounted MG 151 cannon

::1x bomb semi-recessed under the fuselage

::6/8x Panzerblitz III anti-tank rockets under wings

:Hs 132C

::2x nose mounted MG 151 cannon

::2x nose mounted MK 103 cannon

::::or

::2x nose mounted MG 151 cannon

::1x SC 1000 bomb semi-resessed under the fuselage

::::or

::2x nose mounted MG 151 cannon

::1x PC 1000 RS Pol rocket-assisted armour-piercing bomb semi-resessed under the fuselage

Henschel Hs 132

Design and development

Background

Design effort

Prototypes and envisioned developments

See also

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links