Henschel Hs 124 (Kampfzerstorer)

History of Henschel Hs 124 (Combat Destroyer)

Many aviation groups in Germany before WWII scrambled to have the rearmed Luftwaffe choose their template (in the early 1930s this was mostly a clandestine branch). Several well-known designs by Messerschmitt, Focke-Wulf and Henschel stemmed from the requirement for a heavy "Kampfzerstorer" ("Battle Destroyer") in 1933-1934.

For the latter, the template came in the form of the Henschel Hs. 124, a twin-engine, multi-crew platform that impressed but never made it to production - the honor goes to the legendary Messerschmitt Bf 110 .

Henschel engineers provided a mid-wing monoplane arrangement, with each wing carrying an engine nacelle along its leading edge, exposing the central fuselage to accommodate the cockpit, crew positions, avionics and fuel storage. Additionally, the lack of motor ports in the nose means that any artillery batteries installed here will have unobstructed views of the target/target area. For state-of-the-art methods, an all-metal construction is used, and the frontal profile of the hull is deep.

Each engine will drive a three-bladed propeller. The fins form a double-fin arrangement, located on a mid-plane spanned by two vertical planes (similar to the Bf 110). "Trailing" landing gear is used for ground operations, and the basic crew consists of a pilot and a radio operator/machine gunner.

This early design work resulted in three different shapes, more simply referred to as "V1", "V2" and "V3". The V1 was powered by 2 Junkers Jumo 210C inline 12-cylinder inverted V-type liquid-cooled engines producing 640 hp each, and was said to have a nose-assisted turret with a 20mm Rhienmetall-Borsig automatic cannon.

The first flight took place in early 1936, but due to problems with its development, the nose turret was only in mock condition.

The V2 prototype was powered by 2 BMW 132D air-cooled 9-cylinder engines with 850 hp each, a German copy of the American-built Pratt & Whitney "Hornet" radial engine. The prototype bypassed the nose-mounted turret, which was reworked into an all-glass shape with a heavy frame -- creating a "stepped" appearance in profile -- and provided a third crew member for better visibility.

This location is to mount 2 x 20mm cannons along the gimbal, and a 7.92mm MG-15 machine gun will complete the weapon kit.

The V3 will be powered by two BMW 601A engines and reduce the crew to two. The nose armament is the most powerful of the trio, with 2 x 20mm cannons and 2 x 7.92mm MG-15 machine guns.

However, the expected availability of the 601A engine meant the type was forced to instead rely on the V2 prototype's 2 x BMW 132Dc radials, each producing 870hp.

In the flight test phase, the aircraft responded well to agility for its size, and on the eve of World War II, it was an overall promising design. However, when the Luftwaffe abandoned the original Kampfzerstorer concept, the Messerschmitt Bf 110 fulfilled the basic "Zerstorer" requirements and went on to have a distinguished wartime career. The postponement of Hs.

124 was canceled as only three prototypes were completed.

Specification

Basic

Production

Roles

Dimensions

Weight

Performance

Performance

Armor

Changes