Henschel Hs 132 by HUMA

1/72 scale
Kit No. 2508
Cost: $28.00
Decals: One version
Comments: Short run kit, engraved panel lines, rudimentary cockpit and pilot figure, one-piece canopy, bomb is provided but connecting pylon will have to be scratch-built

History

The origin of the Hs 132 can be traced to a February 18, 1943 specification published by the German Air Ministry (RLM) calling for a single-seat shipping attack aircraft to counter an expected invasion of Europe. A piston-engined aircraft was called for at the time, but the performance requirements led to a switch to jet power. Due to the increasing setbacks suffered by German forces in 1942 (the meat grinder of pitched-battle street fighting in Stalingrad on the Eastern Front, and the routing of Rommel at El Alamein in North Africa), the need for a fast and maneuverable ground attack aircraft became increasingly obvious.

The dive bombers and close support aircraft then in service (notably the Junkers Ju 87 Stuka and the more modern Henschel Hs 129) were obsolete and no longer met the required demands of performance in combat.  Even the Henschel Hs 129 B-2 (armed with a 37mm cannon) and B-3 (75mm cannon), while effective tank busters, were produced in too small numbers to turn the tide in the East. And with a top speed of just 253 mph, the B-2 was easy prey when operating unescorted if it encountered enemy fighters. The B-3 with its heavier gun was even slower.

In July 1943 Henschel began design work on a jet-propelled ground attack aircraft. Experience gained from the Hs 123 and Hs 129 series were incorporated into the design, along with knowledge gained from flight trials of the Berlin B-9 (a twin-engine propeller-driven aircraft which featured the pilot in a prone position), which had been test-flown the previous Spring. The results of these trials proved that a pilot flying in a prone position could better cope with the effects of high G-forces as well as with the techniques involved in flying high performance jet aircraft.

All this experience and data strongly influenced the development of Henschel’s Hs 132, a small, jet-propelled mid-wing monoplane of composite construction. Prominent features of the design were a roughly cigar-shaped fuselage with a BMW 003 jet engine mounted on its back (a configuration that would be repeated with success in Heinkel’s more conventional He 162 two years later), a prone position cockpit and a dihedral tailplane with twin fins and rudders. Construction of the first prototype began in early 1944 following wind tunnel testing. Henschel submitted its design for RLM approval in the Spring, and a contract for six prototypes was approved by the RLM in May 1944. The project suffered setbacks due to delays of the arrival of component parts, including the wings and a new, computerized bomb sight.

The sharply dihedraled ‘butterfly’ twin rudder arrangement kept the tail surfaces and rudder assemblies clear of the jet exhaust. The cockpit was completely faired into the fuselage contours, with a rounded clear nose-cone on the front of the aircraft. Behind this was the actual “window,” a large armored-glass plate located some distance behind the extreme nose. The design in terms of engine mounting and tailplane bore a very strong resemblance to the contemporary Volksjäger “people’s fighter” design competition winner, the Heinkel He 162 Spatz (Sparrow). The basic Hs 132A was armed with one 500 kg bomb and no other armament. It was to begin its attack in a shallow dive outside the ships’ effective range, and after reaching a speed of 910 km/h (565 mph), the pilot would “toss” the bomb at the target using a simple computerized sight, and then climb back out of range. The aircraft was designed to withstand 12 Gs during pullout. The computerized bomb sight was not delivered in time to be fitted to the aircraft.

The Hs 132V1 was scheduled to make its first flight in June 1945, but the completed wings and fuselage were never mated.  The wings were never moved from their factory in France, due to the difficulty in securing reliable rail transport that would be safe from Allied air attacks by that stage of the war. Russian forces captured the fuselage intact in May 1945.

The Kit

Huma’s Henschel Hs 132 is injection molded in grey plastic and consists of 34 parts, one of which is the clear plastic canopy.  As this is a short-run kit, the panel lines, particularly on the fuselage, are rather softly engraved — they are much firmer and more definite on the wings and tail surfaces. Partly because this was an unconventional aircraft in which the pilot lay in a prone position, the cockpit is barely worthy of the name. It consists of a floorboard with raised relief for what is likely a lengthy cushion for the pilot, a decal for the instrument panel which of necessity was mounted in the floor itself, and a rear bulkhead. The pilot figure, although he has separately mounted arms, is rather lumpy and indistinct, harking back to the Airfix pilots of the early 1960’s.

The instructions guide the modeler through construction with a series of exploded drawings for the various assemblies, none of which is too complex. There is no painting guide for any of the assembly steps, but a three-view schematic of the Hs 132, in color with an overall aluminum scheme, is provided. Historical and technical information are included in German, French and English.

Not surprisingly, there is no jet engine. The parts for the intake and exhaust fans are rather crude — for example, there is no attempt to depict the intake fan blades. The tail unit appears to be accurately angled and faithful to the original.

While the landing gear are rather basic, care appears to have been taken to mold them as accurately as possible, with three parts for each of the main gear and three landing gear doors apiece, and two parts and two doors for the nose gear. There are crisply machined wheel wells in its rather stubby wings. What looks like a standard 250 kg bomb is included, but there is no connecting pylon, so those interested in some kind of approximate accuracy will have to fashion one from sheet plastic.  Since the Hs 132 was a new design that never reached even the completed prototype stage, the markings are limited to little more than German crosses.

Conclusion

This kit is certainly not the most detailed or meticulously engineered, but I still highly recommend it for its sheer fascination factor — an unusual design that had left the drawing board and almost got as far as its maiden flight when World War II came to a close.

References

• Kit instructions
• military.wikia.org