Henschel_Hs-132 Jet

About

The Henschel Hs 132 is one of the most extreme designs of late-war German aviation. The Reichsluftfahrtministerium issued a specification in February 1943 for a single-seat shipping-attack aircraft to counter an expected Allied invasion of Europe. Henschel's response combined a top-mounted BMW 003 jet engine, retractable nosewheel undercarriage, and the unusual choice of a pilot lying in the prone position rather than sitting upright — a layout that allowed higher G-tolerance during steep dives and reduced drag for high-speed cruise.

The Hs 132A was designed to begin its attack from outside ship anti-aircraft range, accelerate in a shallow dive to 910 km/h (570 mph), toss a single 500 kg bomb at the target with a computerized sight, and climb back out of range without defensive armament. Wooden wings made minimal use of strategic materials, and the simple airframe structure was stressed to 12g for the demanding dive profile.

Three Hs 132 prototypes were ordered with construction beginning in March 1945 at Henschel's Schönefeld factory. By the end of the war, V1 was nearing completion, V2 was 80% complete, and V3 was 75% complete. The Soviet Army occupied the factory before any of them flew, and no Hs 132 ever took off. The type survives only in design drawings, partially built airframes captured by the Soviets, and the imagination of aviation historians and modelers.

This Jet variant in our pack carries a slightly different RC powerplant configuration than the Hs-132 Electric counterpart in the same pack — same airframe subject, slightly different simulation profile.

In the simulator

An unusual EDF scale subject. The Hs 132 in our sim flies with the kind of jet handling typical of late-war German EDF subjects, capturing the visual character of an aircraft that never actually flew. Pairs well with airport-class landscapes. A sibling of the Henschel Hs-132 Electric variant in this pack — same airframe, slight power-system difference.