Deleted member 1487
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henschel_Hs_129
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_132
What if the Hs129 was designed around the BMW 132 radial air cooled engine of 950hp? Historically this aircraft was initially built with the the Argus 410 engine which only put out 450hp, which left the aircraft horribly underpowered. It was undeployable when first delivered in 1941 and required the more powerful Gnome-Rhone engines that put out about 700hp, but this delayed the entry of this CAS aircraft until 1942 and it was still underpowered.
It proved to be a necessary and successful aircraft in CAS, but was always viewed as the 'red headed stepchild' of the Luftwaffe and not really a focus of resources, which prevented it from making a greater impact on the Eastern Front.
So what if the designers were given access to the necessary powered engines? The aircraft would have to be bigger to accommodate the larger engines, which is actually a good thing, as a major complaint about the Hs129 was that it was too cramped. The larger aircraft would be heavier, but with nearly 2000hp instead of the 1400hp of OTL the Hs129 could handle the extra weight (about 1500kg at most). This would mean that it would be designed from the beginning with more powerful engines, so wouldn't need to be delayed to be redesigned for new engines. It would also be able to take the upgrades of weapons packages much better than OTL version.
Where are these extra engines to come from? Well the BMW 132 was used for the Ju52 transport aircraft, which was pretty important to the war effort so the engines will have to come from that pool. Germany in 1939 and 1940 had serious problems with organizing her industry and could have produced extra engines, say in the VW factory built just before the war started and was never utilized to full capacity during the war and between 1939-1942 the factory was using less than 50% of productive capacity. So the engines could have been produced there, as they were already making air cooled auto engines for the Kuebelwagen. Also the BMW 132 was one of the cheapest engines to make during the war for Germany and was produced for a number of years prior to the war, meaning its production wasn't something that would require a major learning curve to open a new live for its production. What was lacking was the will to do so (and the bureaucratic organization/unity of purpose) , not the resources.
So what impact would this CAS aircraft have? The early models had the 20mm cannons, which had access to the tungsten core ammunition stockpiled pre-war in the millions, so would be more effective than the caliber would indicate. Plus in 1941 the Luftwaffe had air superiority over the Eastern Front, not that that was the major problem of the Hs 129, which historically lost many more, by a factor of 3 or 4 to 1, to ground fire from 3cm+ AA guns than to fighter planes.
The testing units received their first models OTL in November of 1940, so that would mean that the mass production of these aircraft would start until 1941 and the time it would take to create units would mean that they would likely miss the first phase of combat in Barbarossa, though the testing units would get to fly in combat, as they did with the other models. So the first squadrons would appear some time in August so would be around for the Kiev pocket and other battles. Obviously 1941 isn't going to be very different.
From 1942 on things start to get interesting, as production increases and more models appear at the front. Also the need for better cannons is revealed earlier, so they potentially would be getting the 30mm cannons earlier than historical. Historically the small numbers of Hs129s flew over 3000 sortees during 1942, so they had a large demand and more of them would help reduce German losses during their advance and increase Soviet losses.
During 1943 would be the large effect. By now the 30mm would be in widespread use, as would the Hs129. It would have all of its issues sorted out and be an effective tank killer.
What effects would the more widespread Hs129 have from 1942 onward in the big tank battles that were occurring? Would the effect of a solid tank buster help the Germans on the Eastern Front enough to influence the outcomes of some battles through the added attrition of Soviet tanks/vehicles?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_132
What if the Hs129 was designed around the BMW 132 radial air cooled engine of 950hp? Historically this aircraft was initially built with the the Argus 410 engine which only put out 450hp, which left the aircraft horribly underpowered. It was undeployable when first delivered in 1941 and required the more powerful Gnome-Rhone engines that put out about 700hp, but this delayed the entry of this CAS aircraft until 1942 and it was still underpowered.
It proved to be a necessary and successful aircraft in CAS, but was always viewed as the 'red headed stepchild' of the Luftwaffe and not really a focus of resources, which prevented it from making a greater impact on the Eastern Front.
So what if the designers were given access to the necessary powered engines? The aircraft would have to be bigger to accommodate the larger engines, which is actually a good thing, as a major complaint about the Hs129 was that it was too cramped. The larger aircraft would be heavier, but with nearly 2000hp instead of the 1400hp of OTL the Hs129 could handle the extra weight (about 1500kg at most). This would mean that it would be designed from the beginning with more powerful engines, so wouldn't need to be delayed to be redesigned for new engines. It would also be able to take the upgrades of weapons packages much better than OTL version.
Where are these extra engines to come from? Well the BMW 132 was used for the Ju52 transport aircraft, which was pretty important to the war effort so the engines will have to come from that pool. Germany in 1939 and 1940 had serious problems with organizing her industry and could have produced extra engines, say in the VW factory built just before the war started and was never utilized to full capacity during the war and between 1939-1942 the factory was using less than 50% of productive capacity. So the engines could have been produced there, as they were already making air cooled auto engines for the Kuebelwagen. Also the BMW 132 was one of the cheapest engines to make during the war for Germany and was produced for a number of years prior to the war, meaning its production wasn't something that would require a major learning curve to open a new live for its production. What was lacking was the will to do so (and the bureaucratic organization/unity of purpose) , not the resources.
So what impact would this CAS aircraft have? The early models had the 20mm cannons, which had access to the tungsten core ammunition stockpiled pre-war in the millions, so would be more effective than the caliber would indicate. Plus in 1941 the Luftwaffe had air superiority over the Eastern Front, not that that was the major problem of the Hs 129, which historically lost many more, by a factor of 3 or 4 to 1, to ground fire from 3cm+ AA guns than to fighter planes.
The testing units received their first models OTL in November of 1940, so that would mean that the mass production of these aircraft would start until 1941 and the time it would take to create units would mean that they would likely miss the first phase of combat in Barbarossa, though the testing units would get to fly in combat, as they did with the other models. So the first squadrons would appear some time in August so would be around for the Kiev pocket and other battles. Obviously 1941 isn't going to be very different.
From 1942 on things start to get interesting, as production increases and more models appear at the front. Also the need for better cannons is revealed earlier, so they potentially would be getting the 30mm cannons earlier than historical. Historically the small numbers of Hs129s flew over 3000 sortees during 1942, so they had a large demand and more of them would help reduce German losses during their advance and increase Soviet losses.
During 1943 would be the large effect. By now the 30mm would be in widespread use, as would the Hs129. It would have all of its issues sorted out and be an effective tank killer.
What effects would the more widespread Hs129 have from 1942 onward in the big tank battles that were occurring? Would the effect of a solid tank buster help the Germans on the Eastern Front enough to influence the outcomes of some battles through the added attrition of Soviet tanks/vehicles?