The Henschel Hs 123 was a single-seat biplane dive bomber and close-support attack aircraft flown by the German Luftwaffe during the Spanish Civil War and the early to mid-point of World War II. Although an obsolete design, it continued to see front-line service until 1944.
The aircraft entered service at StG 162 in autumn 1936. Its career as a dive bomber was cut short when the unit received its first Ju 87A the next year. Remaining Hs 123s were incorporated into the temporary Fliegergeschwader 100 at the time of the Munich Crisis. The Geschwader (wing) had been created as an emergency measure, equipped with obsolete aircraft and tasked with the ground attack role. With the signing of the Munich agreement, the crisis was over and the Geschwader was disbanded, the Gruppen being transferred to other established units. By 1939, despite its success in Spain, the Luftwaffe considered the Hs 123 obsolete and the Schlachtgeschwader (close-support wings) had been disbanded with only one Gruppe, II.(Schl)/LG2 still equipped with the Hs 123.
At the request of Oberst Wolfram von Richthofen, chief of staff of the Legion Kondor, five aircraft had been deployed to Spain as a part of the Legion 'Kondor, intended to be used as tactical bombers.
In their intended role, the Hs 123s proved to be somewhat of a failure, hampered by their small bomb capacity and short range. Instead, the Hs 123s based in Seville were used for ground support, a role in which their range was not such a detriment, and where the ability to accurately place munitions was more important than carrying a large load. The combat evaluation of the Hs 123 demonstrated a remarkable resiliency in close-support missions, proving able to absorb a great deal of punishment including direct hits on the airframe and engine. The Nationalists in Spain were suitably impressed with the Hs 123 under battle conditions, purchasing the entire evaluation flight and ordering an additional 11 aircraft from Germany. The Spanish Hs 123s were known as "Angelito" (little angel), and at least one Hs 123 was in service with the Ejército del Aire (Spanish Air Force) after 1945.
The Ejército del Aire (Spanish Air Force) purchased all remaining aircraft of Legion Kondor and ordered an additional 11 aircraft from Germany. During WWII, in Eastern front, spanish volunteers of Escuadrilla Azul (15 Spanische Staffel/VIII Fliegerkorps) of JG-27 based in Vitebsk opered Hs Hs-123s alongside of II.(Schl.)/LG 2 units.
General characteristics
Crew: 1
Length: 8.33 m (27 ft 4 in)
Wingspan: 10.50 m (34 ft 5.5 in)
Height: 3.20 m (10 ft 6 in)
Empty weight: 1,500 kg (3,307 lb)
Loaded weight: 2,215 kg (4,884 lb)
Powerplant: 1× BMW 132Dc 9-cylinder radial engine, 880 hp (656 kW)
Performance
Maximum speed: 341 km/h at 1200 m (211 mph at 3,900 ft)
Combat radius: 860 km (533 mi)
Service ceiling: 9,000 m (29,530 ft)
Rate of climb: 900 m/min at sea level (2,950 ft/min at sea level)
Armament
2× 7.92 mm MG 17 machine guns (field modification of 2× 20 mm (0.79 in) MG FF cannon, but not present in the Spanish Civil War version).
Up to 450 kg (992 lb) of bombs under wings and under fuselage.
Original CFS model creator: Michael Hart.
Panel and sound: Default FW-190a CFS (must have installed).
All reworked with additional textures and new damage profile: Edmundo Abad 2010.
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This virtual model represent a Hs 123 of the Legion Kondor, flown by german volunteers of the Luftwaffe based in Seville, Spanish Civil War, 1937.
Special thanks to Christian Maas for his excellent tool Hex-editor XVI32 and Chuck Dome by his MDL file viewer. Without their tools, I might not have been able to assign new textures to the original model.
During the modifications of original MDL, I could't to remove the underwing cannons, neither the pilot-head protection over the fuselage, not present in the Spanish Civil War version. All redisigns are welcome, but please report any redisigns to original creator and me, and make them available for everybody.
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Installation CFS
1. Unzip to Temporaly directory "HS123_spain.zip".
2. Copy "HS123_spain" folder to X:\CFS\aircraft directory.
