Henschel Hs 122

This time, the company was building an airplane that would go into production for the Luftwaffe. It led to a slightly revised bird, the Hs 126, which would be in service until the war ended.

The Hs 122 still retained much of the earlier design concepts, although the wings weren’t truly elliptical. They were swept with a slightly curving leading edge and an elliptical trailing edge.

Where the proof-of-concept Hs

121 was a dainty airplane with 240 horses and weighed 1,600 pounds empty and 2,100 gross, the Hs 122 was an absolute hoss. It used a 610hp Siemens radial and had an empty weight of 3,600 pounds and 5,500 gross. It could carry two 7.92 x 57mm (approx. .30-caliber) machine guns and was designed as an observation airplane. It may be big, but it does have that classic look.

A much larger airplane than the earlier Hs 121, the Hs 122 carried a crew of two, several machine guns, and had 610hp! It was modified into the Hs 126, which served the Luftwaffe until the end of the war. (Photo via Denes Bernard)