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Old 19th December 2005, 17:03
Dénes Bernád Dénes Bernád is offline
Alter Hase
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Hungary
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Re: Stammkennzeichen for the Henschel Hs 129s?

Thanks for the info.
I believe the figures you quoted are reflecting the aircraft actually accepted by the Luftwaffe and not the total number of airframes actually built, which was higher.

Here is what I wrote regarding this controversial topic:
Quote:
Summing up the overall Hs 129 production figures, according to the author’s calculations – based on accessible Werknummer sequences known to be assigned to the Hs 129, as well as available Luftwaffe and ARR loss data and pilots’ log books – it appears that a grand total of at least 1158 units (including all prototypes, pre-series and series aircraft accepted by the Luftwaffe, as well as those destroyed during Allied bombings and the ones scrapped in late 1944) had altogether been manufactured at Henschel Flugzeug-Werke’s Schönefeld and Johannisthal Plants between 1939-1944, as detailed in the enclosed table. An official post-war Henschel publication, called ‘Sonderdruck der Henschel Flugzeug-Werke GmbH’, published at Kassel, gives the number of manufactured Hs 129B-2 sub-type alone as 1160 (based on this number, the grand total Hs 129 production could amount to as high as 1265 airframes! However, the author believes this figure is misrepresented and actually reflects the total number of airframes built by HFW). However, the number of combat-ready aircraft of the ‘B’ series, accepted by the Luftwaffe, is believed to be over 1100 units – contrary to the 866, 875 or 876 units of the ‘B’ sub-version, put forward in the majority of published sources.
In conclusion, by studying accessible information, it can be ascertained that the overall actual production figure was significantly higher than the official number given by most published sources. This discrepancy between the calculated and published figures cannot yet be fully explained, due to the lack of crucial documents, destroyed during or shortly after the war’s end.

Any comments, corrections and addition are welcome.
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