Henschel HS-123

[rkalinak]

Greetings:

Just was doing a google search and found this link which unfortunately is in Chinese:
http://cwlam2000hk.sinaman.com/caf33.htm

What it shows is a web page detailing the use of Henschel HS-123's by the CAF, approx. 1938, can anyone shed some light on the use of the Henschel, I know it was used in Spain but did not know about China, Thanks.

Cheers,

Bob Kalinak

[bearoutwest]

Hi Bob,

From the Wydawnictwo Militaria #4 publication on the Hs 123:

Drugim zagranicznym uzytkownikiem samolotów Henschel Hs 123 byly Chiny (Kuomintang), które na poczatku 1937 roku zakupily 9 (12?) samolotów typu Hs 123A-1. Samoloty Przeznaczone dla Chin nosily numery ewidencyjne 1501-1509. Hs 123 zostaly wlaczone do 15.
eskadry lotnictwa chinskiego. Eskadra dzialala w dorzeczu rzeki Jangcy. Atakowala japonski transport morski, przeprawy, drogi. Samoloty Hs 123 zostaly prawdopodobnie szybko zniszczone w walce lub zbombardowane na lotniskach, gdyz wykaz sprzetu lotnietwa chinskiego z 25 maja 1940 roku nie wykazuje juz na stanie samolotów tego typu.

Translated for me on the AWF Forum by a Polish-speaker as:
Second foreign user of Hs 123 was China (Kuomintang) which bought 9 (12?) planes in early 1937. Planes for China had record numbers 1501-1509. Planes were used by 15th Squadron of Chinese aviation.
Squadron was acting over Jangcy (Yangtze) river basin and was used for attacks on Japanese maritime transport, military passages and roads. Chinese Hs 123s were probably quickly destroyed in combat or during Japanese bombing because there is no planes mentioned on record from May 25th, 1940.

HTH,
...geoff

[Oldpilot]

The Chinese bought bits and bobs of aircraft from all over the world, often enough civilian transports that the manufacturer promised could be used as bombers. I remember reading in the Foreign Relations of the United States about the State Department's efforts to block the shipment of twenty-odd Bellancas in 1938 or 1939--probably did a favor to the Chinese!

There were a few Heinkels in CAF service at the outbreak of war in August 1937, but the most successful imports were those assembled locally, including Italian planes (not many left by August 1937) and American, notably Curtiss Hawk II and III biplanes.

Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

Coming August 21: Flying Tigers: Claire Chennault and His American Volunteers, 1941-1942

[marsyao]

hi, what is the difference between this book and the previous " Flying Tigers: Claire Chennault and the American Volunteer Group " ?

[Krzysztof Pawlowski]

I tried to have the text from the Chinese web site translated. According to the author China bought 12 Hs123 and the planes were delivered crated in 1938. They were assembled in Nanking (Nanjing).The value of contract was 2,018,000.- RM.
In the first paragraph it is mentioned that China bought 12 He50 in 1935. Delivery was delayed by 6 months due to the demand from German air force.

K

[marsyao]

Chinese imported 12 Hs-123A0 and 6 He-111A0 from Germany before the war, as far as I know those were only German war planes used by Chinese in the war, after the war broke out between China and Japan, German, as a major ally of Japan, soon stopped their military supply to China, because of losses in action and the shortage of the spare parts,those German aircrafts only saw limit actions in the Chinese airforce, after new aircrafts from Soviet arrived in China after 1938, those survived German war planes were transfered to reserve

[rldunn]

1. Flying Tigers -- The new version is tightened up to be more readable but also includes new material from sources published since the first version was released and also the results of additional unpublished research (some contributed by yours truly). It has a paperback cover and an addordable price of $15.95.

2. Germany as supplier to China. It is not correct that Germany stopped supplying arms to China when war with Japan broke out. Germany supplied few aircraft (it was after all building up its own air force) but it was the No. 1 supplier of arms and military equipment to China in 1937 and 1938 and remained a major supplier until 1939.

According to records of the U.S. State Dept. the Hs 123's arrived in China between Jan and April 1938.

Rick

[marsyao]

rldunn, in later 30, Chinese Central government did receive large amount of German military aid, this was part of chinese military reform, however this process was interrupped by the war, but those military aid was vastly for army, from the airforce perspective, before the war chinese adoptted a rather stupid policy to buy aircrafts from all over the world, in the eve of the war, CAF had on hand those different types of fighter alone : Fakker DXIII/DXVII, Fakker DXVI,Fokker/V.C.D/C.V.E,Dewoitine D-27,Boeing 218,Curtiss Hawk II,Fiat CR20,Fiat CR32,Breda Ba.27 and later Glastes "Gladiator"MKI,Curtise Wright CW-21 and MS 406, what a nightmare ! As I said Germany only provided chinese 18 war planes, so that German aids only played little part to Chinese airforce.
After the war between China and Japan broke out on July 7 1937, German of course did not immediately stopped their military aid to China, Chinese received those 12 Hs-123A1 in the Sprint of 1938, but those aid did decrease to a point make no further difference in 1938 and then stopped in 1939. Started with 1938, large amount of Soviet military aid arrived in China, which vastly excceed those come from Germany, and chinese also received some limited material from British later, but from 1938, Germany was NO LONGER major supplier after 1938, it was Soviet played this part until 1941, after 1942, that Americans became the major military supplier for China

[rldunn]

Two points seem mistaken in the above discussion (1) Germany did not play an important role in supporting the CAF and (2) Germany was not a major supplier of arms to China after 1938.

1. While Germany supplied few complete aircraft, it did supply numerous aircraft accessories, parts and equipment. As previously stated Germany was China's primary arms supplier in 1937-1938 and this included significant quantities of aviation supplies including aircraft tires, armament, and accessories as noted in the preceding sentence.

2. Germany's role in military supplies may have declined in 1939 but it was not small. Example: In two weeks in Feb/Mar 1939 the following arrived in China via Hong Kong from Germany --

a, 88, 578, 500 rounds of m/g & rifle ammo
b. 1, 538, 600 rds pistol ammo
c. 32,000 tank shells
d. 502 machine guns
e. 3,867 pistols and revolvers
f. 82.3 tons of dynamite
g. 3.8 tons of detonators
h. 0.6 tons of percussion caps
g. 358 cases of fuses (some through Haiphong and Rangoon)

During another two week period Sept/Oct 1939 the value of military goods arriving at Rangoon for China was 44, 954 rupees from Germany as compared to 6.970 rupees from the U.S.

Rick

[marsyao]

rldunn, I am a Chinese, and I study chinese history, and I knew the statement "it did supply numerous aircraft accessories, parts and equipment" is wrong, come on ! because lack of part, only 3 of 6 He-111A0 could be committed into combat in 1937, the other 3 had to be stripped for parts ! and compared to the military aid chinese received from Soviet, Germany was NO LONGER the major military supplier after 1938, if you like, I could give you a list what Chinese received from Russia after 1938.
By the way, USA was not a major military supplier for China in 1939, their role would became overwhelming important after 1942, so why compare them to Germans in 1939 ? though it was very interesting to know that Chinese still received German weapons from Burma, a British Colony,in Sep/Oct 1939, after WWII broke out in Europe, what is your source ?