Stammkennzeichen for the Henschel Hs 129s?

[Dénes Bernád]

On the last page of my book on the Hs 129, published by Squadron/Signal in their 'In Action' series, I published a comprehensive table, including all the Stkz.'s I have for the type. Some are tied to W.Nr.'s, some are only listed in bulk format, some are incomplete.

I would very much appreciate every addition/correction to that table, for an updated version of the topic I am currently working on.

Thanks, in advance.

Dénes

[Seaplanes]

I have no Stammkennzeichen to give you, but I find your total production figures for the Hs 129 a bit too high. My figures are based on the RLM Flugzeug-Programm Nr. 227 dated 15.12.1944 with deliveries up to 30.11.1944. The following is given for the Hs 129:
Hs 129B-1 total 50 aircraft all built by Henschel
Hs 129B-2 total 792 aircraft all built by Henschel
Hs 129B-3 total 20 aircraft all built by Henschel.
These figures does not include prototypes and A-0 and B-0 aircraft.

[Dénes Bernád]

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:

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.

[Stig Jarlevik]

Hallo Denes

First of all I DO think you are right when you say the low number usually accepted as production rather is ACCEPTED aeroplanes by the Luftwaffe.
I believe the substantial amount supplied to ARR lies outside this total. I think they were basically supplied new and never passed any acceptance from the Luftwaffe at all. Testflown, yes! Getting a stammkennzeichen, probably yes as well, but that's it!

I also believe the WNr you list alone, 141335, is a "no show". Luftwaffe used block numbers, so it always make me suspicious whenever there is just recorded a single machine without any others reasonably close. To me WNr 141335 sounds like a misprint by someone recording losses.

The type is unique since one Ally got close to 25% of its production. Looking at the losses it surely was a relief to have someone else fly all those frightening low level missions! Those Guys needed every pound of armour they could get....

Cheers
Stig

[ArtieBob]

Re, W.Nr. 141335. I have been collecting data on W.Nr. and Stammkennzeichen for the Ju 88. Two items, first it appears that later in the war, when W.Nr. "jumps" were inserted, apparently to confuse Allied intelligence, that a single W.Nr. would sometimes be inserted randomly between the "jumps". Second, it appears in these instances, what would be continuous were the Stammkennzeichen blocks. I haven't any opinion whether that happened in this instance. Certainly, I have had a large number of W.Nr. typos to try and figure out. Everything I have is reverse engineering, if anyone can point me towards any primary documents concerning Stammkennzeichen or late war W.Nr. assignments, I would appreciate it immensely.

Best regards,

Artie Bob

[Seaplanes]

I cannot resist to challenge your information about Hs 129's delivered to the Rumanian Air Force. My figures are all from data found in Bundesarchiv, Freiburg, and they should be faily correct. For the first batch of Hs 129, deliveries commenced on 22.04.1943 with four aircraft. Up to the summer of this year Rumania received a total of 39 aircraft out of 42 originally planned. The remaining three were delivered 04.02.1944, all comming from repair works.

Deliveries of the next batch commenced on 23.06.1944 with three aircraft. I have details of a further 14 aircraft with the last delivered on 29.07.1944. I find it hard to believe that Rumania took delivery of nearly 160+ aircraft after this date.

Any comments please.

[Dénes Bernád]

It's a pleasure to answer your challenge, Mr. Seaplanes. I am always keen in engaging into discussion on the topics I research, in the hope that all of us can learn something new.

There were three distinct avenues the Hs 129 entered in service with the Royal Rumanian Air Force (ARR): aircraft loaned by the Luftwaffe to Corpul 1 aerian (the 1st Air Corps, the ARR's main combat element on the Eastern Front), aircraft purchased directly by the Rumanians and aircraft captured after the about-face of August 23, 1944.

The vast majority of Hs 129s sporting Rumanian markings fall into the first category.

Here is the general statistics - taken from an original Rumanian document - of all the Hs 129B-2s handed over by the Germans to Grupul 8 asalt (the 8th Assault Group), part of the aforementioned Corpul 1 aerian, between June 16, 1943 and August 23, 1944:
Handed over initially: 35 pcs. (at the time Grupul 8 asalt was formed),
Handed over later on, during operations (in 14 months): 122 pcs. (new) and 84 (repaired).
Total: 241 pcs.

Out of this total number, 43 were lost and 166 were returned to the Germans. The 32 pcs. existing on August 23, 1944 were ‘kept’ by the Rumanians and used in combat against their former owners in the following 9 months.

There were 28 Hs 129s that represent the second category and about 14 that represent the third category.

I have most of the Werknummern of these aircraft, so the possibility of large scale counting error is excluded.

Therefore, in closing we can approximate that a total of 241+28+14=~283 Hs 129B-2s were at one time or other wearing Rumanian markings, making it the German aircraft type most used in ARR (more than the Bf 109G!).

[Dénes Bernád]

This is to refresh an older topic, in the hope that someone did find any additional information.

This is "the last call" - so to speak - as I'm about to close the manuscript this coming Sunday.

Thanks,