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The Henschel Hs 121 was the first aircraft built by the German Henschel company. It was a high-wing
monoplane
A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes.
A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...
with an inline engine, fixed undercarriage and single, open cockpit, designed as an advanced trainer. Only one aircraft was produced, in 1933-4, as a testpiece for the Air Ministry.
Development
Henschel & Son
Henschel & Son (german: Henschel und Sohn) was a German company, located in Kassel, best known during the 20th century as a maker of transportation equipment, including locomotives, trucks, buses and trolleybuses, and armoured fighting vehic ...
of Kassel
Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...
were originally known as manufacturers of locomotives, though they later produced lorries and buses. In 1933 they set up an aviation subsidiary based at Schönefeld with a branch at Johannisthal. New aircraft manufacturers who intended to produce aircraft for the ''Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
'' had first to make a testpiece or masterpiece (''Befahigungsnachweis'') to prove their competence and the Hs 121 was Henschel's offering.
It was a high-wing braced monoplane, with gull wing roots to enhance the pilot's forward view from the open cockpit set well back behind the trailing edge. The wing was built around two metal spars with metal-covered leading edges and fabric elsewhere. There was solid bracing from near mid-wing to the lower fuselage and from this bracing inwards to the shoulder of the gull wing. The oval fuselage had a metal structure with metal covering. The tail was also a metal structure, with metal covering on the fin and tailplane
A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabiliser, is a small lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyroplane ...
but with fabric-covered control surfaces. There was wire bracing between fin and tailplane. The spatted main-wheels were carried on streamlined legs which angled outwards from the lower fuselage to increase the track.
Power was from a 180 kW (240 hp) Argus As 10C inverted in-line engine.
It flew for the first time at Johannisthal on 4 January 1934. A test flight programme produced some modifications: the fin was braced, the tailplane extended and more bracing was added between the landing gear and the fuselage. Only one Hs 121 was built.
Specifications
References
;Citation ;Cited sources * {{Authority control Hs 121 1930s German military trainer aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1934 Gull-wing aircraft