Hs 129 B-2

Hs 129 B-2

Hs 129 B-3

Ju 87 D-3

Hs 129 B-2

Hs 129 B-3

Ju 87 D-3

Germany

II Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
3.3	2.3	2.7

Class:

Strike aircraft

Research:4 600

Purchase:16 000

Description

The Hs 129 B-2 is a Rank III German attacker with a battle rating of 3.7 (AB), 3.3 (RB), and 2.7 (SB). It was in the game since the start of the Open Beta Test prior to Update 1.29.

The Hs 129 is a ground attack aircraft, designed mostly to take out tanks and armored vehicles and fulfill other roles associated with CAS. Both the 30 mm MK 103 and 37 mm BK 3.7 are capable of knocking out medium tanks, light tanks, and light pillboxes while the 20 mm cannons can easily destroy armored cars, mobile AAAs, and other lightly armored equipment. The plane is both slow and sluggish, meaning that it practically has to go after ground targets, but the armament and armor somewhat compensate for that and enable the plane to take out nearly all ground targets except for pillboxes and heavy tanks.

General info

Flight Performance

Characteristics
Stock
Max Speed (km/h at 3,550 m)		Max altitude (meters)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (meters/second)		Take-off run (meters)
AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
?	?	7,500	??.?	??.?	??.?	??.?	331
Upgraded
Max Speed (km/h at 3,550 m)		Max altitude (meters)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (meters/second)		Take-off run (meters)
AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
?	?	7,50	??.?	??.?	?.?	?.?	331

Details

Features
Combat flap	Take-off flap	Landing flap	Air brakes	Arrestor gear
✓	✓	✓	X	X

Limits
Wing-break speed (km/h)	Gear limit (km/h)	Combat flap (km/h)	Max Static G
			+	-
700	450	???	~13	~13

Optimal velocities
Ailerons (km/h)	Rudder (km/h)	Elevators (km/h)	Radiator (km/h)
< 310	< 320	< 300	> 230

Compressor (RB/SB)
Setting 1
Optimal altitude	100% Engine power	WEP Engine power
3,000 m	1,300 hp	1,530 hp

Survivability and armour

• 5 mm Steel - Oil cooler covers
• 5 mm Steel - Lower engine cowl protection
• 2 mm Steel - Cockpit side plates
• 12 mm Steel - Cockpit back plate, floor, and front plates
• 75 mm Bulletproof glass

Armaments

Offensive armament

The Hs 129 B-2 is armed with:

• 2 x 20 mm MG 151/20 cannon (250 rpg = 500 total)
• 2 x 7.92 mm MG 17 machine gun (1,000 rpg = 2,000 total)

The two machine guns and two 20 mm cannons are all mounted in the fuselage.

Suspended armament

The Hs 129 B-2 can be outfitted with external ordinance such as:

• 1 x 30 mm MK 103 cannon, belly-mounted (100 rpg)
• 1 x 37 mm BK 3,7 cannon, belly-mounted (12 rpg)
• 4 x 50 kg SC50JA bombs (200 kg total)

Defensive armament

Defensive armament with turret machine guns or cannons, crewed by gunners. Examine the number of gunners and what belts or drums are better to use. If defensive weaponry is not available remove this subsection. -->

Usage in the battles

The Hs 129 B's instrument panel.

The plane is very heavy, which makes it nearly impossible to take out fighters (unless the fighters come to the Hs 129 B-2, see below), even most medium bombers are more maneuverable, however the plane is heavily armored, so it can last a while even under heavy fire, even to such a degree that some planes run out of ammunition before taking out a Henschel. That combined with the heavy armament makes it ideal to attack B-17 formations, even though it requires time and effort to climb and match the speed of the formation. The armor around the cockpit makes it nearly immune to 7.92 mm rounds and could also fly with one engine, albeit with great difficulty. The planes incredibly stable flight behaviour makes aiming even for joystick pilots very easy and accurate thus not wasting too much ammunition.

Once the 30 mm additional gun with its impressive 100-round belt has been researched (the 37 mm with its smaller belt and low rate of fire should be avoided), the plane has very heavy firepower. In combination with the great stability and thus firing accuracy, this makes it an ideal heads-on fighter. With a bit of experience it's relatively easy to finish off enemy fighters with one or two short bursts before they are even in range for the target indicator to appear. In situations where enemy planes coming at 0.5 to 1.0 km interval from the same direction, the Hs 129 B-2 can easily achieve triple or even quadruple air victories before needing to turn around for reloading.

Tactics

Using the 30 mm MK 103, which can be unlocked as an additional armament option, the Hs 129 B-2 is capable of destroying most mission relevant ground targets. Tanks of all sorts as well as light pillboxes can be destroyed in up to three hits, provided armor piercing ammunition (HVAP-T) is unlocked. Thanks to the 100 rounds of ammunition available, this can make a single Hs 129B-2 a game-changing aircraft. The same can be achieved using the BK 3.7, however it is generally considered harder to use and thus not a viable option.

The Hs 129 B-2, however, does have major drawbacks. Its engines are weak which results in poor top speed, acceleration and climb rate. This, combined with the armor of nearly one ton weight, makes it perform poorly in air combat and very vulnerable to attacks of enemy fighters. This, however, goes so far that sometimes enemy pilots underestimate the Hs 129 and overshoot it after a tight turn, which gives the Hs 129B-2 pilot a moderate chance of defending itself.

Manual Engine Control

MEC elements
Mixer	Pitch	Radiator			Supercharger	Turbocharger
		Oil	Water	Type
Controllable	Not controllable	Not controllable	Not controllable	Separate	Not ontrollable	Not controllable

Modules

Tier	Flight performance	Survivability	Weaponry
I	Fuselage Repair, Radiator		Offensive 7 mm, Offensive 20 mm, ETC 50/VIIId
II	Compressor	Airframe	New 7 mm MGs, New 20 mm Cannons, R2 Modification
III	Wing Repair, Engine		Offensive 30 mm, Offensive 37 mm, BK 3,7 Cannon
IV	Engine Injector	Cover	New 30 mm Cannons, New 37 mm Cannons

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Resistant to light machineguns and Russian heavy machineguns
• Very good firepower when carrying either the 30 mm or 37 mm cannon pods
• 30 mm MK 103 is a high velocity cannon with a decentl rate of fire, which allows for versatility in targets, and is especially devastating against armored vehicles
• 30 mm HVAP-T generally destroys air targets in one to three htis with a high potential to combust targets
• 30 mm HE-I/HEI-T Minengeschoß in the default belts means grinding once the 30 mm is available isn't that difficult
• 30 mm has a reasonable ammo pool of 100 rounds and the low fire rate combined with hit success allows it more than enough to obtain down five planes before running out
• Cockpit has 70 mm of armored glass at the front (one of, if not the thickest piece of armored glass in the game)
• Great at head on passes in all game modes (shoot and duck/roll away)
• Cockpit has reasonable all-round protection for the pilot
• Centrally mounted armament allows for reasonable accuracy as compared to other attack aircraft of its peers
• Amazingly cheap to use in simulator, especially for Enduring Confrontation (~200-700 SL spawn cost with a 390% reward rate)
• 500 rounds for 2 x 20 mm guns can be used a for a long time

Cons:

• Bad maneuverability
• The engines are under-powered and uses a carburetor, preventing prolonged inverted G-load state
• Has no defensive armament compared to other attack aircraft of its rank
• Poor climb rate
• The 37 mm has the same number of rounds per gun (12) as the Ju 87 G-1 and Ju 87 G-2
• Engine and internal wing tanks are ideal targets for enemy pilots
• Needs the gun pods to do well
• Cockpit armoued glass resembles sitting close to a cathode-ray tube

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the aircraft in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too big, take it to a separate article, taking a link to an article about the vehicle and adding a block "/ historical reference" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/Name-vehicles/historical reference) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to include links to sources at the end of the article.

Media

An excellent addition to the article will be video guides, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.

Read also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example,

• [Ugly Ducklings] - Hs 129
• reference to the series of the aircraft;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

Sources

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• page on aircraft encyclopedia;
• other literature.