Hs 129 B-2 (Romania) (Italy)

Description

The Hs 129 B-2 (Romanian Air Force) is a premium rank III Italian strike aircraft with a battle rating of 3.3 (AB), 2.3 (RB), and 2.7 (SB). It was introduced as a premium pack vehicle in Update 1.83 "Masters of the Sea" for War Thunder's 6th Anniversary as a replacement for the version of the vehicle in the German tech tree.

General info

Flight performance

The Hs 129's flight characteristic is somewhat similar to the Soviet IL-2 ground attack aircraft. The plane suffers from an underpowered engines which limits its acceleration and climb rate, but the Hs 129 can fly pretty well with enough speed, and has the ability to perform hard manoeuvres in flight even at low altitude. However, the plane cannot roll at all due to the engines lack output to prevent the plane from stalling, as well as bleeds a lot of energy away in any air-to-air engagements.

Details

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

Modifications and economy

Repair cost

AB552

RB1 161

SB4 892

Crew training10 000

Experts67 000

Aces400

Research Aces570 000

Reward for battleAB / RB / SB

2 × 60 / 140 / 320 %

2 × 136 / 136 / 136 %

Modifications

Flight performance	Survivability	Weaponry
Fuselage repair Radiator Compressor Wings repair Engine Engine injection	Airframe EFS Cover	mg_belt_pack mg15120_belt_pack SC 50 mg17_new_gun mg15120_new_gun R2 modification mk103_belt_pack bk37_belt_pack BK 3,7 cannon mk103_new_gun bk37_new_gun

Armaments

Offensive armament

The Hs 129 B-2 (Romania) (Italy) is armed with:

• 2 x 20 mm MG 151 cannons, fuselage-mounted (250 rpg = 500 total)
• 2 x 7.92 mm MG 17 machine guns, fuselage-mounted (1,000 rpg = 2,000 total)

Suspended armament

The Hs 129 B-2 (Romania) (Italy) can be outfitted with the following ordnance:

• Without load
• 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)

Usage in battles

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 manoeuvrable, however the plane is heavily armoured. Even so, don't expect to hold up well against cannon fire and any machine gun fire targeted towards you will be a death of a thousand cuts. The armour around the cockpit makes getting pilot sniped uncommon but not rare. Don't expect this plane to fly you back home on one engine. If the engine is shot out, it usually means that your wings are also damaged which means a loss of lift, which on a one-ton brick means a death sentence. 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 with the HVAP-T belt, the Hs 129 B-2 is capable of destroying every single ground target except for regular pillboxes. Thanks to the 100 rounds of ammunition available, this can make a single Hs 129 B-2 a game-changing aircraft. Make sure to have key binds set up for separate firing of small, large, and additional guns. Tanks should be your #1 priority. You should be only firing your 30mm gun pod when engaging tanks. Do not bother with armoured vehicles that have gotten the ground vehicles damage model. For every tank (except the Pz4 model with the side skirt) you should be aiming to line them up from the side as it is the most consistent. Next in the priority list are the light pillboxes. These can be destroyed using your 7.92mm machine guns as well as your 20mm (if you opted to equip the armored target belt for them) and obviously the 30mm. When you are aiming for these pillboxes make sure to try and target the roof section of the pillbox, you don't need to be level to the ground or attacking from directly above, any angle is fine. There are two ways of going about killing light pillboxes: Using all of your guns or just your machine gun and 20mm. Using all of your guns is the quickest way to defeat a light pillbox but takes ~10 30mm rounds which are quite precious and can be used against other players or tanks. Engage every other target at your own discretion making sure to only use the machine guns and 20mm cannons for these soft targets.

Against aircraft, your only solid chance is to engage them in a head-on. The Hs 129 is a flying brick and will not be able to engage anything other than itself. If the enemy is smart, they will avoid a head-on and simply use their advantage to sweep around behind you. Your only recourse is to hope that you survive long enough for a friendly to rescue you, or that they overshoot in front of your guns, giving you a split second to shoot them down.

Manual Engine Control

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Sturdy airframe with armour and thick bulletproof glass, can take some punishment before going down
• 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 decent rate of fire, which allows for versatility in targets, and is especially devastating against armoured vehicles
  • 30 mm HVAP-T generally destroys air targets in one to three hits 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
• Surprisingly manoeuvrable at higher speed
• Cockpit has 70 mm of armoured glass at the front, reasonable all-round protection for the pilot
• Great at head-on passes in all game modes (shoot and duck/roll away)
• Centrally mounted armament, need for gun harmonisation minimalized

Cons:

• Extremely underpowered engines plagued the overall flight performances
  • Poor acceleration and energy retention
  • Poor climb rate, bad manoeuvrability at lower speed
  • Cannot roll at all due to the risk of stalling
  • If even one engine is shot-up, the plane will fall from the sky
  • Engine uses a carburettor, preventing prolonged inverted G-load state
• Has no defensive armament compared to other attack aircraft of its rank
• Engine and internal wing fuel tanks are ideal targets for enemy pilots
• Needs the gun pods to do well
• Thick cockpit armoured glass causes some distortion (Simulator)

History

At the start of WW2 Romania had adopted a position of neutrality. However following the Soviet Annexation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina in June - July 1940, the loss of Northern Transylvania to Hungary on 30 August 1940, and the loss of Southern Dobruja to Bulgaria on 7 September 1940 the popularity of the Romanian government plummeted. This led to a series of government changes, followed by a Coup and the instalment of Ion Antonescu as the country's leader. Antonescu promptly got Romania to join the Tripartite Pact on 23 November, becoming allied with Nazi Germany.^[1]

Becoming allies with Nazi Germany gave Romania access to German aircraft. It is reported that Romania received Hs 129 A series aircraft.^[2] The Hs 129 A was known for being extremely underpowered with its Argus As 410 engines, and B series aircraft were soon produced with more powerful Gnome-Rhône 14M radial engines. Romania received the latest Hs 129 B-2 version in June 1943; and they were put to use against Soviet forces on the Eastern Front^[3]. The Romanian Hs 129 B-2s typically carried a 30 mm cannon under the fuselage, and proved to be very effective in the ground attack role, reportedly "bringing Soviet tank and infantry attacks to a halt time and again".^[3] On 23 August 1944 after Romania had been suffering heavy losses against the advancing Soviet forces King Michael I of Romania ordered Antonescu to surrender. When Antonescu refused the king had him arrested and declared war on Nazi Germany, joining the Soviet advance.^[4] It is unclear if the Hs 129s were used against Germany.

One Romanian ace to fly the Hs 129 was Teodor Zăbavă, who achieved four air-to-air kills in his Hs 129 (and more in his IAR 80). One kill occurred on 25 October 1943 against a Soviet Yak fighter.^[5]

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the Hs 129 B-2 (Romania) (Italy) from live.warthunder.com.

See also

Related development

• Hs 129 (Family)
  • Hs 129 B-2
  • Hs 129 B-2 (Romania)

External links

• Official data sheet - more details about the performance

References

Citations

Bibliography

• Bernad, D. (2012). Rumanian Aces of World War 2. United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Publishing.
• Joseph, F. (2012). The Axis Air Forces Flying in Support of the German Luftwaffe. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO.
• Kretaner, N. (n.d.). Hs 129. Retrieved from WW2 Weapons
• Williamson, M. (2017, August 19). Romanian Air Service WWII part I. Retrieved from Weapons and Warfare
• Williamson, M. (2017, August 19). Romanian Air Service WWII part II. Retrieved from Weapons and Warfare