He-123 question - any ops in North Africa?

[28ZComeback]

Did any He-123’s find their way to North Africa? I know they were used extensively in the Balkans and Russia, but it appears that none made it to Libya despite the suitability of the machine to the mission. Thanks for any information. 

[Graham Boak]

There were only a small number left, none that could be spared for operations elsewhere.

[KRK4m]

3 hours ago, 28ZComeback said:

Did any He-123’s find their way to North Africa? . 

 

I understand you mean Henschel Hs 123, as Heinkel He 123 remains unknown to most of us :)

 

3 hours ago, Graham Boak said:

There were only a small number left, none that could be spared for operations elsewhere.

 

From the outset, their number was small. A total of 265 were built (compared to 506 He 51, 514 Ar 68, 882 Hs 129 and 935 Hs 126, neither of which can be called numerous). 18 were sent to Spain, 12 to China, leaving 235 in Germany, including prototypes. Production ended in the summer of 1937, so in September 1939 less than 120 remained operational. About 30 were lost in Poland, a similar number in the Netherlands and France, and less than forty were left to be used at the beginning of Barbarossa. In my opinion, it was the extremely short range of this a/c type that became crucial for its deployment on the Eastern Front instead of Africa.

Cheers

Michael

[28ZComeback]

It’s the Hs123. Thank you. 

[GiampieroSilvestri]

The spanish airforce flew Henschel Hs 123 until the middle of the 50s.Maybe some aircraft were also based on the canary islands but as far as I know Luftwaffe aircraft were not used in north africa.

 

Saluti

 

Giampiero