Oxford Diecast 1/72 AC040 Henschel 123 German Biplane Model

The Henschel Hs 123 was a German single seat biplane dive-bomber and close support attack aircraft which the Luftwaffe deployed during both the Spanish Civil War and the early to mid part of WWII, seeing service right up until 1944. It was first displayed and took its first flight in May 1935 piloted by WWI Flying Ace General Ernst Udet, following which a small pre-production batch was completed in 1936 for evaluation by the Luftwaffe. The first production examples, following slight modifications, resulted in the 123A-1 and the service aircraft flew with an armoured headrest and fairing in place as well as removable main wheel spats and a faired tail wheel. The dive-bomber career of the aircraft was cut short when it was superseded by the Ju 87A but it was used in many other roles, including pilot training, as reproduced in our 1:72 replica. Painted in a dark green and black green camouflage scheme, the underbody of our Henschel is pale blue grey. Typical German Luftwaffe markings have been applied to the upper and lower body, including the Swastika on the tail. Masked detailing includes the red tips to the four matt black bombs in the underside bomb bays, black green camouflage to the propeller and pale blue grey wing struts. The aircraft number 21 is boldly printed in yellow immediately behind the wings.