ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 192564
This information is added by users of ASN. Neither ASN nor the Flight Safety Foundation are responsible for the completeness or correctness of this information.
If you feel this information is incomplete or incorrect, you can submit corrected information.
| Date: | Tuesday 5 January 1943 |
| Time: | |
| Type: | Henschel Hs 129 B-2 |
| Owner/operator: | 4./Sch.G 1 Luftwaffe |
| Registration: | 0275 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Tatsinskaya -
 Russia
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Demo/Airshow/Display |
| Departure airport: | Tatsinskaya airfield |
4./Sch.G 1, which had been operating recently over the encircled Stalingrad area, had then withdrawn to Tatsinskaya and was now under the command of Oblt Eduard Kent, a pilot who had acquired a reputation for dare-devil flying. Anti-tank work using the 30 mm cannon had started under his command and Kent, himself one of the first pilots to succeed in destroying tanks by cannon attacks, was keen to demonstrate to the whole Staffel how tanks could be easily knocked out by this new weapon. Close to the airfield was an abandoned T-34, a victim of the recent fighting around the airfield that had been taken on 24 December by the Soviet 24th Tank Corps and retaken four days later by the Germans.
On 5 January 1943, the Staffel was assembled on both sides of Kent’s planned approach path. Everyone was excited to witness the demonstration and watched intently as Kent made a low run-in at the tank and, when in range, fired his cannon. The tank was hit and the Hs 129 B-2 WNr 0275 pulled up from its strafing pass and circled round for another run-in. Kent made his second low approach and the tank was hit again; but as the Henschel pulled up, its rear fuselage struck the tank’s turret and broke away. The aircraft reared into the air and travelled some 100 m before plunging to the ground. The two engines and the armoured cockpit were wrenched from the airframe as the machine completely disintegrated, throwing the pilot’s broken body out of the cockpit. Engine mechanic Willi Tholen described the event as "... a show with a terrible ending. The only thing we could do was to gather the pilot’s dismembered remains, put them into a wooden case, blast a shallow hole in the hard-frozen ground and bury them in the snow."
Sources:
"Hs 129 Panzerjäger", by Martin Pegg. ISBN 0-9526867-1-6
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatsinskaya_Airfield
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatsinskaya_Raid
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=48.167222&lon=41.277778&z=8&m=w
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 05-Jan-2017 05:05 | Laurent Rizzotti | Added |
| 08-Jan-2018 21:07 | TigerTimon | Updated [Departure airport] |
| 18-Dec-2019 19:57 | nepa | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
The Aviation Safety Network is an exclusive service provided by:
Quick Links:
| ASN Home | Send Correction / Feedback |
| FSF Home | Disclaimer | Copyright |
| Contact Us | Privacy Policy |
| Press / Media |
CONNECT WITH US:
©2024 Flight Safety Foundation