| Hs 132 | |
|---|---|
 An airbrushed G. Heumann drawing of the P.132 | |
| General information | |
| Type | Dive bomber and interceptor aircraft |
| Manufacturer | Henschel Flugzeugwerke AG |
| Status | Never flown |
| Primary user | Luftwaffe |
| Number built | 4 prototypes[citation needed] |
| History | |
| Manufactured | 1945 |
The Henschel Hs 132 was a jet-powered dive bomber and interceptor aircraft designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Henschel Flugzeugwerke AG. It was developed during the latter portion of the Second World War with the intention of being adopted by the Luftwaffe, but this did not come to fruition.
Work commenced on the Hs 132 in February 1943 in response to a specification issued by the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM – the German Aviation Ministry) for a new attack aircraft. Henschel opted for a relatively unorthodox design that, amongst other features, used a top-mounted BMW 003 jet engine (identical in terms of make and position to the powerplant used by the Heinkel He 162), a retractable nosewheel undercarriage and the pilot in a prone position. The aircraft intentionally made as little use of strategic materials as possible, such as its use of wooden wings, and had a relatively simplistic structure despite it being designed to withstand 12 g, considerably more than typical dive bombers of the era.
In response to the RLM's approval of the project, construction of three prototypes was started during March 1945. However, two months later, Henschel's plant at Schönefeld was captured by the advancing Soviet Army; accordingly, all of the incomplete prototypes fell into Soviet hands and their fate thereafter is unknown. At that point, Hs 132 V1 was scheduled to commence flight testing only one month later.