Flightline: 60/TBD

"user314" (user314) 10/13/2020 at 11:00 • Filed to: flightline, Planelopnik, planelopnik history, ww2

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Preflighting a Blohm & Voss - BV 141

!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (lit. ‘Hamburg aircraft construction’) was a division of the Blohm & Voss shipbuilding company, who’s owners wanted to move into building long-range flying boats for the German state airline Hansa. The company’s name was changed to Abteilung Flugzeugbau der Schiffswerft Blohm & Voss (“Aircraft Manufacturing Division of Blohm & Voss Shipbuilder”) in 1937, and the growing Nazi rearming campaign saw the former passenger plan manufacturer branch out into warplanes.

A Blohm & Voss BV 138, seen on Siutghiol lake, near Constanta, in 1943

B&V’s most successful design for the Wehrmacht was the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (‘Sea Dragon’) , a trimotor seaplane used for maritime patrol and naval reconnaissance.

A BV.222 in flight

The !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (‘Viking’) was a pre-war large flying boat passenger plane, but the 13 examples produced were pressed into service as a cargo transport and troop transport during the War.

B&V is perhaps best well known for a large number of asymmetrical designs produced by chief designer !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

In 1937, the German Air Ministry – the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (RLM) – issued a specification for a single-engine reconnaissance aircraft with optimal visual characteristics. The preferred contractor was !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! with the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , but the prototype proved unsuccessful. The eventual winner was the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!   Uhu, even though its !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! design using two smaller engines did not match the requirement of a single engined aircraft. Blohm & Voss was not invited to participate, but pursued as a private venture the uniquely asymmetric BV 141.  

BV.141 under construction at the Blohm + Voss plant

The crew compartment was set to starboard to provide the best view, as well as to counter roll forces from the single piston engine. The tail unit was similarly offset. Power came from a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! N engine, though the prototypes were found to be underpowered. Later 141s were built with !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! s, and proved to be superior to the Fw.189, but competition with the Fw.190 for the BMW 801s capped production of the BV.141 at 28. A ground attack and dive-bomber variant, potentially augmented with a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! jet engine, was studied as the Bv.237, but was not produced.

Orthograph of the BV.237 showing the Jumo 004 mounting

The Blohm & Voss P.1 11 was a back up design to the BV 138 sea plane. hereas the fuselage was basically similar to the later-built BV 138, a long boom with a conventional tail unit was placed on the port side of the wing. Three Jumo 208 engines, each developing 1500 horsepower, were all mounted on the wing leading edge. A pontoon was located just outboard of the port engine, beneath the wing.

Orthograph of the P.111

The BV P.178 dive-bomber had one Jumo 004B turbojet located under the wing to the starboard side of the fuselage. The pilot sat in a cockpit in the forward fuselage, with a large fuel tank located to the rear of the cockpit. Beneath the fuel tank there was a deep recession in which a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! could be carried within the fuselage, or a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! which would protrude slightly out of the fuselage. Two solid-fuel auxiliary rocket engines extended from the rear, and may have possibly been used for take-off or for climbing after a dive-bombing attack. Two MG 151 15mm machine guns were located in the nose

The BV P.179 asymmetric fighter-bomber was developed from the BV P.177/BV.237 , though it had a shorter wingspan and a single seat. The P.179 was powered by one BMW 801 14 cylinder radial engine. The cockpit was located in a nacelle to the starboard side of the fuselage, beneath which up to 500 kg (1100 lbs) of bombs could be carried. The main landing gear retracted outwards into the wingtips. Two MG 151/20 20mm cannon were the projected armament, and were located under the pilot’s position.

Orthograph of the P.179

The BV P.194 was a series of designs for various mixed-propulsion asymmetrical aircraft, which were intended for diverse roles such as fighter, destroyer, dive bomber and reconnaissance. The designs all featured a BMW 801D on the main fuselage, and either a BMW 003 or Jumo 004 jet engine was mounted in the crew gondola, offset to starboard.

A table of P.194 variants

Color illustrations of hypothetical BV P.194 variants in squadron markings.

Though not an asymmetrical design, the P.188 jet bomber was unique in that it had wings that were swept back half way along their length, then swept forwards to the tips. This design was expected to give good performance at both low and high speeds. The P.188 had tandem twin main landing gear along with outriggers to support the wings. The plane was to be powered by four Jumo 004C jets, and would have carried 2200lbs of bombs internally, or Hs 293C anti-ship missiles externally.

Orthograph of the P.188

Blohm und Voss P.188.01 in camouflage and armed with Hs 293C-4 (Hs 294) anti-ship missiles

B+V ceased operations after the end of WW2, though it was reconstituted as Hamburger Flugzeugbau GmBH (HFB) in 1956 when Germany was freed from post-war restrictions. HFB mainly served as a subcontractor on programs like the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Their only solo project was the HFB 320 Hansa Jet, a ten-seat business jet which featured a forward swept wing. The type was intended to compete with Lear Jet, but the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! prevented it from flying from smaller fields, and the 320 was mainly limited to service with the West German Air Force, were it served as a VIP transport and as a trainer for ECM crews. The type was retired in 1994.

HFB merged with !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! - !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! to form !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (MBB), which in turn was taken over by !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ( !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ) in September 1989, wh ic h has since been absorbed into the pan-European !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! corporation.

Cé hé sin > user314 10/13/2020 at 12:39

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I’ve posted about the BV 141 before but the P.111 is bizarre even by those standards.

The odd thing about the 141 is that it seemingly flew perfectly well, though the later versions seemed inferior. Symmetry seems to be over rated.

ClassicDatsunDebate > user314 10/13/2020 at 13:08

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The old engineering adage “If it don’t look right, it ain’t right” applies in this case.

I believe the most potentially successful B+V design was the continuance of development on the BV155. It’s performance above 40,000' was even beyond the P-51D and was designed as a high altitude interceptor.

As many of the German developments in the late stages of the war...too little too late, thank goodness.  

Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom > user314 10/13/2020 at 13:28

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That thing has always triggered my OCD. And I don’t even have OCD. 

kanadanmajava1 > user314 10/13/2020 at 14:29

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I think world needs more asymmetric aircraft . B& V   P163 concept did look fairly symmetric until you started looking things from the pilot’ s cockpit. They didn’t manage built this thing but they did test the wingtip cockpit position in another prototype. A pparently it did work but it didn’t give enough advantages for further development.

user314 > kanadanmajava1 10/13/2020 at 14:40

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Hmmm....

kanadanmajava1 > user314 10/13/2020 at 19:23

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Coincidence? Likely not.

RacinBob > user314 10/27/2020 at 21:17

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