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BV.141

Reconnaissance and Army Cooperation Aircraft

Blohm and Voss

BV.141

German tactical reconnaissance and army cooperation aircraft, BV.141 never appeared on the Eastern Front.

BV.141 was originally designed as a short-range reconnaissance aircraft - a light bomber, capable of also performing the tasks of a light attack aircraft and a smoke screen. The assignment defined a crew of three, a circular survey for the crew and an engine power of 850-900hp. on takeoff.

Richard Vogt's unusual design decision was dictated by the need to provide all-round visibility for the crew of a single-engine reconnaissance aircraft. Placing the crew in a glazed nacelle away from the engine solved this problem. The asymmetrical scheme, according to the designer, was also supposed to solve the problem of getting rid of the rotating moment of the propeller - the eternal headache of single-engine aircraft.

The first flight of the strange aircraft, designated BV 141, took place on February 25, 1938. The scout successfully passed the first stages of testing, and the construction of prototypes continued. The vehicle's armament consisted of two forward-facing fixed 7.9-mm MG-17 machine guns, two MG-17 machine guns of the same caliber on mobile mounts and holders for hanging four 50-kilogram bombs. 9-cylinder air-cooled engine BMW-132N with a capacity of 865 hp. with. accelerated the device to 397 km / h.

Hа ВV.141-V2 one more innovation was tested - an asymmetric stabilizer. To improve the field, the arrow was shot, the right part of the stabilizer was removed, and the left plane was enlarged, and, since the tests showed no changes with control, such an operation was applied to the BV.141b.

The unusual appearance could not serve as a justification for rejecting the project, and a demand was made to increase the thrust-to-weight ratio of the vehicle. However, the new project with a more powerful engine turned out to have worse handling and a lot of minor defects, the elimination of which took a long time, so that the fifth and last BV.141b-V13 (NC + RH) was ready only by May 15, 1943.

The need to build another scout in the series disappeared when it turned out that these tasks were successfully solved by FW 189. In addition, after damage to the Focke-Wulf factories, the production of Fw.200 "Condor" was transferred to "Blom und Voss" which occupied 80% of the capacity. The command of the Luftwaffe reacted to the "freak" without much enthusiasm and convinced the Ministry of Armaments to postpone the start of production of the BV141 - as it turned out, forever.


                                                                                                                                                                                                              
Blohm and Voss
ВV.141a-04
BMW-132N
engine
ВV.141b-02
BMW-801a-0
engine
Crew 3
Dimensions
Wing span, m 15.50 17.42
Length, m 12.15 13.95
Height, m 4.10 -
Wing area, m² 41.50 51.00
Weight, kg:
Empty weight, kg 3,170 4,700
Loaded weight, kg 3,900 5,700
Powerplant
Power, hp 865 1560
Performance
Maximum speed at sea level, km/h 338 366
Max speed at altitude, km/h 397 435
Cruising speed, km/h at sea level 309 -
Cruising speed, km/h at altitude 363 -
Service range, km 1133 1888
Service seiling, m 9,000 10,000
Armament
Two 7.9-mm МG-17 machine guns in nose
Two 7.9-mm МG-15 rear machine guns;
4 × 50-kg Bomb loaded
2 + 2
Photo Description
Drawing BV.141

Drawing BV.141

Drawing BV.141

Blohm and Voss BV.141

Bibliography

  • "Aviation of Luftwaffe" /Viktor Shunkov/
  • "Encyclopedia of military engineering" /Aerospace Publising/