Blohm & Voss BV 237

Last updated
Blohm & Voss BV 237
Role Dive bomber, attack aircraft
National origin Germany
Manufacturer Blohm & Voss
DesignerDr. Richard Vogt
Number builtNone completed
Developed from Blohm & Voss BV 141

The Blohm & Voss BV 237 was a German proposed dive bomber with an unusual asymmetric design based on the Blohm & Voss BV 141.

Contents

Design and development

In 1942, the Luftwaffe was interested in replacing the venerable but ageing Junkers Ju 87, and Dr. Richard Vogt's design team at Blohm & Voss began work on project P 177. [1] The dive bomber version would have had a one-man crew with two fixed forward firing 15 mm (0.591 in) MG 151 cannon and two rear firing 13 mm (0.512 in) MG 131 machine guns, carrying 2,000 kg (4,400 lb) of bombs.

A two-seat ground attack version was also proposed with two fixed forward firing 15 mm (0.591 in) MG 151 cannon, three forward firing 30 mm (1.181 in) MK 103 cannon with six 70 kg (150 lb) bombs. [2]

A final B-1 type was to incorporate a Junkers Jumo 004B turbojet engine in a third nacelle slung underneath the wing, between the piston engine and the cockpit.

In early 1943 the B&V design, now called the BV 237, was shown to Hitler and he ordered it into production. However the order was not carried out. [3] In the summer, Allied bombing raids over Hamburg caused no damage to the Blohm and Voss facilities, but the Ministry of Aviation ordered all developmental work stopped. Work continued later and it was determined that construction could begin in mid 1945, but plans for a pre-production A-0 series were abandoned, leaving the project at the pre-production stage near the end of 1944, [1] with only a wooden mock-up completed.

Variants

P.177: Original project which led to the BV 237.
BV 237 (single seat)
A single seat Sturzkampfflugzeug (dive bomber) armed with two fixed forward firing 15 mm (0.591 in) MG 151 cannon and two rear firing 13 mm (0.512 in) MG 131 machine guns, carrying 2,000 kg (4,400 lb) of bombs.
BV 237 (2-seat)

A twin seater Schlachtflugzeug (ground attack) aircraft armed with two fixed forward firing 15 mm (0.591 in) MG 151 cannon and three forward firing 30 mm (1.181 in) MK 103 cannon, with six 70 kg (150 lb) bombs.

BV 237B-1

A proposed mixed-power version with a podded Junkers Jumo 004B underslung between the BMW 801 nacelle and the fuselage.

Specifications (BV 237)

BV 141 in May 1942. The BV 237 would have had a similar appearance. Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1980-117-01, Aufklarungsflugzeug Blohm - Voss BV 141.jpg
BV 141 in May 1942. The BV 237 would have had a similar appearance.

Data from Die Deutsche Luftruestung 1933-1945 Vol.1 - AEG-Dornier [4]

General characteristics

Performance

Armament

and

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heinkel He 111</span> World War II German heavy bomber

The Heinkel He 111 is a German airliner and bomber designed by Siegfried and Walter Günter at Heinkel Flugzeugwerke in 1934. Through development, it was described as a "wolf in sheep's clothing". Due to restrictions placed on Germany after the First World War prohibiting bombers, it was presented solely as a civil airliner, although from conception the design was intended to provide the nascent Luftwaffe with a heavy bomber.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blohm & Voss BV 155</span> German high-altitude prototype interceptor aircraft

The Blohm & Voss BV 155 was a German high-altitude interceptor aircraft intended to be used by the Luftwaffe against raids by USAAF Boeing B-29 Superfortresses. Work started on the design as the Messerschmitt Me 155 in 1942, but the project went through a protracted development period and change of ownership, and prototypes were still under test and development when World War II ended.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Junkers Ju 188</span> Type of aircraft

The Junkers Ju 188 was a German Luftwaffe high-performance medium bomber built during World War II, the planned follow-up to the Ju 88 with better performance and payload. It was produced only in limited numbers, due both to the presence of improved versions of the Ju 88, as well as the increasingly effective Allied strategic bombing campaign against German industry and the resulting focus on fighter production.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blohm & Voss BV 138</span> 1937 flying boat family by Blohm & Voss

The Blohm & Voss BV 138Seedrache, but nicknamed Der Fliegende Holzschuh was a World War II German trimotor flying boat that served as the Luftwaffe's main seaborne long-range maritime patrol and naval reconnaissance aircraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henschel Hs 132</span> 1945 prototype multi-role combat aircraft by Henschel

The Henschel Hs 132 was a World War II dive bomber and interceptor aircraft of the German Luftwaffe that never saw service. The unorthodox design featured a top-mounted BMW 003 jet engine and the pilot in a prone position. The Soviet Army occupied the factory just as the Hs 132 V1 was nearing flight testing, the V2 and V3 being 80% and 75% completed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blohm & Voss BV 238</span> 1944 military flying boat by Blohm & Voss

The Blohm & Voss BV 238 was a German flying boat, built during World War II. It was the heaviest aircraft ever built when it first flew in 1944, and was the largest aircraft produced by any of the Axis powers during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Junkers Jumo 205</span>

The Jumo 205 aircraft engine was the most famous of a series of aircraft diesel engines produced by Junkers. The Jumo 204 first entered service in 1932. Later engines of this type comprised the experimental Jumo 206 and Jumo 208, with the Jumo 207 produced in some quantity for the Junkers Ju 86P and -R high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, and the 46-meter wingspan, six-engined Blohm & Voss BV 222 Wiking flying boat. All three of these variants differed in stroke and bore and supercharging arrangements. In all, more than 900 of these engines were produced, in the 1930s and through most of World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hamburger Flugzeugbau Ha 137</span> Type of aircraft

The Hamburger Flugzeugbau Ha 137 was a German ground-attack aircraft of the 1930s. It was Blohm & Voss' entry into the contest to equip the re-forming Luftwaffe with its first purpose-built dive bomber. Although the contest would eventually be won by the Junkers Ju 87, the Ha 137 demonstrated that B&V's Hamburger Flugzeugbau, not even two years old at this point, had a truly capable design team of its own. One Ha 137 single-seat prototype competed against the Henschel Hs 123 at Rechlin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blohm & Voss BV 222</span> 1940 flying boat family by Blohm & Voss

The Blohm & Voss BV 222 Wiking was a large, six-engined German flying boat of World War II. Originally designed as a commercial transport, it was the largest German seaplane to attain production status during the war.

The Blohm & Voss P 178 was a German jet-powered dive bomber/fighter-bomber of unusual asymmetric form, proposed during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blohm & Voss P 194</span> Type of aircraft

The Blohm & Voss P 194 was a German design for a mixed-power Stuka or ground-attack aircraft and tactical bomber, during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arado Ar 81</span> Prototype dive bomber by Arado

The Arado Ar 81 was a German prototype dive bomber. Because the Reich Air Ministry decided to purchase the competing Junkers Ju 87, only three prototypes of the Ar 81 were completed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Junkers EF 126</span> German experimental pulsejet fighter

The Junkers EF 126 was an experimental fighter proposed by the German Miniaturjägerprogramm of 1944–1945, for a cheap and simple fighter powered by a pulsejet engine. No examples were built during the war, but the Soviet Union completed both unpowered and powered prototypes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arado E.340</span> Type of aircraft

The Arado Ar E.340 was a twin-engined dive- and tactical-medium bomber, designed by Arado Flugzeugwerke at the request of the Reich Air Ministry in 1939 to compete for a production contract for the Bomber B fast bomber design competition, but the project was cancelled.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blohm & Voss P 188</span> Type of aircraft

The Blohm & Voss Bv P 188 was a long-range, heavy jet bomber design project by the Blohm & Voss aircraft manufacturing division during the last years of the Third Reich. It featured a novel W-wing planform with variable incidence.

The Blohm & Voss P 163 was a design project for an unconventional bomber during World War II. Constructed mainly from steel, its crew were accommodated in large wingtip nacelles, giving it a triple-fuselage appearance. Its propeller drive system was also unusual, with the central fuselage containing twin engines coupled to a front-mounted contra-prop.

The Blohm & Voss P 196 was the last of Blohm & Voss's World War II design projects for a "stuka" dive bomber and close support aircraft to replace the aging Junkers Ju 87.

The Blohm & Voss P 197 was a design project during World War II for a single-seat twinjet fighter, in response to a requirement issued in 1944.

The Blohm & Voss P 192 was a design study for a dive bomber/ground attack aircraft intended to replace the Junkers Ju 87.

The Dornier Do 417 was a twin-engine multirole combat aircraft. Developed in 1942, it resulted from the Luftwaffe's request for a medium bomber, a contest in which Dornier, Junkers, Heinkel, and Blohm & Voss competed. In the end, the Junkers Ju 188 was chosen by the Luftwaffe, and the Do 417 never entered production.

References

  1. 1 2 Rickard, J (16 September 2010). "Blohm und Voss Bv 237". historyofwar.org. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  2. J. "Blohm und Voss Bv 237". panzertruppen.org. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  3. Hans Amtmann; "Blohm und Voss Remembered", Part 2, Aeroplane Monthly, March 1998 pp.12-15.
  4. Nowarra, Heinz J. (1993). Die Deutsche Luftruestung 1933-1945 Vol.1 - AEG-Dornier (in German). Koblenz: Bernard & Graefe Verlag. pp. 115–116, 242–243. ISBN   978-3-7637-5464-9.