Read More: Lockheed D-21 – A UFO Spotter’s Dream It was propelled by six Daimler-Benz DB 603G 12-cylinder liquid-cooled engines, which meant it had a top speed of 264 miles per hour and a max combat range of 3790 miles, while its control system was part-servo and part-manual in the style of the BV 222. Its wings, which had a span of 197 feet and 4 inches and an area of 3876.84 square feet, featured electronically operated flaps lined down the entire trailing edge. At the time of its first flight, the BV 238 was the heaviest plane ever flown and when fully loaded had to be thrust into the air with the assistance of four take-off assistance rockets. It was 142 feet and 3 inches long, 43 feet high, while its empty weight was 120,769 pounds and its maximum weight was 220,460 pounds. The BV 238 & FG 227Īccommodating a crew of 10, in its A-series configuration the all-metal Blohm & Voss BV 238 was of the cantilever, shoulder-wing design and had a keeled hull and a raised tailplane. Photo credit – Bundesarchiv Bild 101I 667 7142 24 Hoffmann CC BY-SA 3.0. The BV 238 showing off its gigantic size. In autumn 1941 another contract was granted by RLM which required Blohm & Voss to assemble three BV 238 A-series augmented with Daimler-Benz DB 603 liquid-cooled engines and one B-series propelled by BMW 801 air-cooled radials. Furthermore, the BV 238 was now planned to operationally serve as a bomber as well as a transport. However, by July 1941 with the news that the Jumo 223 engines were underwhelming and not up to scratch, Blohm & Voss were forced to hurriedly redesign the entire plane to accommodate a set of alternative powerplants.Ĭonsequently, the BV 238 was overhauled to provide space for 6 engines and enlarged: its wingspan was increased to 189 feet and 5 inches, its gross area would now be 373 square feet, and its length was upped to 149 feet and 3 inches. Photo credit – b CC BY-SA 3.0.Īnticipated to be propelled by four Jumo 223 Diesel engines, in mid-February 1941 the earliest BV 238 schematics were released, tracing out a plane that was to have a span of 173 feet and 10 inches, a length of 130 feet and 1 inch, a maximum weight of 164,244 pounds, and a heavily streamlined planing bottom with a length-to-ratio of 10.ĭefensively, the plane was to be armed with twelve 20 mm MG 151 cannons mounted in remotely controlled barbettes, while performance-wise it was predicted to have a top speed of 248 miles per hour and a maximum operational range of 3,045 miles. The DB 603 engine was eventually selected as the performance of the Jumo 223 was underwhelming. With this particular feature now being heavily emphasized by the RLM, in November 1940 Blohm & Voss were asked to hand in a further raft of designs that included this latest advance. In fact, so impressed were observers by the notable reduction of aerodynamic and hydrodynamic drag, that there were calls for an even greater increase in length-to-beam ratio. During development, the advantages of a slimmer planing bottom with a length-to-beam ratio of 8.4 instead of the conventional length-to-beam ratio of 6 had become readily apparent. This was an innovation that had already been heavily investigated as part of the Blohm & Voss BV 222 program that had commenced a couple of years prior. As a result, Blohm & Voss submitted eight different designs that varied widely in form and configuration to RLM, who were primarily looking to fund a flying boat that possessed a slender planing bottom. In the spring of 1940, the German Ministry of Aviation (RLM) awarded a contract to Blohm & Voss, who were required to produce a successor craft to the B-138 Flying Boat. On the other hand, a daring Allied raid and the conclusion of the Second World War meant that this titanic contraption and its multiple variants were prematurely scrapped, never to reach the production stage. Considered the heaviest plane ever flown at the time, the Blohm & Voss BV 238 was a gigantic experimental transport plane intended to carry out a range of additional bomber and reconnaissance functions.
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