Blohm & Voss BV 144

[fightingirish]

Early BV 144 concept

Source: Le Fana de L'Aviation 1996-09 (322), September 1996, page 22

 

[Wurger]

Re: Various Blohm und Voss projects

Hi Fightingirish, does that "Le Fana" article include more projects?

 

[Maveric]

Re: Various Blohm und Voss projects

Hi Wurger,

I have the "Le Fana"... no other projects.

Servus, Maveric

 

[richard]

Re: Various Blohm und Voss projects

Both were civil passenger transport .
The original designation was Blohm & Voss P.140 .


Cheers


Richard

 

[Wurger]

Re: Various Blohm und Voss projects

Thanks Mav.

 

[Jemiba]

Re: Various Blohm und Voss projects

Both were civil passenger transport .

Well, I should have written: .. changed from mainly civil to mainly military transport.
It was envisaged as a replacement for the venerable Ju 52, which was showing its age
then, but still providing the bulk of the German transport aircraft fleet. With the fuselage
that high above the ground, it would have made a mediocre military transport at best.
But maybe this change was just necessary for the installation of the variable incidence
wing ? Would the early low wing variant have been fitted with it, too ?

 

[hesham]

Re: Various Blohm und Voss projects

Early BV 144 concept

Source: Le Fana de L'Aviation 1996-09 (322), September 1996, page 22

Also from the same source.

 

[hesham]

Re: Various Blohm und Voss projects

Hi,


in a report about Hamburger company,there is a front view to Blohm and Voss BV.144 aircraft,
you feel it differs a little from the same front view of we have;


http://www.histaviation.com/Blohm_und_Voss_BV_144.html

 

[sienar]

BV 144

 

[steelpillow]

Nice drawings, thank you.
The BV 144 was built in France by Breguet because they had nothing to do and B&V had no capacity anywhere. It was OK to do this because it was a civilian project, expected to go into production once the war was over. The Breguet engineers went to Hamburg for a while to get the hang of the design before going back home to build it.
Two prototypes were built, but nobody seems to know whether both flew. There is even a story that de Gaulle used one as his personal runabout for a while.

 

[sienar]

The CIOS report the drawings are from provides a nice background;

The Bayonne factory had virtually all of its material seized by the Germans and either sent away for scrap or, in the case of instruments, stored or sent to other factories. For a time the factory made electric cars (?!? some British term I'm not getting?), gas generators and other such work until the SNCASO office sent an order for Fw-190 wing tips in April '41.

The order for 144 production was handed down in August of 1942 by the Paris office, with Blohm himself present during the contract negotiations. Blohm sent an engineer for residence at the factory along with three or four other employees for overseeing the work. Some jigs and tooling was supplied to the Bayonne factory by the Germans but many items needed to be produced by the firm itself. Lack of material delayed production of the 144 and in particular the French noted a major delay in material from Blohm after the bombing of Hamburg.

The firm at the factory entertained more than 50 special commisions sent by the Germans during the course of the occupation. They had the impression that B&V wanted to take over complete control of the plant. Junkers was also subcontracting work to this plant and was in constant argument with Blohm over capacity allocation.

On the 20th of August 1944 a French underground group made up mostly of the factories workers seized the plant to prevent the Germans from destroying two 144s. By the time the allied technical mission arrived the first prototype was crated and ready for transport to Toulouse for flight testing, the second was nearly complete. Neither had flown at that time and the French were skeptical of the variable incidence wing as trouble with the jacks seizing was expected (unclear if they just expected this or encountered this in testing)

Other neat details
The prototypes had variable incidence tails, this was not planned for production
Wing and tail use hot air for deicing, this was a feature of interest to the British investigating the aircraft
The tubular spar of the main wing is thicker at the top than the bottom, 8 vs 5mm and 6 vs 4mm.
This spar is also thickest at the wing root with it decreasing in diameter to the center-line - this is for headroom in the cabin
All fuel and oil was stored in the spar
The gap between the wing and fuselage uses a brush seal
"the control column is arranged to move in and out of the instrument board" - telescoping wheel?
Ailerons droop with the flaps
Electric motors could vary the throw of the elevator and rudder in flight

 

[Silencer1]

For a time the factory made electric cars (?!? some British term I'm not getting?),

Perhaps, factory produces small accumulator-powered carts for usage inside the factory?
Or, luggage carts for passenger rail terminals?

 

[sienar]

For a time the factory made electric cars (?!? some British term I'm not getting?),

Perhaps, factory produces small accumulator-powered carts for usage inside the factory?
Or, luggage carts for passenger rail terminals?

Yeah, that is along the lines of what I was thinking. Brits tended to say automobile instead of car so its probably not cars in an American sense.

 

[Foo Fighter]

Actually "We Brits" tend to say "Car" rather than "Automobile". That is an American term.

 

[cluttonfred]

Perhaps some sort of electric rail car or trolley?

 

[newsdeskdan]

Perhaps some sort of electric rail car or trolley?

I thought there were a few different sorts of electric cars/automobiles made by the French during the early 1940s. The Pierre Faure Type RFA, for example. Or the Peugeot VLV (although that was 1942, I think).

 

[steelpillow]

Is the CIOS report a paper copy or a softcopy? I would really like to see it!

 

[newsdeskdan]

Is the CIOS report a paper copy or a softcopy? I would really like to see it!

 

[sienar]

Is the CIOS report a paper copy or a softcopy? I would really like to see it!

https://mega.nz/#!TP5iDazC!Pc3zwTn1cE5sxS-9EyFasgijrmHRMcJfITI-fiOF-Pk

 

[steelpillow]

Thank you both!

 

[Zizi6785]

https://www.plane-encyclopedia.com/ww2/nazi-germany/blohm-voss-bv-144/

 

[steelpillow]

https://www.plane-encyclopedia.com/ww2/nazi-germany/blohm-voss-bv-144/

A website that does not clearly distinguish between real history and what-if - even down to citation of fake sources and images of fictitious documents - with old period images "colorized" with false colour. Small print usually identifies such license, but not always. In such circumstance, one cannot rule out more blatant photoshopping. The BV 144 article also mixes incorrect technical terms in among its bad grammar. Sadly, none of it can be taken at face value. It is fun,

 

[newsdeskdan]

Mock-up.

 

[OrangeTimeExpress]

Does anyone know what the fate of the aircraft was?

 

[PhR]

Early BV 144 concept

Source: Le Fana de L'Aviation 1996-09 (322), September 1996, page 22

this article was written by my friend Jean Lacroze. He also published it in "Le Trait d'Union" magazine Nr 157 in September-October 1994.
I attach the original project drawings, also with 2 different interiors planned: one for passengers (provisional) and one for cargo usage, with photos showing mock-up and actual interior.