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The Blohm & Voss BV 246 ''Hagelkorn'' (German language: "
This glider was designed by Richard Vogt, at first under the designation of BV 226, which was later changed to its definitive designation BV 246 on December 12, 1943.
It was intended to be dropped from a 
The construction of the BV 246 avoided the usual aircraft techniques and
Remote Piloted Aerial Vehicles
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blohm and Voss BV 246 BV 246 Guided bombs Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1945 Twin-tail aircraft
Hailstone
Hail is a form of solid precipitation. It is distinct from ice pellets (American English "sleet"), though the two are often confused. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is called a hailstone. Ice pellets generally fal ...
") was a guided glide bomb
A glide bomb or stand-off bomb is a standoff weapon with flight control surfaces to give it a flatter, gliding flight path than that of a conventional bomb without such surfaces. This allows it to be released at a distance from the target rat ...
developed to bomb specific targets (bridges, ships, etc.) once it was released.
History
This glider was designed by Richard Vogt, at first under the designation of BV 226, which was later changed to its definitive designation BV 246 on December 12, 1943.
It was intended to be dropped from a Ju 88
The Junkers Ju 88 is a German World War II ''Luftwaffe'' twin-engined multirole combat aircraft. Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works (JFM) designed the plane in the mid-1930s as a so-called ''Schnellbomber'' ("fast bomber") that would be too fast f ...
or a Heinkel He 111
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 th ...
bomber, either of which could carry three of the weapons, and was to be dropped from a height of at a speed of , giving it a range of up to . In a slight dive the Bv 226 could reach a speed of .
The construction of the BV 246 avoided the usual aircraft techniques and strategic material
Strategic material is any sort of raw material that is important to an individual's or organization's strategic plan and supply chain management. Lack of supply of strategic materials may leave an organization or government vulnerable to disru ...
s, so it could be mass-produced. It had clean aerodynamics, with high aspect ratio wings that made possible a glide ratio
In aerodynamics, the lift-to-drag ratio (or L/D ratio) is the lift generated by an aerodynamic body such as an aerofoil or aircraft, divided by the aerodynamic drag caused by moving through air. It describes the aerodynamic efficiency under give ...
of 25:1. The wings were made of magnesite cement, formed around a steel spar.Pohlmann, Hermann; ''Chronik Eines Flugzeugwerkes 1932-1945'', Motorbuch, 1979, pp.199-201. (in German) It had a cruciform
Cruciform is a term for physical manifestations resembling a common cross or Christian cross. The label can be extended to architectural shapes, biology, art, and design.
Cruciform architectural plan
Christian churches are commonly described ...
tail in an early version and a double vertical tail mounted on the sides of a wide horizontal stabilizer in a later version. It had a length of and a wingspan of . Its total weight was , of which was the explosive warhead.
Initial tests revealed that the basic design was workable, but that the weapon was very inaccurate and because of this it was rejected. However, work was restarted in 1943, with 11 different versions being planned, due to its simple and inexpensive construction, and the new development contract was awarded to the Karlshagen test centre. A series of tests was begun to improve the weapon's accuracy, with air drops performed by KG 101. Despite unpromising results, the Ministry of Aviation
The Ministry of Aviation was a department of the United Kingdom government established in 1959. Its responsibilities included the regulation of civil aviation and the supply of military aircraft, which it took on from the Ministry of Supply.
...
nevertheless issued the order to commence mass production on 12 December 1943. In February 1944 the contract was cancelled due to the success of the V-1 flying bomb
The V-1 flying bomb (german: Vergeltungswaffe 1 "Vengeance Weapon 1") was an early cruise missile. Its official Ministry of Aviation (Nazi Germany), Reich Aviation Ministry () designation was Fi 103. It was also known to the Allies as the buz ...
.
The weapon was revived a further time, in early 1945, as an early form of anti-radiation weapon, using the ''Radieschen'' passive seeker which was designed to home in on Allied radar transmitters; around 1,000 units were produced but never used operationally.
See also
*Azon
AZON (or Azon), from "azimuth only", was one of the world's first guided weapons, deployed by the Allies and contemporary with the German Fritz X.
Officially designated VB-1 ("Vertical Bomb 1"), it was invented by Major Henry J. Rand and Thoma ...
* ASM-N-2 Bat
The ASM-N-2 Bat was a United States Navy World War II radar-guided glide bomb which was used in combat beginning in April 1944. It was developed and overseen by a unit within the National Bureau of Standards (which unit later became a part of ...
WW II autonomous radar-guidance glide bomb (U.S. Navy)
* Blohm & Voss BV 143
The Blohm & Voss BV 143 was an early prototype rocket-assisted glide bomb developed by the German Luftwaffe during World War II.
Design
Blohm & Voss designers began to consider airborne missiles late in 1938, even before the outbreak of war. Fi ...
* Blohm & Voss BV 950
The Blohm & Voss BV 950 was an anti-shipping air-launched glide torpedo developed in two variants, the L10 ''Friedensengel'' and L11 ''Schneewittchen''.
Although several hundreds were manufactured during development and trials conducted, neither t ...
* GB-4
GB-4 (Glide Bomb No.4) was a precision guided munition developed by the United States during World War II. GB-4s used a television guidance system with the weapon being steered by a TV bombardier operating a joystick in the launch aircraft.
The ...
* GB-8
}
The GB-1, also known as the "Grapefruit bomb" and as XM-108,379th 2000 p.39. was a glide bomb produced by Aeronca Aircraft for the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. Intended to allow bombers to release bombs from outside the rang ...
* Fritz X
Fritz X was the most common name for a German guided anti-ship glide bomb used during World War II. ''Fritz X'' was the world's first precision guided weapon deployed in combat and the first to sink a ship in combat. ''Fritz X'' was a nickname us ...
* Felix
Felix may refer to:
* Felix (name), people and fictional characters with the name
Places
* Arabia Felix is the ancient Latin name of Yemen
* Felix, Spain, a municipality of the province Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, ...
* Blohm & Voss BV 40
The Blohm & Voss BV 40 was a German glider fighter designed to attack Allied bomber formations during the time of the bombing raids over Nazi Germany.
Design
The BV 40 was the smallest glider that could accommodate an armoured cockpit and two ...
glider interceptor
References
Notes
Bibliography
* Smith, J. Richard and Kay, Anthony. ''German Aircraft of the Second World War''. London: Putnam & Company Ltd., 3rd impression 1978, p. 664-666. .External links
Remote Piloted Aerial Vehicles
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blohm and Voss BV 246 BV 246 Guided bombs Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1945 Twin-tail aircraft