The Blohm & Voss BV 238 was a German

flying boat A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...

, built during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. 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 The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...

during World War II.

History

Development of the BV 238 giant

began in 1941, following the success of the smaller but still enormous

BV 222 The Blohm & Voss BV 222 ''Wiking'' (Pronounced "Veeking") 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. ...

''Wiking''. An approximately quarter-scale model of the BV 238 was commissioned to test the new, long and slim hull design. Built by the Czechoslovakian Flugtechnische Fertigungsgemeinschaft Prag (FGP), the FGP 227 arrived too late to contribute any data to the program. Although extensive defensive armament was planned the first prototype, the BV 238 V1, had none. Bearing the ''

Stammkennzeichen The German Air Ministry (''Reichsluftfahrtministerium''; RLM) had a system for aircraft designation which was an attempt by the aviation authorities of the Third Reich to standardize and produce an identifier for each aircraft design's airframe t ...

'' alphabetic radio code of RO + EZ, it began flight trials in April 1944. It was

strafed Strafing is the military practice of attacking ground targets from low-flying aircraft using aircraft-mounted automatic weapons. Less commonly, the term is used by extension to describe high-speed firing runs by any land or naval craft such ...

and partially sunk while moored on

Lake Schaal Schaalsee is a lake in Germany. It forms part of the border between Schleswig-Holstein (district Herzogtum Lauenburg) and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (districts Ludwigslust-Parchim and Nordwestmecklenburg). The town of Zarrentin is located on its south ...

, some miles to the east of Hamburg. One wing remained above water and it was salvaged, but by this time the war had ended and the Allies refused to let it be restored so it was taken out to deeper water and sunk.

Design

The BV 238 was an extremely large

of conventional aerodynamic design, but bearing the usual B&V structural hallmarks of all-metal construction with a tubular steel wing main spar which also acted as the armoured main fuel tank. Of the era, only the earlier

Tupolev ANT-20 The Tupolev ANT-20 ''Maxim Gorky'' (russian: Туполев АНТ-20 "Максим Горький", sometimes romanized as ''Maksim Gorki'') was a Soviet eight-engine aircraft, the largest in the world during the 1930s. Its wingspan was similar t ...

, the Martin XPB2M-1 and the later Hughes H-4 had a bigger wing span. However it would be the heaviest yet flown, at fully loaded. The hull had an unusually long and slim planing bottom, of essentially two-step design but with a row of smaller auxiliary steps behind the main one. A large nose door opened onto its cavernous interior, with the main crew cabin immediately above and behind it. The wing was of straight, constant-chord form with tapered outer sections. Auxiliary floats were integrated into underside panels of the outer sections and could be retracted to lie flush with the wing. A catwalk ran internally along the wing in front of the tubular steel main spar, providing access to the engines in flight.Green (1970) Power was provided by six 1,287 kW (1,750 hp)

Daimler-Benz DB 603 The Daimler-Benz DB 603 was a German aircraft engine used during World War II. It was a liquid-cooled 12-cylinder inverted V12 enlargement of the DB 601, which was in itself a development of the DB 600. Production of the DB 603 commenced in ...

liquid-cooled inverted

V12 V12 or V-12 may refer to: Aircraft * Mil V-12, a Soviet heavy lift helicopter * Pilatus OV-12, a planned American military utility aircraft * Rockwell XFV-12, an American experimental aircraft project * Škoda-Kauba V12, a Czechoslovak experim ...

piston engine A reciprocating engine, also often known as a piston engine, is typically a heat engine that uses one or more reciprocating pistons to convert high temperature and high pressure into a rotating motion. This article describes the common featu ...

s, arranged in

nacelle A nacelle ( ) is a "streamlined body, sized according to what it contains", such as an engine, fuel, or equipment on an aircraft. When attached by a pylon entirely outside the airframe, it is sometimes called a pod, in which case it is attached ...

s along the leading edge of the centre section.

BV 250

A landplane version, initially called the BV 238-Land, was proposed, capable of carrying out transport, long-range bombing and transatlantic reconnaissance duties. The lower hull was replaced by a plain fairing with retractable undercarriage comprising twelve main and two nose wheels. One bomb bay filled the space between the wheel bays, another lay behind the main undercarriage. The wing floats were similarly replaced with retractable outrigger stabilising wheels. The nose wheel could be folded up, making the aircraft "kneel" and allowing vehicles to drive directly on- and off-board via a loading ramp to the nose doorway. Alternatively, passenger seating could be fitted. A further, upper deck behind the crew cockpit accommodated further passengers, bringing the total capacity to 300 troops.Sharp, D.; ''Luftwaffe:Secret Bombers of the Third Reich, Mortons, 2016, pp.36-39. Renamed the BV 250 in 1942, three prototypes were ordered but none were finished by the end of the war.

Specifications (BV 238A-02 (V6))

Notes

Bibliography

* * Green, William (1970). ''Warplanes of the Third Reich''. London: Macdonald and Jane's Publishers Ltd., (4th impression 1979). . * . (Translation of the German original ''Luftgiganten über See: BV 222 Viking - BV 238''. Friedberg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas Verlag GmbH, 1980. .) *

External links

Blohm und Voss Bv 238 vintage film footage from 1944 (silent)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blohm and Voss BV 238 BV 238 1940s German military transport aircraft Flying boats Six-engined tractor aircraft High-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1944