Blohm and Voss Bv P.111

History

Blohm & Voss in Germany produced several famous seaplanes and airships before World War II (1939-1945), one of which was the Bv 138 "Sea Dragon". Before the aircraft was officially adopted, however, the company's engineers came up with alternate designs in the P. 111 project.

This product is one of Dr. Richard Vogt created many wartime designs for Blohm & Voss and continued his fascination with asymmetrical arrangements. P. 111 was neither adopted nor further developed beyond paper drawings.

In P. 111, the main wing aircraft will be in focus, as all three engines will be attached to its leading edge. Likewise, the fuselage nacelles are mounted below the wingspan near the centerline, and a single tail boom is located on the port side, extending from the leading edge to the trailing edge (the tail boom has a traditional horizontal plane and a single rudder fin). As a result, the fuselage nacelles had to be moved slightly to starboard, and one of the three engine units would be placed between the boom and the fuselage. The second engine will turn the boom assembly to port, and the third engine will be located on the starboard side away from the fuselage nacelle. A pontoon will be placed outboard of the outrigger assembly under the main left-wing aircraft to stabilize the water surface.

The nacelles, built with a boat-like fuselage for water landing and take-off, will contain all the critical components of the aircraft - the crew compartment, avionics, cockpit, defensive weapons, etc.

Power comes from and arrangement of 3 x Junkers Jumo 208 piston engines driving three bladed power units in a puller configuration. Each engine will put out 1,500 horsepower.

Defense-oriented armament consists of a gun bay located in the nose (forward of the flight deck), a gun bay at the rear end of the fuselage section (relatively unobstructed view due to the offset tail boom) and a back mount sitting close to the The tail of the aft turret of the centroid. Based on the armament of the Bv 238, it was assumed that the P.111 would carry a 20mm gun in the nose and a gun in the stern. A heavy 13mm machine gun will be deployed in the rear position.

The underwing hardpoints can carry mines, torpedoes and conventionally dropped bombs for maritime missions.

The P. 111 was abandoned because the Luftwaffe wanted to switch to the Bv 138 product. 297 Bv 138s were produced from 1938 to 1943 and entered service in October 1940. It serves maritime patrol and long-range reconnaissance missions.

Statements on this page regarding the functionality of P. 111 are estimates by the authors.

Specification

Basic

Production

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Performance

Performance

Armor

Changes