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Blohm and Voss Bv P.170

1942 SECRET WEAPONS OF THE LUFTWAFFE WORLD WAR 2 X-PLANE

History of Blohm and Voss Bv p. 170

During World War II (1939-1945), the German shipyards Blohm and Voss ventured into many aircraft design studies, more of their attempts than ever in unorthodox directions. By the end of the war, the B&V would be remembered primarily for its large airships, and its contribution to German shipbuilding, while many of its aviation designs were forgotten.

One such example is the Bv P. 170 design project, which must have been an odd-looking three-engine bomber project that never left the drawing board.

Richard Vogt lent his design talents to many of B&V's wartime aircraft designs, and the P.170 is another of his products. The aircraft was designed for bombers, so altitude and range were paramount in terms of performance. Imagine a two-person crew with propulsion from three BMW 801D series piston engines.

These engines were housed in three separate nacelles, which immediately gave the P.170 its distinctive appearance, but distributed its propulsion to one aircraft for a balanced airframe. One engine is housed in the central nacelle, which also forms the tubular fuselage, while the remaining pair are housed in nacelles located at the wingtips of each main aircraft. The two crew members were seated at the rear of the fuselage, which also maintained a horizontal stabilizer. The vertical stabilizer was not installed in this section, but was found at the end of the outboard engine nacelle.

Due to its odd layout, a four-wheel landing gear system was required to prevent tipping while walking on the ground. The main legs are mounted under each engine unit, and the tail of the aircraft will be supported by a simple tail wheel.

The P. 170 is designed to be 14.3 meters long, with a wingspan of 16 meters and a height of 5.65 meters. Empty weight is estimated at 20,060 pounds, with a maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) of nearly 29,320 pounds.

Since the P. 170 was never built and flown, performance figures are only estimates and include a top speed of 510 mph, a range of up to 1,245 miles, and a service ceiling of 38,225 feet.

As a bomber, the P. 170 was designed to carry an offensive payload of conventionally dropped bombs totaling approximately 4,400 pounds. Interestingly, the plane was not intended to be equipped with defensive weapons - perhaps assuming the bomber could fly high and fast enough to avoid Allied interceptors.

Before the P. 170 product got any useful steam, the German management had turned to the development of turbojets and rocket engines, and the P. 170 was just a design study. The P. 170 was meant to be a limited offensive weapon, as the cockpit had a very limited field of view because the cockpit was so far away in the design.

The workhorse big-winged aircraft would certainly obstruct the pilot's and bombardier's line of sight, making it difficult to approach the target, not to mention unsafe to walk on the ground.