The famous German shipbuilders Blohm and Voss during World War II were also responsible for the manufacture of several of the German Navy's famous and easily recognizable airships. Beyond that, there are hundreds of "paper" aircraft designs, of which only a few have been officially adopted. The others are very unorthodox designs that, if flown, would revolutionize aeronautical design.
One such design became the P.208, a single-seat, single-engine fighter concept with a tailless design, tricycle landing gear and swept wing assemblies.
Entering 1944, Germany lost the initiative (and territory) on all fronts. This led to the development of new fighter jet concepts, and therefore turbojets and rocket-powered interceptors. The biggest new threat to the German war machine was the Allied bombing campaign aimed at destroying all the war capabilities of Hitler's Nazi kingdom. However, early turbojets proved moody, sometimes dangerous, and produced disappointing results in some respects.
Blohm and Voss set out to develop an entirely new type of fighter, initially using a conventional piston engine, with the hope that the airframe could later be modified to accommodate a turbojet. This is how the P. 208 project came about, which never moved beyond the paper stage.
Its design reappeared in the refined P. 212 project detailed elsewhere on this site - albeit with a turbojet setup from the start.
By design, the P. 208 features a compact tubular fuselage with tapered ends for improved aerodynamic efficiency. All fuel, avionics and weapons are contained in this centralized nacelle, with the cockpit mounted directly forward amidships.
The weapon is in the nose, the engine is in the rear compartment. This forces the three-bladed propeller to push the air in a "propeller" configuration. The wings are low-mounted components with a pronounced 30-degree sweep.
The tip features an up and down crank, but lacks the vertical surfaces that provide the necessary rudder/elevator control. The landing gear consisted of a tricycle setup with a single-wheeled main leg (wings retracted) and a single-wheeled front strut.
The P.208's lack of vertical surfaces, formal tail, swept wings and propulsion propeller arrangements proved to be one of the most unique aircraft products of the war. The proposed weapon is 3 x 30mm MK 108 guns, all contained in the nose.
Dimensions include a 40-foot wingspan and 30-foot barrel length.
Power shall be provided by a Daimler-Benz 12-cylinder in-line piston engine DB 603L with a two-stage supercharger and 2,100 hp. MW50 methanol-water injection will provide additional boost at high altitudes. Blohm and Voss engineers estimated the P. 208 was designed to have a top speed of 490 mph.
The P. 208 was originally derived from the P. 208. 01 program, which would feature the disruptive Junkers Jumo 222 inline piston engine for the Ju 288 and Fw 191 series - powering the Ju 288 and Fw 191 series Fw 191 ( Only 289 Jumo 222 engines were built).
2 x Junkers Jumop 213 engines (forming the Argus As 413) will power the successor P.208.02. P.208.03 exists in three proposed sub-variants of P.208.03.01, P.208.03.02, and P.208.03.03.
The main difference between the types is that the Diamler-Benz DB 603L was chosen for the 01 and 02 marks, while the 603N engine will be used for the 03 mark.
The P. 208 never became a satisfactory fighter concept as no prototypes were built until the end of the war in May 1945. The Skoda-Kauba V-6 was modified to the SL-6 to check most of the p208 design.
- Fighter
- Intercept
- X-Plane / Developmental
30. 18 ft (9. 2 m)
39. 63 ft (12. 08 m)
491 mph (790 kph; 427 kts)
PROPOSED:
3 x 30mm MK 108 Automatic cannons in nose.
P. 208 - Base Series Designation