Blohm and Voss Bv P.213 (Miniatur-Jager)

History

The Luftwaffe's Secret Weapon in WWII is a fascinating study of exotic aircraft designs. German engineers worked on various paper projects to create war victors, and while many of them were never seen before, some created several "firsts" in aviation.

Blohm & Voss was one of the German companies competing for various projects sponsored by the Air Ministry, and the P. 213 was just one of many that appeared later in the war - along with the "Emergency Fighter Program". Beginning with the Luftwaffe in mid-1944 , the service desperately needs a fighter/interceptor variety to turn the tide of air combat.

In November 1944, the Department of the Air Force issued new requirements related to the program for production-friendly, low-cost point defense interceptors that were jet-powered and required a crew. The aircraft will be a low-risk direct complement to the Heinkel He 162, which required more production time than expected.

Since the He 162 was called "Volksjager" ("People's Hunter"), the new aircraft would be a "miniature fighter" and be smaller in size.

To match the expected lightweight airframe, it was decided that power should come from a 610 lb thrust Argus As 014 pulse jet engine. The jet originated from the engines of the Fieseler Fi 103R "Reichenberg", a manned, expendable, suicide rocket plane version of the classic V-1 "Buzz Bomb/Doodlebug" (unlike the one-off Fi 103R, The new interceptor will be reusable). All non-mission critical equipment will be excluded from the design to control operational weight and focus the weapon on a simple unit consisting of a single MK 108 series 30mm automatic cannon.

The magazine will contain 135 projectiles.

The Ministry of the Air Force was looking for a very simple aircraft whose main constraints were construction materials and production time. Performance and equipment will be adjusted as needed, but the aim is to get the new aircraft into the air in large numbers as soon as possible.

Microfighters will be used heavily against incoming Allied bomber formations to ambush target areas and fire as many shots as possible to take down large targets. The engagement area will be close to the target and forward operating base.

Blohm & Voss and its competitors Heinkel and Junkers tried to meet the requirement and developed P. 213 against it. The result is a compact design with an overall length of 6.2 meters and a wingspan of 6 meters.

The crew sat hunched over in the deep fuselage, which had a truncated nose for inhaling the pulse jet engines. The engine is partially buried under the fuselage, with exposed jet tubes extending under the slender tailstock. The tailstock was fitted with a pair of downward-facing flats (inverted butterflies) for control, and the main wing planes themselves were mounted on the shoulders and fit snugly aft of the cockpit.

The main aircraft are characterized by a straight leading edge line and a swept trailing edge line. The canopy is three-piece and is believed to provide excellent visibility to the nose and sides of the aircraft. Three-wheeled landing gear (fully retractable, aerodynamic) is part of the design of this futuristic fighter. The MK 108 gun is buried in the nose near the pilot's feet - his position is protected by armor.

Total aircraft weight is estimated to be approximately 3,435 pounds (takeoff).

In order to counteract the potentially lethal flutter of the pulse jet engines in the fuselage (as experienced in the Messerschmitt Me 328 "Parasite Fighter" program), the engines consist of mounts that provide the necessary flexibility during high-speed flight fixed in place. A length of flexible hose will be used for the inlet section from the nose to the surface of the pulse jet.

The engine is expected to reach speeds of up to 435 mph and a range of 775 miles, but since the pulse jet needs help to reach its minimum operating speed, it is likely that rocket boosters will be added (and dropped) for the launch. after starting).

The P. 213 joined a number of other Luftwaffe-bound projects that were not selected for further development before the end of the war. In fact, the concept of the miniature fighter was all but abandoned by the end of 1944, and no manufacturer had ever completed a physical aircraft.

The next acquisition was the Bachem Ba 349 Viper, which first flew (and killed its test pilot) in March 1945, followed by 36 production quality units. The rather optimistic plan for the Viper was unsuccessful.

Specification

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Performance

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Changes