Blohm & Voss BV 222
| Blohm & Voss BV 222 | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Type: | Flying boat |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: | |
| First flight: |
September 7, 1940 |
| Number of pieces: |
13 |
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The Blohm & Voss BV 222 Wiking was a large German flying boat from the Second World War . Three of these six-engine aircraft designed on behalf of Lufthansa were ordered by Lufthansa on September 19, 1937 for long-haul service. Because of the Second World War, which began in September 1939, these machines were converted into military transport and reconnaissance aircraft and other machines were immediately manufactured for the Air Force .
The first flight took place on September 7, 1940. Thirteen aircraft were likely built, including the V1 to V8 prototypes. The series variants were named C-09 to C-13, the latter of which was not yet completed at the end of the war.
construction
The construction was largely carried out by the then chief designer Dr. Ing. Richard Vogt and included numerous technical innovations. The flying boat had a long, flat floor in the cabin and a large rectangular cargo door on the right side of the fuselage behind the wing.
Originally the BV 222 was powered by Bramo 323 "Fafnir" radial engines. Later, six Jumo 207 C opposed piston engines were used instead . The use of diesel fuel made refueling from submarines possible. Only one copy of the BV 222 C-13 was built with the Jumo 205 C, and later the Jumo 205 D.
For military use, an HD 151 turret was added on the back of the fuselage behind the cockpit . Two more turrets were on the wings. Access was through a tubular wing spar one meter in diameter. Mechanics could get to the diesel engines in the same way during the flight.
commitment
Various uses
From 1941 BV 222 flew as part of the air transport squadron 222 to Northern Norway and to supply the troops in North Africa , especially to Tripoli . Other aircraft of the 1st (Fern / Sea) Reconnaissance Group 129 flew their missions from a French flying boat base taken over at Biscarrosse , near the Bay of Biscay . There V3 and V5 were destroyed in June 1943 at their pier by De Havilland DH.98 Mosquitos of the RAF .
V6 and V8 were shot down independently over the Mediterranean . The V1 was destroyed in a landing accident near the port of Piraeus , the C-10 by RAF night fighters towards the end of 1943.
After the invasion of Normandy , the remaining BV 222 formed a unit within the top secret Kampfgeschwader 200 . One of them, the C-09, was destroyed by P-51 Mustangs at its pier at the Baltic Sea port of Travemünde . In the later course of the war, V7 and V4 were sunk near Travemünde and Kiel-Holtenau .
V2 and C-12 were captured after the war near Sørreisa in Norway and flown to Trondheim . These two planes were prepared on the orders of Hitler's pilot Hans Baur in 1945 to fly Hitler out to Japan via Greenland . Interestingly, this operation was continued after Hitler's death, as corresponding orders from May 1, 1945 show. The copy of an order to Lieutenant Colonel Lenschow, Kdr. K -stelle , Travemünde Air Base still exists today in archived form. The navigator of one of these aircraft, Captain Ernst König, confirmed this at the age of 93. Two other aircraft destined for this mission were destroyed at their landing in Germany (one of which could have been the C-09).
A report appeared in a German newspaper according to which at least one BV 222, labeled as a Lufthansa machine, had flown over the North Pole to Sakhalin , at that time still part of the Japanese Empire, before April 1944 .
At least one BV 222 reportedly succeeded in shooting down a PB4Y Liberator of the VB-105 ( BuNo 63917). This aerial combat occurred on October 22, 1943. Since then, this event has often been described as the downing of an Avro Lancaster .
Pick-up of the weather party "treasure hunter"
During the Second World War, from August 1943 to July 1944, Germany maintained a secret weather station with the code name "Treasure Graves" on Alexandraland in the Franz-Joseph-Land archipelago . In early July 1944, a Fw 200 landed there to drop off a doctor. According to the order, the doctor should be dropped off by parachute, but it was decided to land on the uneven terrain, which damaged the landing gear. As a result, a BV 222, the V2, was loaded with spare parts that it dropped over Alexandraland. The repair of the Fw 200 was successful and she was able to fly back to Norway on July 11 with the entire crew of the weather station.
Supply of troops in North Africa in December 1942
In order to improve the ever more urgent supply of supplies and especially fuel for the troops in the North African campaign , the small and slow Ju 52 transporters were supported by three of these huge BV 222 flying boats from southern Italy. On December 10, 1942, the Beaufighters of the 227 RAF Squadron stationed in Malta succeeded in attacking the group of three BV machines (V1, V4 and V8), which was not adequately protected by hunters. The machines were on their way from Taranto in Italy to Tripoli in Libya . A BV 222, the “X7 + HH” (WNr. 310008, V8) was shot down south of Malta at 7:35 in the morning. For the single-engine Bf 109 , the long stretch over the open sea was not feasible as an escort fighter. The twin-engine Bf 110 could have taken over the protection, but at this point the ZG 26 was already too weak. Among the passengers was Captain Wolf-Dietrich Peitsmeyer, who was on his way to Africa to take command of I./SG2. The knight's cross holder has been missing since then. The nine-man crew from Obltn. Heinz did not survive being shot down.
Whereabouts
The C-12 was flown to Calshot by RAF test pilot Eric Brown in 1946 with the British registration VP501 and scrapped in 1947. The V2 briefly carried US national emblems in 1946. It was later loaded as ballast with BV-222 spare parts from the base near Ilsvika and sunk. For this purpose, it was towed to a position between Fagervika and the monk's island, where it could possibly still be in a good state of preservation today. There are plans for a rescue.
Technical specifications
| Parameter | Data |
|---|---|
| crew | 16 |
| Transport capacity | 92 soldiers |
| length | 37 m |
| span | 46 m |
| height | 10.90 m |
| Wing area | 255 m² |
| Empty weight | 30,650 kg |
| Takeoff weight | 49,000 kg |
| Cruising speed | 257 km / h |
| Top speed | 390 km / h |
| Service ceiling | 7,300 m |
| Range | 6,095 km |
| Max. Flight duration | 28 hours |
| Rate of climb | 2.50 m / s |
| Fuel capacity | 18,333 kg |
| Engines | 6 × Jumo 207 C diesel opposed piston engines |
| Armament | 3 × 20 mm MG 151/20 and 4 × 13 mm MG 131 |
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Richard Vogt : Großflugboot Blohm & Voss BV 222 Wiking , development history 1944. Retrieved on February 12, 2018.
- ↑ “Wiking” with “Fafnir” engines. In: BMW factory magazine, issue 4/6. BMW Flugmotorenbau Gesellschaft mbH, June 1944, p. 9 , accessed on November 10, 2017 (document in the BMW Group Archive).
- ^ Archive link ( Memento from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Official website of the RAF
- ↑ CGJefford: RAF Squadrons . UK Airlife Publishing, 1988, ISBN 1-85310-053-6 .
- ↑ Hans Ring and Christopher Shores "Luftkampf between sand and sun", Motorbuchverlag, 1969, (English original "Fighters over the desert", p. 397ff)
- ↑ Shores / Ring: "Fighters Over Tunisia", ISBN 978-0-85435-210-4 , TBS Verlag, 1975 (English)