Blohm and Voss Bv P.188

History of Blohm and Voss Bv p. 188

Blohm & Voss provided many futuristic aircraft for consideration by the Luftwaffe during World War II - but few of these designs became useful war products. Such was the case with Bv P. 188, a jet bomber project designed to succeed the German propeller bombers of the time.

The German bomber force lacked true heavyweight bombers like the British Lancasters and the American Flying Fortresses and Liberators, as the Fokker-Wolf Fw 200 Condor became the only viable four-engine model for the Luftwaffe.

The P.188 was developed due to a growing lack of confidence in the design of the Heinkel He 177 heavy bomber. The project suffered due to its unique interconnected engine arrangement, which destined it to have only 1,169 production prototypes during the war, and the bombers never made an impression of promise during the war.

In June 1943, the Arado Ar 234 "Blitzkrieg" jet bomber had begun flying and was known for being a very fast bombing platform, the Luftwaffe was beginning to face a future where all their bombers would be powered by turbojet technology.

With this in mind, the Air Department drafted a new specification for a heavy bomber powered solely by jet technology. The turbojets would provide the necessary speed to protect the aircraft from ground fire and airborne interceptors, and would have enough power to carry a substantial combat payload over long distances.

Blohm & Voss came back with their P. 188 development, while rival firm Junkers went ahead with their forward-swept wing Ju 287 design (detailed elsewhere on this site).

P. 188 is unique in itself - definitely in line with other Blohm & Voss entries in the war. The design of the main wing aircraft is distinctive - internal and external sections are used, the inner span is swept aft and the outer span is swept forward.

The idea is to combine the advantages of swept-back and forward-swept wings in a single main plane - this is based on research and data collected by Blohm & Voss engineers. The inner span maintains a 20 degree sweep back.

In addition to this more futuristic quality, the P.188 has a more traditional streamlined fuselage with a glazed nose and a tapering stern. The fin uses a single vertical fin and a low-set horizontal plane. The two-seat cockpit is mounted on the nose and provides an unobstructed view of what's ahead. The landing gear will be a bicycle setup with two-wheeled main legs, one in front of the central bomb bay and the other in the rear, retracting directly into the fuselage.

During ground operation, the outriggers will support the aircraft at the wing and retract the forward swept wing portion. Engine nacelles should be installed under each wing.

Internally, the aircraft will be certified for bomb loads of up to 4,400 lbs. There are also plans to entrain 2 Fritz X guided bombs. By comparison, the famous B-17 can carry 4,500 pounds of bombs for long-range missions. The B-24 performs better at 5,000 pounds in the same range.

The original P. 188.01 form was intended to be completely unarmed to keep the overall weight of the aircraft down. Its purpose is to make it easy for the aircraft to escape any danger that arises. Power will come from 4 x Junkers Jumo 004C turbojets housed in separate underwing nacelles.

P. 188.02 was intended to be a smaller version of the 01, replacing the single rudder design with a twin rudder stern layout. Additionally, the cockpit will be raised for better viewing of the aircraft and will not carry any defensive weapons to save weight.

The P. 188.04 is a long-range model of similar design, but with a thinner body. Its wings will also carry fuel tanks for increased combat range. Other structural changes include the 02's twin-tail fins and paired motors in a single nacelle for better streamlined shape, one nacelle per wing element.

In terms of defense, the Type 04 carries a pair of remote-controlled twin-gun (30mm MG131) turrets in a prone position on its back. In addition to this, a pair of 30mm MG151 automatic cannons are mounted on fixed rear firing brackets on the rear side of the hull.

Another pair of MG151 cannons will be mounted on the redesigned nose section (some sources give the overall aircraft armament scheme for P. 188.04's simplified 4 x 13mm heavy machine guns).

The Junkers engine was rated up to 2,690 pounds of thrust, and the P. 188 was estimated to have a top speed of 542 mph. The rate of climb reached 2,245 feet per minute, and a service ceiling of 42,655 feet was considered achievable.

The plane has a range of 1,420 miles, or about six hours of flight time, which is probably a very optimistic estimate.

The P. 188 was designed with a wingspan of 88.5 feet and an overall length of 57 feet.

The design of the Blohm & Voss heavy jet bomber was not selected by the Luftwaffe for further development, eventually becoming the "paper plane" on the company's drawing boards. The Junkers Ju 287 made an even greater impression in the postwar period, when it was extensively collected and studied by the conquering Soviets. It influenced the design of several post-war Soviet jets.

Only two were built by the Germans before the war ended, although the first flight was in August 1944.

Specification of Blohm and Voss Bv p. 188

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