The Blohm & Voss BV 155 was a German high-altitude
interceptor that flew for the first time near the end of the Second World War. It was a highly
advanced machine with the potential to reach incredible heights and was one of the apogees
of propeller-driven military aircraft.
In early 1942, reports of the capabilities of
a new American bomber reached the Third Reich. The B-29 Superfortress could operate at an
altitude where no German fighter was effective. To solve this problem, a meeting between
officials of the German air ministry and the representatives of Messerschmitt and Focke
Wulf companies was scheduled for May 20, 1942.
During this meeting, two
requirements were presented, one for a special high-altitude fighter), and the
other for a special carrier single-seat fighter.
Focke Wulf showed interest in the high-altitude
fighter, and this would eventually lead to the creation of the Ta 152H, but this is the topic
for a different video. On the other hand, Messerschmitt showed more interest in the carrier
fighter since the company had been working in an unofficial capacity on an adaptation of
the famous Bf 109 G to the carrier deck. This new aircraft was initially named the
Bf 109 ST and later renamed the Me 155.
Now, Messerschmitt did try to meet both
requirements and planned three variants of the Me 155, named A to C, all with different engines.
The A variant was to have the DB 605 engine and fill the carrier fighter role, while the B was
to have the high-altitude DB 628 engine and be the high-altitude interceptor. The C was to be a
regular fighter powered by the Jumo 213 engine.
These were to be developed in Paris, by the
SNCAN), in order to relieve the overworked company, as Messerschmitt was developing
a large number of aircraft in parallel, like the Me 309, the Me 262, or the Me 163. But
progress was very slow, and a myriad of reasons conspired to delay it. One of those was that
the French, unsurprisingly, lacked motivation to help the Germans bring the new aircraft to life.
But by early 1943, the panorama had changed. The battles of Stalingrad and El Alamein had turned
the tide. Germany was now on the losing side, and work on the aircraft carrier Graf
Zeppelin was suspended. This was going to be Germany's first aircraft carrier, so
it's no surprise that when it was canceled, so was the Me 155A carrier-borne fighter.
During the first half of 1943, the high-altitude fighter project saw little
progress, but, eventually, a project divided into three stages and named P 1091 emerged.
This new design was presented to the German air ministry on June 26, 1943, and came with a request
for more manpower, as the Messerschmitt company was still incredibly overburdened. Help came
in the form of the Hamburg-based Blohm & Voss company, which was known for its flying boats,
like the BV 138 or the BV 222, but had no experience in designing fighter aircraft. Despite
that, on August 28, the German Air Ministry transferred the P 1091’s stage three design
work to Blohm & Voss and renamed it Me 155B.
The two companies started working together,
but almost immediately friction erupted, in part because the leadership at Blohm &
Voss felt that Messerschmitt was holding back information, when in fact the design project was
in a much earlier stage than one would assume. We won't go into too much detail about their feud,
but suffice it to say that it culminated in a very unpleasant event in November, when a team from
Blohm & Voss traveled across the country to meet with Messerschmitt and discuss the fighter, only
to discover that the meeting had been rescheduled. This prompted Blohm & Voss' chief designer,
Richard Vogt, to file a complaint with the Air Ministry, requesting intervention, which
naturally strained their relationship further. Nonetheless, enough work was done during
this period to rename the project Me 155B-1. But it was still a long way from flying.
As Messerschmitt became less and less involved, in around February 1944 the
project was renamed BV 155A, finally acquiring its final designation. Now fully
in charge, Dr. Richard Vogt came to the conclusion that it would be cheaper to create the B variant
with a very large series of modifications.
The design’s main features became set in April and
things moved towards creating the first prototype. A period of doubt regarding the relevance of
this project followed, but work carried on, and in August 1944 the BV 155 received its
official code name: Karawanken, after a mountain range on the Austria-Slovenia border. But being on
the losing side of the war meant that innumerable delays came up, and the first prototype, the
V1, was only completed on December 22, 1944. Further work was necessary and the BV 155 flew for
the first time on February 8, 1945, but, due to problems with the right radiator, the first flight
was cut short. The second flight, two days later, met more success, but still several issues were
found. It flew for a third time on February 28.
But Germany was out of time, and the ambitious
plans to make the BV 155 fly at unbelievable altitudes of up to 16 kilometers (52,493 ft)
during March seemingly never materialized. The V1 prototype flew one final time on April
23 and crashed five minutes after departure.
On May 3, the British Second Army took
Hamburg and with it the Blohm & Voss facilities, finding the BV 155’s second
prototype, which was half-way finished.
This prototype was shipped to Great Britain, where
it was shown at the German Aircraft Exhibition at Farnborough. Later, it was sent to the US,
where it languished for several years in crates. Finally, it was moved to the National Air and
Space Museum Paul E. Garber Restoration Facility, where I believe it is still.
But addressing the elephant in the room, those wing-mounted radiators, the BV 155 had
a planned C variant that got rid of them and condensed everything under the nose, with a
chin air-intake resembling that of the P-40’s later models and making the Karawanken look
fearsome. Although only the B variant flew, the C was to be the production version, with 27
C-0 pre-production aircraft planned when the war in Europe came to an end.
But how advanced was it?
The BV 155 B-1 proved to be a highly advanced
machine, with features like an ejection seat, an armored pressurized cabin, wing fire
extinguishers, servo-operated ailerons, or a highly complex powerplant combining the DB
603U engine with the TKL 15 turbosupercharger. The U variant of the DB 603 was tailored
for high-altitude, and could produce 1,810 hp (1,350 kW) at sea level or, incredibly, 1,600
(1,193 kW) at 13 km (42,651 ft) of altitude. It drove a four-bladed VDM 9 propeller.
Its wings were of the laminar airflow type, like the ones on the P-51 Mustang. Dr. Vogt said
after the war that he thought this might have been the first German plane with this feature.
Its armament was made up of one 30 mm (1.18 in) MK 108 cannon firing through the engine and two
wing-mounted 20 mm (0.787 in) MG 151/20 cannons. There were also plans to replace
the MK 108 cannon with the larger and longer Mk 103 of the same caliber.
Now, the following are the parameters the BV 155 was expected to reach and are based on the
statistics recorded in the Blohm & Voss documents. Since the BV 155 never went
beyond the prototype, these values should be taken with a grain of salt.
The BV 155 was on the heavy side, weighing almost 5,200 kilograms empty and 5,400 equipped. It had a
maximum take-off weight of 6,037 kg (13,309 lb).
It could reach a maximum speed of 430 km/h (267
mph) at sea level and 690 km/h (429 mph) at the astonishing altitude of 16 km (52,493 ft)
that it took 29 minutes to reach. It had an amazing service ceiling of 16.95 km (55,610
ft). This incredible altitude would put the BV 155 among the highest-flying aircraft of
the Second World War. This is especially impressive if we remember that this was a
single-engine, piston-powered aircraft.
Looking at the BV 155’s overall shape, we
can quickly see that the Germans were on the right track. It had elongated wings, with
a span of 20.33 meters (66.7 ft) and a wing area of 38.5 m2 (414.41 sq ft). As a term of
comparison, the American F6F Hellcat, known for its exceptionally large wings, had a wing area of
31.0 m2 (333.68 sq ft), 7.5 m2 (80.73 sq ft) less than the BV 155. This is how large these
wings were, and they probably needed to be, since wing area is important for high-altitude
flying, where air density is considerably lower.
In addition, these wings had a very high aspect
ratio. If we divide the square of its wingspan by its wing area, we get a ratio of 10.74, a
very high number, especially for a fighter. The American U-2 spy plane would be another good
example of a very high-reaching aircraft with very high aspect ratio wings. It had a ratio
of 10.3, very similar to that of the BV 155. Wings with this planform have good lift-to-drag
ratios, but they also have several drawbacks, such as a low roll rate, and fighter aircraft
typically have wings with low ratios.
Blohm und Voss, now with
the correct pronunciation, made some of the most spectacular
projects in the Second World War, like the asymmetric BV 141 or the huge BV 222,
just to name a few. Toward the end of the war, there were also some unique looking
jet-powered projects, such as the P 212.
It seems that Dr. Richard Vogt was very talented.
But you don’t have to take my word for it, as he was one of those scientists that was sent
to the United States under operation Paperclip. He worked for institutions like the
US Air Force or companies like Boeing, until he retired in 1966. He passed away in
Santa Barbara, California, in 1979, aged 84.
Overall, the story of the BV 155 is a typical
one of the last days of Nazi Germany, with some very exotic weapons being pushed through.
But the BV 155 was hardly the most outlandish, and, in that sense, it is quite amazing that
it was developed until so late in the war. In 1945, the need for a high-altitude interceptor
tailored for altitudes above 12 kilometers was highly questionable, seeing that, as it turned
out, there was no extreme high-altitude bombing and the B-29 was never used in Europe. There
were some allied reconnaissance planes that were able to fly at those altitudes, but I would say
those weren’t a priority target in that desperate situation. But it’s always easy to criticize
something while sitting comfortably on a chair. And, regardless of its usefulness, one can
always admire the determination necessary to fulfill this project in the direst of conditions.
On a different note, as you may have realized, the BV 155 is now available in War
Thunder, and it’s pretty cool if you’re into less conventional aircraft.
Thank you very much for watching. Remember to like and subscribe if you enjoy this
content. I will see you again soon.
