P 213 | |
---|---|
Role | "Miniature" Fighter |
Manufacturer | Blohm & Voss |
Primary user | Luftwaffe |
Number built | None completed |
The Blohm & Voss P 213 was a jet fighter design submitted by Blohm & Voss to the Miniaturjäger (Miniature Fighter) competition of the Luftwaffe Emergency Fighter Program towards the end of the Third Reich in the Second World War. The aircraft was to be powered by a pulse jet, the same engine used in the V-1 flying bomb.[1] The project did not proceed and the Miniaturjäger program was scrapped in December 1944.
History[]
This plane is one of the products of the latter part of 1944, when the High Command of the Luftwaffe saw that there was a dire need to put up a strong defense against the devastating allied bombing raids. Thus aircraft manufacturers Heinkel, Junkers and Blohm & Voss were asked by the Luftwaffe in November to come up with light fighter designs using a strict minimum of materials that would be fitted with one Argus As 014 pulse jet engine per unit.
The resulting planes were small, spartan creations, with no radio and almost no electrical equipment, but the aim was to produce them cheaply and in large numbers so as to overwhelm the Allied bomber formations that flew daily over Germany's skies. Heinkel would use a He 162 air frame powered by a pulse jet and Junkers would submit the Ju EF 126 project.[2]
The BV P 213 is one of the first aircraft having an inverted v-tail. Unmanned drones such as the Amber, GNAT and the MQ-1 Predator would later feature this type of tail.
Replica[]
One Replica is on display at the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach, Virginia.[3]
Specifications[]
General characteristics
- Crew: one
- Length: 6.2 m (20 ft 4 in)
- Wingspan: 6 m (19 ft 8 in)
- Height: 2.28 m (7 ft 6 in)
- Wing area: 5 m2 (54 sq ft)
- Powerplant: 1 × Argus As 014 Pulse jet, 2.7 kN (610 lbf) thrust
PerformanceArmament
- Guns: 1 X 30mm MK 108 cannon
See also[]
- Emergency Fighter Program
- List of German aircraft projects, 1939–45
- Junkers EF 126
- Messerschmitt Me 328
- Messerschmitt P.1079
- V-1 flying bomb
References[]
- ↑ Mr A I Bruce. "Blohm & Voss operated Hamburger Flugzeugbau aircraft company". Wehrmacht-history.com. http://www.wehrmacht-history.com/manufacturers/blohm-and-voss-aircraft-manufacturer.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-07.
- ↑ "Blohm & Voss BV P.213 Luft '46 entry". Luft46.com. http://www.luft46.com/bv/bvp213.html. Retrieved 2013-06-01.
- ↑ "The Fighter Factory" (in en). https://www.facebook.com/FighterFactory/photos/pcb.1472840632802182/1472840462802199/?type=3&theater.
The original article can be found at Blohm & Voss P 213 and the edit history here.