In most people's impressions, modern fighters are generally symmetrical fighters. Because of the symmetrical design, the fighters can have good balance performance during flight. However, in the history of the development of human military fighters, there are always one or two fighters that follow a peculiar design route. During the Second World War, the BV-141 reconnaissance aircraft of German Blom & Fuchs was a typical asymmetrical design fighter.
BV-141 reconnaissance aircraft
In 1937, the German Aviation Department issued a tender to the aviation community to develop a single-engine three-seat tactical reconnaissance aircraft to replace the Hs126 reconnaissance aircraft that could not meet the needs of the Luftwaffe. In the bidding document of the Luftwaffe at that time, it was required that the new reconnaissance aircraft should not only have good defensive capabilities, but also have a good field of vision.
Vogt, the chief aviation designer of Blom & Fuchs at the time, was an aerospace designer with rich imagination. Prior to this, Vogt designer had designed a number of warplanes with peculiar layouts. At this time Vogt believes that if the traditional layout is used to design a new reconnaissance aircraft, it will be difficult for the new reconnaissance aircraft to obtain a good field of view if it is blocked by the fuselage and wings. This design layout of
was indeed unconventional at the time.
Therefore, Vogt designers adopted a relatively rare asymmetric layout design at the time, and designed an aviation nacelle for pilots, observers and self-defense machine gun shooters, and the engine nacelle layout On the right side of the fuselage, it is connected to the main body through a huge trapezoidal wing. The main body does not have any personnel accommodation, only a slim body and engine. Because of the asymmetrical layout of
, Vogt designers carefully trimmed the left and right fuselages during the manufacture of the prototype to avoid unstable flight conditions. At the same time, in order to strengthen the control of the aircraft, the vertical tail of the early prototype of the BV-141 is also relatively large, and the horizontal tail also uses an asymmetric design to balance the torque.
Its horizontal tail was also asymmetrical at that time. Once the design proposal of
BV-141 was submitted to the German Ministry of Aviation at the time, it was immediately opposed by the Luftwaffe at that time. Many people suspected that the asymmetrical layout of the aircraft flew together. It would crash due to instability in flight and refused to allocate funds to build prototypes for it.
However, General Ernst Udet, who was in charge of the technical affairs of the Luftwaffe at the time, was very interested in the design of the BV-141 reconnaissance aircraft. With his support, Blom & Foss paid for the manufacturing cost of the prototype. The prototype was manufactured at the beginning of 1938. Although the test pilots refused to fly the aircraft for a while, they were persuaded to fly the aircraft. The test results showed that the BV-141 prototype had very good flight performance.
BV-141 The independent nacelle of the reconnaissance aircraft
At this time, the German Ministry of Aviation finally began to show considerable interest in the BV-141 prototype, and allocated funds to Blom & Fuchs to build two more prototypes. More related tests. The subsequent prototypes of
made minor changes to the main body. In addition to restoring the horizontal tail to a symmetrical design, Vogt designers mainly adjusted the design of the independent nacelle, using a full-glass windshield with a better field of view. The independent nacelle is equipped with corresponding self-defense machine guns and aerial surveillance equipment. The horizontal tailplane of
was also changed to a conventional layout at this time.
Although the BV-141 prototype had several test flight accidents during the subsequent test flights, the German officials involved in the test were still very satisfied with its performance. However, out of considerations of security, the Luftwaffe at the time ultimately refused to use the BV-141 as its new generation reconnaissance aircraft. At this time, the BV-141 prototype of
was in a very embarrassing situation. Although its observation field was good and its maneuverability also met the requirements of the Luftwaffe, the Luftwaffe itself had no plans to equip the aircraft on a large scale. The necessary funds from Lom & Flowserve are used for the continued flight test and improvement of the BV-141 prototype.
The BV-141 reconnaissance aircraft
in the Luftwaffe's paint is at the endIn his flying career, although the BV-141 prototype has a stronger flight performance by replacing it with a more powerful engine, it is either only able to perform training tasks for new pilots in the rear, or occasionally emergency in front-line situations. Came on a reconnaissance plane. The biggest regret when
failed to mass-produce BV-141
Finally, the BV-141 reconnaissance aircraft project was officially ordered to stop in 1943. At this time, including the first prototype built by Blom & Fuchs, a total of 28 BV-141 reconnaissance aircraft were built. These 28 BV-141s were either damaged in various flight accidents, or they could only be parked in the rear warehouse to eat ashes, and finally ushered in the end of the war.
