Blohm & Voss BV 141
| Blohm und Voss Bv 141
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| Description
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| Role | Reconnaisssance monoplane
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| Crew | 3
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| First Flight | February 25, 1938
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| Entered Service |
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| Manufacturer | Blohm + Voss
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| Dimensions (Bv 141B)
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| Length | 14 m | 45ft 9in
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| Wingspan | 17.5 m | 57ft 3in
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| Height | 3.6 m | 11ft 9in
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| Wing Area | 43 m² | 463 ft²
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| Weights
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| Empty | 2,130 kg | 4,700 lbs
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| Loaded | 2,590 kg | 5,700 lbs
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| Maximum takeoff | kg | lbs
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| Powerplant
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| Engine | BMW 801
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| Power | 1,160 kW | 1,560 hp
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| Performance
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| Maximum speed | 438km/h @ 3,510m | 272mph @ 11,500ft
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| Combat range | km | miles
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| Ferry range | km | miles
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| Service ceiling | m | ft
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| Rate of climb | 570 m/min | 1,860 ft/min
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| Wing loading | 60.2 kg/m² | 12.3 lb/ft²
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| Power/Mass | 0.448 kW/kg | 0.274 hp/lb
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| Armament
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| Guns | 2 × MG 17 + 2 × MG 15 machine guns
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In 1937, the Reichsluftfahrtministerium issued a specification for a single-engined reconnaissance aircraft with optimum
visual characteristics. The preferred contractors were to be Arado, but the requested prompted the Focke-Wulf company to work up the alternative idea of the Focke-Wulf Fw 189, a twin-boom design with two smaller engines and a central crew gondola, while Blohm + Voss proposed something far more radical. The proposal of chief designer Dr Richard Vogt was the unique asymmetric Bv 141.
The perspex glazed crew gondola on the starboard side housed the pilot, observer and rear-gunner, while the fuselage on the port side led smoothly from the 1000hp Bramo 123 engine to a tail unit (which was symmetrical in the Bv 141 V1 prototype).
It would seem that the displacement of lift vs weight, and thrust vs drag, would have induced tendencies to yaw and roll requiring continual trimming to control, but in fact the aircraft proved very stable and maneuverable.
Three further prototypes and an evaluation batch of five Bv 141As were produced, but the assessment was that they were underpowered. By the time that a batch of five Bv 141Bs were built with the more powerful BMW 801 engines
they were too late to make an impression, and the authorities proceeded instead to order production of the Fw 189. The Bv 141B had the starboard tail-plane virtually removed to improve the rear-gunner's field of view.
The Blohm + Voss team came up with several other asymmetric designs, but none were actually built.
