POWER PLANT: One Hirth HM 502 six-cylinder inverted inline engine, rated at 160 hp
PERFORMANCE: 106 mph
COMMENT: Designed from the outset for use on U-boat “cruisers”, like the Type XI B, the Ar 231 was a light parasol-wing aircraft. The aircraft was powered by an inline engine, weighed around 2,200 lb, and had a 33ft wingspan. The design led to a simple and compact aircraft that could be fitted into a storage cylinder only 6.7 ft in diameter. For ease of storage, the Ar 231’s wings featured detachable sections that two operators could remove in less than six minutes. One unusual feature was an offset wing design, with the right wing root attaching to the wing’s tilted center section (elevated above the fuselage, as on all parasol-wing designs) and lower than the left wing root, to allow the wings to be quickly folded up. Testing soon revealed the Ar 231s to be fragile, underpowered, and difficult to fly even during calm weather, and as a result, development ended in favour of the Focke-Achgelis Fa 330 gyro glider. Some of the testing was done on the auxiliary cruiser “Stier”. Only six prototypes were built (Ref.: 24).
Noteworthy is the fact that the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) made similar attempts for submarine-borne aircraft, e. g. the Aichi M6A1 Seiran (Mountain Haze).
TYPE: Long-range Transport, Maritime Patrol and Bomber Flying Boat
ACCOMMODATION: Crew of 12
POWER PLANT: Six Daimler-Benz DB 603D liquid-cooled engines, rated at 1,900 hp each
PERFORMANCE: 264 mph at 60,000 kg at 20,000 ft
COMMENT: The Blohm & Voss BV 238 was a German flying boat, built during World War II. It was the heaviest aircraft ever built when it first flew in 1944, and was the largest aircraft produced by any of the Axis powers during World War II.
Development of the BV 238 giant flying boat began in 1941, following the success of the smaller but still enormous Blohm & Voss Bv 222 Wiking.
An approximately quarter-scale model of the Bv 238 was commissioned to test the new, long and slim hull design. Built by the Flugtechnische Fertigungsgemeinschaft GmbH in Prag (FGP), the FGP 227 arrived too late to contribute any data to the program.
Although extensive defensive armament was planned the first prototype, the Bv 238 V1, had none. It began flight trials in April 1944 but was strafed and partially sunk while moored on Lake Schaal, some miles to the east of Hamburg. One wing remained above water and it was salvaged, but by this time the war had ended and the Allies refused to let it be restored so it was taken out to deeper water and sunk.
The Bv 238 was an extremely large flying boat of conventional aerodynamic design, but bearing the usual B&V structural hallmarks of all-metal construction with a tubular steel wing main spar which also acted as the armoured main fuel tank. Of the era, only the earlier soviet Tupölev ANT-20, the americam Martin XPB2M-1 and the later Hughes H-4 Hercules had a bigger wing span. However it would be the heaviest yet flown, at 100 tonnes fully loaded.
The hull had an unusually long and slim planing bottom, of essentially two-step design but with a row of smaller auxiliary steps behind the main one. A large nose door opened onto its cavernous interior, with the main crew cabin immediately above and behind it.
The wing was of straight, constant-chord form with tapered outer sections. Auxiliary floats were integrated into underside panels of the outer sections and could be retracted to lie flush with the wing. A catwalk ran internally along the wing in front of the tubular steel main spar, providing access to the engines in flight.
Power was provided by six 1,750 hp Daimler-Benz DB 603 liquid-cooled inverted V12 piston engines, arranged in nacelles along the leading edge of the centre section.
A landplane version, initially called the Bv 238-Land, was proposed, capable of carrying out transport, long-range bombing and transatlantic reconnaissance duties. The lower hull was replaced by a plain fairing with retractable undercarriage comprising twelve main and two nose wheels. One bomb bay filled the space between the wheel bays, another lay behind the main undercarriage. The wing floats were similarly replaced with retractable outrigger stabilising wheels. The nose wheel could be folded up, making the aircraft “kneel” and allowing vehicles to drive directly on- and off-board via a loading ramp to the nose doorway. Alternatively, passenger seating could be fitted. A further, upper deck behind the crew cockpit accommodated further passengers, bringing the total capacity to 300 troops.
Renamed the Blohm & Voss Bv 250 in 1942, three prototypes were ordered but none were finished by the end of the war (Ref.: 24).
POWER PLANT: One BMW VI 7,3 Z liquid-cooled engine, rated at 750 hp
PERFORMANCE: 205 mph
COMMENT: The Heinkel He 51 was a single-seat biplane which was produced in a number of different versions. It was initially developed as a fighter, it was also developed as a ground-attack aircraft and a floatplane.
In 1931, Heinkel Aircraft Company developed the Heinkel He 49, officially an advanced trainer in fact it was a fighter. The first prototype flew in November 1932, and was followed by two further prototypes with a longer fuselage, and a revised engine. The type was ordered into production for the still secret Luftwaffe as Heinkel He 51, the first pre-production aircraft flying in May 1933. Deliveries started in July of the next year.
The He 51 was a conventional single-bay biplane, with all-metal construction and fabric covering. It was powered by a BMW VI engine, with an armament of two machine guns mounted above the engine. The He 51 was intended to replace the earlier Arado Ar 65, but served side-by-side with the slightly later Arado Ar 68. The He 51 was outdated the day it entered service, and after an initial run of 150 production fighters, the design was switched into the modified He 51B, with approximately 450 built, including about 46 He 51B-2 floatplanes. With begin of WW II the Heinkel He 51B-2 was only used in a role as trainer (Ref.: 24).
TYPE: Maritime reconnaissance and transport flying boat
ACCOMMODATION: Crew of six
POWER PLANT: Three Bramo 323R-2 Fafnir radial engines, rated at 1,200 hp with water injection each
PERFORMANCE: 211 mph at 15,750 ft
COMMENT: The Dornier Do 24 is a 1930s German three-engine flying boat designed by the Dornier Flugzeugwerke for
maritime patrol and search rescue. According to Dornier records, some 12,000 people were rescued by Do 24s during its flying career. A total of 279 were built among several factories from 1937 to 1945.
The Dornier Do 24 was designed to meet a Royal Netherlands Navy requirement for a replacement of the Dornier Wals (Do 16) being used in the Dutch East Indies, with the Netherlands government signing a contract for six Dornier Do 24s on August 1936. Two more prototypes were built for the German navy to be evaluated against the Blohm & Voss Bv 138.
The Do 24 was an all-metal parasol monoplane with a broad-beamed hull and stabilising sponsons. Twin tails were mounted on the upswept rear of the hull, while three wing-mounted tractor configuration engines powered the aircraft. Fuel was carried in tanks in the sponsons and the wing centre section. Up to 1,200 kg of bombs could be carried under the aircraft’s wings, while defensive armament consisted of three gun turrets, one each in nose, dorsal and tail positions. In early aircraft the turrets were each fitted with a machine gun but later aircraft carried a 20 mm cannon in the dorsal turret.
The Do 24 V3, the first of the Dutch boats, took off from Lanke Constance on July 1937, with the second Dutch boat, Do 24 V4 following soon after.
The Netherlands was enthusiastic about the new flying boat and planned to purchase as many as 90. Of these, 30 were to be built by Dornier (with all but the first two prototypes assembled by Dornier’s Swiss subsidiary based at Altenheim. The remaining aircraft were to be built under licence in the Netherlands by Aviolanda at Papendrecht. Of these aircraft, all but one of the German and Swiss built aircraft and the first seven Aviolanda-built aircraft were to be Do 24K-1s, powered by the original Wright R-1820-F52 cyclone 9 engines, while the remaining aircraft were to be Do 24K-2s, with more powerful 1,100 hp Wright R-1820-G102 engines and more fuel.
Only 25 aircraft had been built on the Aviolanda assembly line before the German occupation. The Luftwaffe were interested in the completed and partially completed aircraft. The Dutch production line continued to produce aircraft under German control. 11 airframes were completed with Dutch-bought Wright Cyclone engines but later models used the BMW Bramo 323R-2. A further 159 Do 24s were built in the Netherlands during the occupation, most under the designation Do 24T-1.
Another production line for the Do 24 was established in the old CAMS factory at Sartrouville, France, during the German occupation. This line was operated by SNCAN and was able to produce another 48 Do 24s. After the liberation, this facility produced a further 40 Do 24s, which served with the French Navy until 1952.
Thirty-seven Dutch- and German-built Do 24s had been sent to the East Indies by the time of the German occupation of the Netherlands in June 1940. Until the outbreak of war, these aircraft would have flown the tri-color roundel. Later, to avoid confusion with British or French roundels, Dutch aircraft flew a black-bordered orange triangle insignia.
After the Japanese invasion of the Netherlands East Indies, six surviving Do 24s were transferred to the Royal Australian Air Force in February 1942. They served in the RAAF through most of 1944 as transports in New Guinea.
In 1944, 12 Dutch-built Do 24s were delivered to Spain with the understanding that they would assist downed airmen of both sides. After the war, a few French-built Do 24s also found their way to Spain. Spanish Do 24s were operational at least until 1967, and possibly later. In 1971, one of the last flying Spanish Do 24s was returned to the Dornier facility on Lake Constance for permanent display (Ref.:24).
POWER PLANT: Two Junkers Jumo 205C-4 liquid-cooled diesel engines, rated at 605 hp each
PERFORMANCE: 155 mph at sea level
COMMENT: In 1934, the Dornier Flugzeugwerke started development of a new twin-engined flying boat to replace the Dornier Do J “Wal“ (Whale) in both military (Do 16) and civil (Do JI and Do J II) roles. The resultant design, Do 18 retained the layout of the “Wal”, with a metal hull fitted with distinctive stabilizing sponsons, and powered by two engines above the wing in a push-pull layout, but was aerodynamically and hydrodynamically more efficient. It was planned to be powered by two of the new Junkers Jumo 205 diesel engines. Although heavy, these promised to give much lower fuel consumption than conventional petrol engines of similar power.
The Do 18G, 62 units built, was an improved version, powered by two 880 hp Jumo 205D engines, armed with a 13 mm MG machine gun in the bow, and a 20 mm MG 151 cannon in a power-operated dorsal turret.
In German Luftwaffe service, the Dornier Do 18G was obsolete by the outbreak of World War II, but – as the only military flying boat – 62 (58 serviceable) aircraft in five squadrons were in use mainly on North Sea reconnaissance missions. In 1940 some squadrons changed their base to Norway. The vulnerable and underpowered flying boat was soon relegated to training and the air/sea rescue role. In the middle of 1941, only one squadron was still operational on Do 18. The Blohm & Voss Bv 138 had superseded the Dornier Do 18G.
A Dornier Do 18G was the first German aircraft to be shot down by British aircraft during the war, when one of a formation of three was caught over the North Sea by nine Fleet Air Arm Blackburn “Skua” fighter bombers of 803 Naval Air Squadron flying from HMS “Ark Royal” on 26 September 1939 (Ref.: 24).
TYPE: Reconnaissance, transport and training flying boat
ACCOMMODATION: Crew of two to four plus 8-10 passengers or equivalent freight
POWER PLANT: Two BMW VI liquid-cooled engines, rated at 700 hp each
PERFORMANCE: 143 mph
COMMENT: The Dornier Do J “Wal” (“Whale”) was a twin-engine German flying boat of the 1920s designed by Dornier Flugzeugwerke. The Do J had a high-mounted strut-braced monoplane wing with two piston engines mounted in tandem in a central nacelle above the wing; one engine drove a tractor and the other drove a pusher propeller. The hull made use of Claudius Dornier’s patented sponsons on the hull’s sides.
The Do J made its maiden flight on November, 1922. The flight, as well as most production until 1932, took place in Italy because of the restrictions on aviation in Germany after World War I under the terms of Treaty of Versailles. Dornier began to produce the “Wal” in Germany in 1931; production went on until 1936. The Dornier J I and its variant J II “Wal” were some of the most famous flying boats of the periods between the world wars.
A military version was the Dornier Do J II d and was in service with the German Luftwaffe as Dornier Do 16 “Militärwal” (“Military Whale”) according to the aircraft designation system of 1934 by the ReichsLuftsfahrtMinisterium (Reich Air Ministry, RLM). It was used as a reconnaissance and transport aircraft. A crew of two to four rode in an open cockpit close to the nose of the hull. There was one machine gun position in the bow in front of the cockpit and one or two amidships. Some 30 Dornier Do 16 “Militärwal” being delivered for the Luftwaffe in 1935. Eventually these were replaced by the Dornier Do 18 and the “Militärwal” was relegated to training roles.
Note: In many publications the Dornier J II d “Military Whale” is cited as Dornier Do 15. So done on my website, too, (but now corrected). The proper designation is Dornier Do 16 (Ref. 24).
POWER PLANT: Four Junkers Jumo 205D liquid-cooled, opposed-piston diesel engine, rated at 880 hp each
PERFORMANCE: 208 mph
COMMENT: The elegant Dornier Do 26, sometimes referred to as the “most beautiful flying-boat ever built”, was of all-metal construction. Originally designed as a civilian transport aircraft for the “Deutsche Lufthansa”, the few aircraft built before and immediately at the beginning of WW II were pressed into military service at the outbreak of the war in Europe.
The hull had a central keel and a defined step; the wings were of gull wing configuration, the outer sections being equipped with fully retractable narrow stabilizing wing-floats, instead of Dornier’s famous “water-wing” sponsons extending from the lower hull for lateral stabilization.
Its four Junkers Jumo 205 diesel engine, were mounted in tractor/pusher pairs in tandem nacelles located at the joint between the dihedral and horizontal wing sections. The rear (pusher) engines could be swung upwards through 10° during take-off and landing, to prevent contact between the three-blade airscrew and water spray created by the forward propellers. The tail unit was of conventional design, comprising a horizontal tail-plane and a single, vertical fin with rudder. Armament consisted of one 20 mm MG 151/20 cannon in a power-operated bow turret and three 7.92 mm MG 15 machine guns.
Only six aircraft were built and put into Luftwaffe service. They were used in the Norwegian campaign for transporting supplies, troops and wounded to and from the isolated German forces fighting at Narvik. During this campaign three of them were lost. Another Dornier Do 24C was lost on 16 November 1940, killing its crew, after being launched at night from the catapult ship “Friesenland” in Brest, France. The fate of two remaining aircraft, which in 1944 were still assigned to the “Erprobungsstelle” (Test Unit) in Travemünde, Germany, is unclear (Ref.: 24).
POWER PLANT: Three Junkers Jumo 205D liquid-cooled, vertically opposed diesel engine, rated at 870 hp each
PERFORMANCE: 177 mph at 19,700 ft
COMMENT: Originally developed under the company name of Hamburger Flugzeugbau, the type was initially designated the Ha 138. Its appearance was unique in its combination of unusual design features with its twin boom tail unit, short fuselage and trimotor engine configuration. The short hull, with its hydrodynamic step beneath and flat sides, earned it the nickname “Der fliegende Holzschuh” (“The flying clog”).
Three piston engines were used. The central engine was mounted above the wing, driving a four-blade propeller, while the wing engines were lower, with three-blade propellers. The pre-production prototypes were powered by various makes of engines ranging from 650–1,000 hp. The first standardized version, BV 138B-1, was powered by three 868 hp Junkers Jumo 250D two-stroke, opposed-piston aircraft diesel engines. The engine cowlings also had an atypical appearance, due to the unique nature of the vertical orientation of the six-cylinder opposed-piston Jumo 205 diesel engines, and resembled the cowlings of 4 or 6-cylinder inverted inline engines found on smaller civil and utility aircraft from the Jumo 205’s propshaft placement, emerging forward at the uppermost front end of the power plant.
The booms of the twin tail unit, much like the smaller Focke-Wulf Fw 189 twin-engine reconnaissance monoplane, extended horizontally from the rear of the outer engine nacelles.
For hydrodynamic reasons, the hull featured a distinct “turn-down”, or “beak” at the stern. Two enclosed, powered gun turrets, each mounting a single MG 151/20 autocannon, were located prominently at the bow and stern. A third, fully open Scarf ring-like emplacement, behind the central engine and both above and forward of the rear turret, mounted a MG 131 heavy machine gun covered fields of fire obstructed from the other turrets by the horizontal stabilizer.
In all, 227 examples of standard service variants of the BV 138 were built. The first such variant, Bv 138C-1, began service in March 1941. While non-standard variants carried a variety of armament, the standard variant featured two 20 mm MG 151/20 cannons, one in a power-operated bow turret and one in a power-operated stern turret, up to three 7.92 mm MG 15 machine guns, and a 13 mm MG 131 machine gun in the aft center engine nacelle. It could carry up to 500 kg of bombs or depth charges (under the starboard wing root only) or, in place of these, up to 10 passengers. Both the B-1/U1 and C-1/U1 variants had racks under both wings to double the offensive load.
Some examples of the BV 138 were adapted to specialized roles. The Bv 138 was tested with the oft-used Walter HWK 109-500 “Starthilfe” (RATO) jettisonable rocket pod, used in pairs, for shorter take-off performance. One anti-shipping variant carried FuG 200 “Hohentwiel” low-UHF band maritime search radar. The BV 138 MS variant was converted for minesweeping (suffix “MS” means “Minen-Suchgerät”, “mine-search” aircraft, and carried magnetic field-generating degaussing equipment, including a hoop antenna with a diameter equal to the length of the fuselage, which encircled the hull and wings, which was also used on certain models of the Junkers Ju 52/3m trimotor transport used for the same duty (Ref. 24).
POWER PLANT: One BMW 132K radial engine, rated at 960 hp
PERFORMANCE: 208 mph
COMMENT: The Heinkel He 114 was a sesquiwing reconnaissance seaplane produced for the German Kriegsmarine (German Navy) in the 1930s for use from warships. It replaced the company’s Heinkel He 60, but did not remain in service long before being replaced in turn by the Arado Ar 196 as standard spotter aircraft.
While the fuselage and flotation gear of the He 114 were completely conventional, its wing arrangement was highly unusual. The upper set of wings was attached to the fuselage with a set of cabane struts, as in a parasol wing monoplane, whereas the lower set was of much lesser span while having approximately the same chord. This general layout is not especially unusual, and is known as a “Sesquiplane”, or a biplane which has a smaller lower wing. Typically, the lower wing is about 3/4 of the span of the upper wing, and has a smaller chord as well. The He 114 has a much shorter lower wing than usual, but has the same chord as the upper wing, which keeps the wing area ratio similar.
The He 114 was never a great success, was not built in large numbers, and served with the Luftwaffe for only a short time. While the Heinkel He 60 had handled very well on the water but been sluggish in the air, the He 114’s handling while afloat was poor and its performance in the air scarcely better than the aircraft it replaced (Ref.: 24).
Heinkel He 114A-2
Heinkel He 114A-2
Heinkel He 114A-2
Heinkel He 114A-2
Heinkel He 114A-2
Heinkel He 114A-2
Heinkel He 114A-2
Heinkel He 114A-2
Heinkel He 114A-2
Scale 1:72 aircraft models of World War II
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