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Cargo

Blohm & Voss FGP 227 (Anigrand, Resin)

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TYPE: Research Flying boat

ACCOMMODATION:  Crew of two

POWER PLANT: Six ILO F 12/400 air-cooled engines, rated at 21.1 hp each

PERFORMANCE: No data available

COMMENT: The FGP 227 was a scale flying model of the Blohm & Voss Bv 238 flying boat, built to provide data for the development of the Bv 238.
The proposed Blohm & Voss Bv 238 flying boat was to have an advanced hull design which had never been tried before. The Czech Flugtechnische Fertigungsgemeinschaft Prag (FGP) was engaged to build a quarter-scale test aircraft.
The FGP 227 was a faithful, approximately quarter-scale model of the proposed design, having a long, narrow hull with a high-mounted wing and conventional tail. The pilot sat in a front cockpit and the flight test observer in another one aft of the wing. Power was supplied by six 21 hp ILO F 12/400 air-cooled two-stroke engines driving three bladed propellers, mounted along the wings.The model was completed early in 1944, registered as BQ+UZ and fitted with a temporary wheeled undercarriage of ten small wheels fitted with low-pressure tyres.
Intended to allow flight tests to commence from the manufacturers airfield, the FGP 227 refused to take-off from the grass airfield. The aircraft was dismantled and transported to Erprobungsstelle See, Travemünde (E-Stelle – flying boat testing station). During transport French prisoners of war loading the wing onto flat-bed trucks allowed it to fall from a crane causing damage which was not repaired until September 1944.
Flight tests commenced in September 1944 as soon as the repairs were completed, but all six engines stopped due to fuel starvation soon after take-off, resulting in a heavy landing on the water. The FGP 227 was again repaired after which the aircraft flew several more times. By this time construction and testing of the Bv 238 had started, so no useful data was gleaned from the programme (Ref.:24).

 

 

Heavy Bomber, Reconnaissance, Cargo

Blohm & Voss Bv 238 V1, (Airmodel, Vacu)

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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).

 

Composite, Projects

Arado Ar 234C-2 (Dragon) with Focke-Wulf “Rammer” (Unicraft, Resin)

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Fighterbomber, Projects

Kawasaki Ki-119 (Unicraft, Resin)

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TYPE: Light bomber. Project

ACCOMMODATION: Pilot only

POWER PLANT: Mitsubishi Ha-104 radial engine, rated at 1,900 hp

PERFORMANCE: 360 mph at 19,685 ft

COMMENT: The Kawasaki Ki-119 was a design for a single-engine light bomber that would have been used in the defense of the Japanese homeland. Earlier Japanese bombers had been designed to operate over long distances, either in China or over the Pacific, but by the start of 1945 it was clear that the Japanese army might soon be fighting on home soil. This meant that a short range single-engine bomber would be possible, saving on the limited supply of both engines and trained air crew.
In March 1945 the Army Air Force issued Kawasaki with orders to produce a single seat bomber that could carry 1,764lb of bombs to targets 373 miles from its base, armed with two 20mm cannon and powered by one 1,900 hp Army Type 4 radial engine. Unlike many new aircraft being developed in Japan in 1945 the Ki-119 was not designed to be used in suicide attacks.
Takeo Doi and his team produced a design and a mock-up in three months. The fuselage was based on that of the Kawasaki Ki 100 radial-engine fighter. The aircraft was made as easy to fly as possible – a wide track undercarriage with good shock absorbers was chose to make the aircraft easy to handle on the ground, and large wings with a high aspect-ratio were designed, to make it easy to handle in the air. The aircraft was designed to carry three different sets of armament. In its basic light bomber role it was to be armed with two 20mm cannon and one 1,764lb bomb. It could also serve as a fighter escort, with no bombers but two extra 20mm cannons, or as a dive bomber with two 551lb bombs.
The impressively rapid development of the Ki-119 came to a halt in June 1945 when the detailed drawings were destroyed when American air raids damaged Kawasaki’s factory at Kagamigahara. This pushed back the expected delivery date for the prototype from September until November, with production expected in time for the new aircraft to take part in the fighting of 1946. The unexpectedly sudden end to the war meant that the prototype was never completed (Ref.: 24).

Fighterbomber, Projects

Blohm & Voss Bv. 237 (Unicraft, Resin)

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TYPE: Dive bomber, ground attack fighter. Project

ACCOMMODATION: Pilot only

POWER PLANT: One BMW 801D radial engine, rated at 1,700 hp

PERFORMANCE: 360 mph

COMMENT: The Blohm & Voss Bv 237 was a proposed dive bomber with an unusual asymmetric design based on the Blohm & Voss Bv 141, as well as other projects like Bv P.194 and Bv P.204. In 1942 the Luftwaffe was interested in replacing the venerable but ageing Junkers Ju 87, and Dr. Richard Vogt’s design team at Blohm & Voss  began work on project P 177. The dive bomber version would have had a one man crew and was heavily armed with cannon, machine gun and bombs. A two seat ground attack version was also proposed. A final B-1 type was to incorporate a Junkers Jumo 004B  turbojet engine in a third nacelle slung underneath the wing, between the piston engine and the cockpit. In early 1943 a production order was issued for the P 177 now called the Bv 237. In the summer that year the RLM ordered all developmental work stopped. Work continued later and it was determined that construction could begin in mid 1945, but plans for a pre-production A-0 series were abandoned, leaving the project at the pre-production stage near the end of 1944, with only a wooden mock-up completed (Ref.: 23).

Fighter, Projects

Blohm & Voss Bv P.211.01 (Unicraft, Resin)

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TYPE: Interceptor fighter. Project

ACCOMMODATION: Pilot only

POWER PLANT: BMW 003A-1 turbojet, rated at 800 kp

PERFORMANCE: 536 mph at 26,250 ft (estimated)

COMMENT: Design of an interceptor fighter from mid 1944, forerunner of the Bv P.211.02, that was submitted for the “Volksjäger” (Peoples fighter) competition. Winner was the Heinkel He 162 “Spatz”.

Fighter, Projects

Kawasaki Ki-88 (Unicraft, Resin)

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TYPE: Fighter, fighter bomber

ACCOMMODATION: Pilot only

POWER PLANT: One Kawasaki Ha-140 liquid-cooled engine, rated at 1,500 hp

PERFORMANCE: 373 mph at 19,685 ft

COMMENT: The Kawasaki Ki 88 was designed as a fighter aircraft and inspired by the Bell P-39 Airacobra. Work on the design began in 1942 and by 1943 a full-scale mock-up was completed. The engine was mounted behind the cockpit, driving a tractor propeller via an extension shaft. Proposed armament comprised a 37 mm cannon in the propeller shaft and two 20 mm cannon in the lower section of the nose. Calculation suggested no great improvement on that of the Kawasaki Ki-61 Hien already in production, and so the project was abandoned during 1943 (Ref.: 1).

Fighter, Projects

Nakajima Ki-62 (Unicraft, Resin)

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TYPE: Interceptor fighter. Project.

ACCOMMODATION: Pilot only

POWER PLANT: One Kawasaki Ha-40 liquid-cooled engine, rated at 1,175 hp

PERFORMANCE: 370 mph at 15,950 ft (estimated)

COMMENT: The Nakajima Ki-62 was a light fighter designed in 1941 to compete with the Kawasaki Ki-61 “Hien”. Although this design appeared to be promising, its development was discontinued to enable Nakajima to concentrate on production of their Ki-63 “Hayabusa” and Ki-44 “Shoki” fighters. Later, the Ki-62’s data and design features were incorporated in the Nakajima Ki-84 “Hayate” design (Ref.: 1).

Fighter

Nakajima Ki-87 (Pavla Models)

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TYPE: High-altitude interceptor fighter

ACCOMMODATION: Pilot in pressurized cockpit

POWER PLANT: One Nakajima Ha-44 radial engine, rated at 2,200 hp

PERFORMANCE: 439 mph at 36,090 ft (estimated)

COMMENT: The Nakajima Ki-87 was developed in response to American Boeing B-29 “Superfortress” raids on the Home Islands. It followed up on earlier research by Nakajima and the Technical Division of Imperial Army Headquarters into boosting a large radial engine with an exhaust-driven turbo-supercharger, which had begun in 1942, well before the B-29 raids began. The efforts of the Technical Division of Imperial Army Headquarters eventually culminated into the Tachikawa Ki-94-I, while the Nakajima Ki-87 was developed as a fall-back project, using less stringent requirements. Nakajima started in July 1943 with the construction of three prototypes, to be completed between November 1944 and January 1945, and seven pre-production aircraft, to be delivered by April 1945. The Technical Division of Imperial Army Headquarters made itself felt during the development of the Ki-87 prototype when they insisted upon placing the turbo-supercharger in the rear-fuselage, and from the sixth prototype the Nakajima fighter was to have that arrangement. The Ki-87 had a rearward folding undercarriage to accommodate the storage of ammunition for the cannons, which were mounted in the wing.
Construction was delayed due to problems with the electrical undercarriage and the turbo-supercharger, and the first prototype was not completed until February 1945; it first flew in April, but only five test flights were completed, all with the undercarriage in the extended position. Production of 500 aircraft was planned, but the war ended before any more than the single prototype was built.
A further variant, the Nakajima Ki-87-II, powered by a 3,000 hp Nakajima Ha-217 (Ha-46) engine and with the turbo-supercharger in the same position as the USAAF Republic P-47 “Thunderbolt”, never went further than the drawing board (Ref.: 24).

Fighter

Mitsubishi Ki-83 (MPM)

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TYPE: Long-range fighter

ACCOMMODATION: Pilot and navigator

POWER PLANT: Two Mitsubishi Ha 211 Ru (Ha-43) radial engines, rated at 2,070 hp each

PERFORMANCE:  438 mph at 32,180 ft

COMMENT: The Mitsubishi Ki-83 was designed as a long-range heavy fighter. The design was a response to a 1943 specification for a new heavy fighter with great range. The first of four prototypes flew on 18 November 1944. The machines displayed remarkable maneuverability for aircraft of their size and carried a powerful armament of two 30 mm and two 20 mm cannon in its nose. Despite the bomb-ravaged Japanese manufacturing sector, plans for the Ki-83 to enter production within were underway when Japan surrendered on 15 August 1945.
Both the existence and performance of the Ki-83 were little known during the war, even in Japan. It was completely unknown in Allied military aviation circles – as demonstrated by the fact that the Ki-83 had not been given a reporting name. Most early photographs of the type were taken during the post-war occupation of Japan, when the four prototypes were seized by the USAAF and re-painted with USAAF insignia. When they were evaluated by US aeronautical engineers and other experts, a Ki-83 using high-octane fuel reached a speed of 473 mph at an altitude of 23,000 ft (Ref.: 24).