Blohm and Voss Bv P.211

Single-Seat, Single-Engine Fighter / Interceptor

Nazi Germany | 1945

"The Blohm and Voss Bv P.211 competed unsuccessfully against the design that would become the Heinkel He 162 Volksjager jet fighter in World War 2."

Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 06/24/2019 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site; No A.I. was used in the generation of this content.

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The intensity and success of the Allied day and night aerial bombing campaigns against Germany in World War 2 (1939-1945) prompted Luftwaffe officials to seek whatever counter could be had. This led to the establishment of the "Emergency Fighter Program" (EFP) of July 1944 that called for an economically-minded, single-seat, single-engine "fighter-interceptor" to combat the massed formations of heavy bombers as well as their accompanying escort fighters. While most of the usual defense industry players were approached in September of 1944, just two designs were officially accepted for further development - one originating from Blohm & Voss and the other from Heinkel.

The program was officially known to the Air Ministry as the "Volksjager", or the "People's Fighter", and intended for the final defense of Germany.

Part of the requirement was use of a single BMW 003D turbojet engine to achieve the desired performance - intended to best that of any contemporary Allied fighter such as the definitive forms of the North American P-51 "Mustang" and Supermarine "Spitfire". To this was added an overall weight limitation of no more than 4,400lb. The aircraft would have to rely on the least amount of strategic war material as possible (due to dwindling supplies), be relatively easy to mass-produce (by way of unskilled labor), and fly for at least thirty minutes after take-off. Production was expected to reach into the thousands monthly and pilots would be pulled from the stock of hastily-trained "Hitler Youth".

Authorities called for detailed design work to be made available as soon as September 14th, 1944 and the first combat-ready aircraft should be available as soon as January 1st, 1945 - such was the expediency of the program and the desperate situation for Germany by this time. In essence, the design teams were given about four months to bring their aircraft from paper to physical, operating form - quite the optimistic undertake to be sure.

The Blohm & Voss submission (credited to Richard Vogt) became the "Bv P.211" of which two distinct forms of this same aircraft were proposed. The Bv P.211.01 seated its sole turbojet within the fuselage, aspirated by a nose-mounted intake and exhausted through a port under a tail stem structure. The single pilot sat under a largely unobstructed canopy with good views out-of-the-cockpit. The tail unit was of conventional arrangement (single rudder, twin horizontal planes) and this was held at the extreme aft-end of a stem extending out over the fuselage rear. The mainplanes were low-mounted at the fuselage sides and positioned at midships with sweepback found along both the leading and trailing edges. A manually-retracting, wheeled tricycle undercarriage would be used for ground-running (lowering the gear was through simple physics).

The counterpart Bv P.211.02 offering was simplified with shoulder-mounted, straight-lined mainplanes (of constant chord) to ease development and serial per-unit production. All other physical and technical qualities of the P.211.01 were carried over into the P.211.02 proposal.

The P.211 fighter was proposed with a maximum speed of 537 miles-per-hour and could reach altitudes between 25,000 and 30,000 feet. With this in mind, it is assumed cockpit pressurization and an ejection seat would have been part of the aircraft's make-up. Armament as most likely to be the usual German late-war loadout of 2 x 30mm MK 108 heavy autocannons - enough punch to take down any Allied heavy bomber in a single burst. The guns would have been embedded in the lower frontal fuselage sides.

Of the submissions taken into consideration, German authorities initially elected to push the Blohm & Voss design through in a decision undertaken on September 19th, 1944. However, the availability of an impressive-looking mockup for Heinkel's P.1073 led to the decision being rescinded and the contract awarded to Heinkel instead no more than a week later.

The P.1073 was quickly evolved under the "Salamander" name to become the "Volksjager" fighter of World War 2 history - while it was also known to Heinkel as the "Spatz" ("Sparrow"). This aircraft, with its dorsally-mounted engine and upward-cranked tailplanes, went on to be produced in the hundreds but held little impact in the outcome of the war as the Allies ultimately closed in on their production and operating locations.

No P.211 aircraft were ever completed while the He 162 went on to see a short-lived service life due to the end of the war in 1945.

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Power & Performance
Those special qualities that separate one aircraft design from another. Performance specifications presented assume optimal operating conditions for the Blohm and Voss Bv P.211 Single-Seat, Single-Engine Fighter / Interceptor.

1 x BMW 003A-1 turbojet engine developing 1,765lb of thrust.
Propulsion

485 mph
780 kph | 421 kts
Max Speed

27,887 ft
8,500 m | 5 miles
Service Ceiling

559 miles
900 km | 486 nm
Operational Range

4,000 ft/min
1,219 m/min
Rate-of-Climb

City-to-City Ranges
Operational range when compared to distances between major cities (in KM).

NYC

LON

PAR

BER

MOS

TOK

SYD

LAX

NYC

Structure
The nose-to-tail, wingtip-to-wingtip physical qualities of the Blohm and Voss Bv P.211 Single-Seat, Single-Engine Fighter / Interceptor.

1
(MANNED)
Crew

3,086 lb
(1,400 kg)
Empty Weight

4,409 lb
(2,000 kg)
MTOW

Design Balance
The three qualities reflected below are altitude, speed, and range. The more full the box, the more balanced the design.

RANGE

ALT

SPEED

Armament
Available supported armament and special-mission equipment featured in the design of the Blohm and Voss Bv P.211 Single-Seat, Single-Engine Fighter / Interceptor .

PROPOSED:
2 x 20mm MG 151/20 automatic cannons OR 2 x 30mm MK 108 automatic cannons.

Variants
Notable series variants as part of the Blohm and Voss Bv P.211 family line.

P.211 - Base Project Designation.

P.211.01 - Proposed variant one.

P.211.02 - Proposed variant two.

Operators
Global customers who have evaluated and/or operated the Blohm and Voss Bv P.211. Nations are displayed by flag, each linked to their respective national aircraft listing.

Total Production: 0 Units
Contractor(s): Blohm and Voss - Nazi Germany

[ Nazi Germany (cancelled) ]

Relative Max Speed

Hi: 500mph

Lo: 250mph

Aircraft Max Listed Speed (485mph).

Graph Average of 375 MPH.

Era Crossover

Showcasing Aircraft Era Crossover (if any)

Max Alt Visualization

MACH Regime (Sonic)

Sub

Trans

Super

Hyper

HiHyper

ReEntry

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Mission Roles
Some designs are single-minded in their approach while others offer a more versatile solution to airborne requirements.

AIR-TO-AIR COMBAT

INTERCEPTION

X-PLANE

Recognition
Some designs stand the test of time while others are doomed to never advance beyond the drawing board; let history be their judge.

Military lapel ribbon for the World War 2

Going Further...
The Blohm and Voss Bv P.211 Single-Seat, Single-Engine Fighter / Interceptor appears in the following collections:

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