×
Aircraft / Aviation Vehicles & Artillery Infantry Arms Warships & Submarines Military Pay Chart (2023) Military Ranks
Advertisements
HOME
AIRCRAFT / AVIATION
MODERN AIR FORCES
COUNTRIES
MANUFACTURERS
COMPARE
BY CONFLICT
BY TYPE
BY DECADE
WORLD WAR 2
X-PLANE
Aviation / Aerospace

Focke-Wulf Fw BMW803


Twin-Boom Pusher Fighter Concept [ 1943 ]



This Focke-Wulf twin-boom fighter project borrowed much from the Fw 189 Uhu design - though wrapped around the BMW 803 radial engine.



Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 11/05/2020 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site.

GO TO SPECIFICATIONS [+]
Advertisements
Even before the excellent Focke-Wulf Fw 190 single-seat, single-engine fighter entered the war for Germany in World War 2 (1939-1945), company engineers were already hard at work at squeezing every ounce of power out of the design - with a focus on improving high-altitude performance. This led to a series of fighter design studies that ran throughout the war years, resulting in the Fw 190 airframe being considered with various powerplant installations including the BMW 802 radial. One of the more offbeat approaches by the concern became a twin-boom monoplane which was to sit its single pilot at the extreme front end of the fuselage and have a BMW 803 series radial engine at rear driving a pair of propeller units in "pusher" arrangement.

The aircraft owed some of its layout to the earlier Focke-Wulf Fw 189 Uhu ("Owl") of 1940 in its selection of twin-boom configuration with a similarly-shaped monoplane wing in which the leading edges were noticeably swept back against a relatively straight trailing edge. Instead of the Uhu's engines being fitted at the front end of each boom, the single BMW 803 was to be buried within the confines of the fuselage directly aft of the cockpit. The propulsion scheme would draw air through a slim circular intake design wrapping over and under the fuselage. A tricycle landing gear arrangement would provide the needed ground-running capability and was wholly-retractable - the main legs under the boom sections and the nose leg under the cockpit floor.

The pilot sat under a largely unobstructed canopy with excellent vision out over the short nosecone (views to his rear would restricted due to the raised dorsal spine and engine placement). As the nose was clear of any engine/propeller mounting, this gave relatively unfettered firing access to the proposed armament of 4 x 20mm MG 151 automatic cannons with two guns seated to either side of the cockpit walls. The firepower from a single burst would have been enough to bring down an Allied bomber of the day.

In addition to this, engineers also added future support for larger caliber cannons (presumably the German 30mm type) in place of the 20mm weapons and up to four machine guns at the wing roots (two guns per wing root).

For ground attack sorties, provision was given for the carrying of 2 x Conventional drop bombs, ranging from 550lb to 1,100lb) mounted under each boom. In lieu of this, the aircraft could also be equipped with jettisonable fuel drop tanks for extended operational ranges.

The fighter was to have an empty weight of 14,000lb with its Maximum Take-Off Weight (MTOW) reaching 16,535lb when fully-laden. Dimensions included a running length of 45.2 feet, a wingspan of 43.3 feet, and height of 10.5 feet.

The engine of choice was the BMW 803 28-cylinder, four-row series radial outputting 4,000 horsepower and this would be used to drive 2 x Three-bladed propeller units in contra-rotating fashion behind the fuselage (giving the appearance of a six-bladed unit). The BMW 803 was actually a mating of two BMW 801 engines seated back-to-back. As the heat generated from such a pairing proved substantial, liquid-cooling was employed to keep temperatures in check.

Despite the awesome power on paper, the engine did not evolve into a production-quality form. Just twelve prototypes were built during the war.

Estimated performance figures with the BMW 803 installed in the proposed Focke-Wulf fighter design included a maximum speed of 455 miles-per-hour at nearly 30,000 feet with a service ceiling of 36,750 feet possible. Range was out to a useful 1,000 kilometers.

As impressive at it may have appeared on paper, the Fw BMW803 design did not extend beyond the paper stage. Some modifications of the aircraft were made in 1943, primarily to the cooling system, but the project fell to naught. It does, however, appear to have influenced the jet-and-rocket-powered Fw P.VII "Flitzer" fighter proposal of 1944 (detailed elsewhere on this site) - which also came to nothing.

A second iteration of the same Focke-Wulf BMW803-based design installed an oversized "drum" style radiator at the nose. This version also had a planned ejection seat. A third design choice saw radiators fitted to the heads of the boom assemblies.©MilitaryFactory.com
Note: The above text is EXCLUSIVE to the site www.MilitaryFactory.com. It is the product of many hours of research and work made possible with the help of contributors, veterans, insiders, and topic specialists. If you happen upon this text anywhere else on the internet or in print, please let us know at MilitaryFactory AT gmail DOT com so that we may take appropriate action against the offender / offending site and continue to protect this original work.
Advertisements

Specifications



Service Year
1943

Origin
Nazi Germany national flag graphic
Nazi Germany

Status
CANCELLED
Development Ended.
Crew
1

Production
0
UNITS


National flag of modern Germany National flag of Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (cancelled)
(OPERATORS list includes past, present, and future operators when applicable)
Air-to-Air Combat, Fighter
General ability to actively engage other aircraft of similar form and function, typically through guns, missiles, and/or aerial rockets.
Interception
Ability to intercept inbound aerial threats by way of high-performance, typically speed and rate-of-climb.
Intelligence-Surveillance-Reconnaissance (ISR), Scout
Surveil ground targets / target areas to assess environmental threat levels, enemy strength, or enemy movement.
X-Plane (Developmental, Prototype, Technology Demonstrator)
Aircraft developed for the role of prototyping, technology demonstration, or research / data collection.


Length
45.3 ft
(13.80 m)
Width/Span
43.3 ft
(13.20 m)
Height
10.5 ft
(3.20 m)
Empty Wgt
13,944 lb
(6,325 kg)
MTOW
16,535 lb
(7,500 kg)
Wgt Diff
+2,590 lb
(+1,175 kg)
(Showcased structural values pertain to the Focke-Wulf Fw BMW803 V1 production variant)
Installed: 1 x BMW 803 liquid-cooled radial piston engine developing 4,000 horsepower driving 2 x Three-bladed propellers in contra-rotating fashion in "pusher" arrangement at rear of the fuselage.
Max Speed
454 mph
(730 kph | 394 kts)
Ceiling
36,745 ft
(11,200 m | 7 mi)
Range
684 mi
(1,100 km | 2,037 nm)


♦ MACH Regime (Sonic)
Sub
Trans
Super
Hyper
HiHyper
ReEntry
RANGES (MPH) Subsonic: <614mph | Transonic: 614-921 | Supersonic: 921-3836 | Hypersonic: 3836-7673 | Hi-Hypersonic: 7673-19180 | Reentry: >19030


(Showcased performance specifications pertain to the Focke-Wulf Fw BMW803 V1 production variant. Performance specifications showcased above are subject to environmental factors as well as aircraft configuration. Estimates are made when Real Data not available. Compare this aircraft entry against any other in our database or View aircraft by powerplant type)
PROPOSED:
4 x 20mm MG 151 automatic cannons at sides of forward fuselage.

ALTERNATIVE:
2 x 30mm MK 103 automatic cannons at sides of forward fuselage.
4 x 7.92mm machine guns in wing roots (two guns per wing root).

OPTIONAL:
2 x 550lb or 1,100lb conventional drop bombs OR 2 x Jettisonable fuel tanks.


Supported Types


Graphical image of an aircraft medium machine gun
Graphical image of an aircraft automatic cannon
Graphical image of an aircraft conventional drop bomb munition
Graphical image of an aircraft external fuel tank


(Not all ordnance types may be represented in the showcase above)
Hardpoint Mountings: 2


Fw BMW803 - Base Project Designation.
Fw BMW803 V1 - Original design study.
Fw BMW803 V2 - Second study with nose-mounted radiator.
Fw BMW803 V3 - Third study with boom-mounted radiators.


Military lapel ribbon for Operation Allied Force
Military lapel ribbon for the Arab-Israeli War
Military lapel ribbon for the Battle of Britain
Military lapel ribbon for the Battle of Midway
Military lapel ribbon for the Berlin Airlift
Military lapel ribbon for the Chaco War
Military lapel ribbon for the Cold War
Military lapel ribbon for the Cuban Missile Crisis
Military lapel ribbon for pioneering aircraft
Military lapel ribbon for the Falklands War
Military lapel ribbon for the French-Indochina War
Military lapel ribbon for the Golden Age of Flight
Military lapel ribbon for the 1991 Gulf War
Military lapel ribbon for the Indo-Pak Wars
Military lapel ribbon for the Iran-Iraq War
Military lapel ribbon for the Korean War
Military lapel ribbon for the 1982 Lebanon War
Military lapel ribbon for the Malayan Emergency
Military lapel ribbon representing modern aircraft
Military lapel ribbon for the attack on Pearl Harbor
Military lapel ribbon for the Six Day War
Military lapel ribbon for the Soviet-Afghan War
Military lapel ribbon for the Spanish Civil War
Military lapel ribbon for the Suez Crisis
Military lapel ribbon for the Ukranian-Russian War
Military lapel ribbon for the Vietnam War
Military lapel ribbon for Warsaw Pact of the Cold War-era
Military lapel ribbon for the WASP (WW2)
Military lapel ribbon for the World War 1
Military lapel ribbon for the World War 2
Military lapel ribbon for the Yom Kippur War
Military lapel ribbon for experimental x-plane aircraft


Ribbon graphics not necessarily indicative of actual historical campaign ribbons. Ribbons are clickable to their respective aerial campaigns / operations / aviation periods.

Images Gallery



1 / 1
Image of the Focke-Wulf Fw BMW803
Image copyright www.MilitaryFactory.com; No Reproduction Permitted.

Similar Aircraft



Aviation developments of similar form and function, or related to, the Focke-Wulf Fw BMW803...


Advertisements




Disclaimer | Privacy Policy | Cookies


2023 Military Pay Chart Military Ranks DoD Dictionary Conversion Calculators Military Alphabet Code Military Map Symbols

The "Military Factory" name and MilitaryFactory.com logo are registered ® U.S. trademarks protected by all applicable domestic and international intellectual property laws. All written content, illustrations, and photography are unique to this website (unless where indicated) and not for reuse/reproduction in any form. Material presented throughout this website is for historical and entertainment value only and should not to be construed as usable for hardware restoration, maintenance, or general operation. We do not sell any of the items showcased on this site. Please direct all other inquiries to militaryfactory AT gmail.com.

Part of a network of sites that includes GlobalFirepower, a data-driven property used in ranking the top military powers of the world, WDMMA.org (World Directory of Modern Military Aircraft), WDMMW.org (World Directory of Modern Military Warships), SR71blackbird.org, detailing the history of the world's most iconic spyplane, and MilitaryRibbons.info, cataloguing all American military medals and ribbons.


©2023 www.MilitaryFactory.com • All Rights Reserved • Content ©2003-2023 (20yrs)