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The Blohm und Voss Bv 40 was an armed glider that was designed to be towed into combat and used against the Allied heavy bomber streams that were becoming increasingly dangerous in 1943. A number of prototypes were built before the idea was abandoned.
The initial idea was put forward by Dr Richard Vogt of Blohm und Voss. He suggested that an armed and heavily armoured glider might help solve Germany’s shortages of strategic materials and trained fighter pilots. The glider could be built from materials that were more widely available and flown by men who had only been trained in gliders. He believed that the heavy armour would protect the pilot during the frontal attack on the bombers. It would be towed into combat by a standard fighter that could then join the battle.
The idea appealed to the German Air Ministry, and a number of designs were produced in the autumn of 1943. The Blohm und Voss design was chosen for development, and an order of nineteen development aircraft was ordered. If these were satisfactory then a first batch of 200 would follow.
The Bv 40 was a simple, angular aircraft, with high mounted wings. In order to save space the pilot flew the aircraft in a prone position on a padded couch, with padded chin and side panels. The front of the cockpit was in the nose of the aircraft. The pilot had a restricted view through small 4.75in thick armoured glass windows. The cockpit was also protected by steel armour. A quarter of the weight of the aircraft was made up of armour. The centre of the fuselage was made from riveted sheet steel and the rear fuselage and tail were wooden. It had small wheels used for take off, which were then dropped. It landed on a semi-extendable skid. It would be armed with two 30mm MK 108 cannon beneath the wing roots, each carrying 35 rounds of ammo.
In operation the plan was for each BV 40 to be towed to a position 820-2,460ft above the bomber stream by a Messerschmitt Bf 109G, before being released to make a head on attack. It would then glide back to base.
The first prototype made its maiden towed flight in May 1944. The second flight came on 2 June 1944 and was the first time it was released to glide back to ground. The aircraft performed well while it still had good speed but dropped rapidly once speed fell to 87mph, and it was damaged in the resulting crash (although the test pilot, Rautenhaus, survived).
The second prototype, Bv 40 V2, made two short flights on 5 June 1944.
V3 was a static test airframe
V4 was badly damaged in a crash in late June.
V5 entered the test programme soon afterwards.
V6 made the first long towed flight on 27 July 1944 when it was towed from Stade to Wenzendorf behind a Bf 110. Rautenhaus was again the test pilot, and reported that it was very tiring to fly in the prone position
The last aircraft to be completed, Bv 40 V7, was completed in August 1944, but saw little use as the flight test programme had been completed.
By this point the basic idea of using the BV 40 as a fighter appears to have been abandoned, and a number of alternative uses were suggested by the RLM. These included giving it pulsejets or rockets to allow it to climb, using it as a fuel tanker to increase the range of the towing fighter, or for its use as a bomber, carrying underwing bombs. Two of these bombers would be carried to the combat area under the wings of a Heinkel He 177. The benefit was presumably the reduced risk to the expensive Heinkel, as this configuration would carried a lower payload than just using the He 177 as a bomber.
In the autumn of 1944 the entire Bv 40 programme was cancelled in favour of jet and rocket powered weapons.
Crew: 1
Span: 25ft 11in
Length: 18ft 8.5in
Height: 5ft 4 1/8in
Empty weight: 1,842lb
Loaded weight: 2,095lb
Max speed when towed by Bf 109G: 344mph at 19,680ft
Climb Rate when towed: 12 min to 22,960ft
Max speed in 20 degree dive: 292mph at 6,560ft
Armament: Two 30mm cannon
Aircraft of the Luftwaffe 1935-1945, Jean-Denis G.G. Lepage.
Combines a good background history of the Luftwaffe with a comprehensive examination of its aircraft, from the biplanes of the mid 1930s to the main wartime aircraft and on to the seemingly unending range of experimental designs that wasted so much effort towards the end of the war. A useful general guide that provides an impressively wide range of information on almost every element of the Luftwaffe (Read Full Review)
