Military aircraft

Blohm & Voss P.194

German military aircraft design

The Blohm & Voss P 194 was a German design for a mixed-power Stuka or ground-attack aircraft and tactical bomber, during World War II.

== History == Along with the P 192, P 193, and P 196, the P 194 was one of four designs Blohm & Voss submitted in response to a requirement issued by the RLM in February 1944 for a stuka or ground-attack aircraft and tactical bomber to replace the Junkers Ju 87. In the event, the RLM decided not to go ahead with a new aircraft but instead to adapt the existing Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter to the tactical bomber role.

== Design == Like several other designs by Richard Vogt, the P 194 featured an asymmetric arrangement. The layout was broadly similar to that of the BV 141: the crew and weapons were carried in a large nacelle offset from the main fuselage structure that carried a propeller-driven engine in the nose and the empennage at the rear, joined by a common wing. However, in the P 194, a turbojet was added low down at the rear of the crew nacelle and the thrust from this engine was intended to help balance the thrust from the propeller. A powerful cluster of guns was to be located in the nose of the nacelle, clear of the propeller, and a bombload of up to 500 kg (1,100 lb) was to be carried in an internal bomb bay in the fuselage. Using a high proportion of steel in its structure, the design of the P 194 was simplified by using a significant number of parts from other projects, notably the BV 155 prototype and earlier BV 237 asymmetric stuka proposal.

=== Variants === P 194.00-101 version with 16 m (52 ft) wingspan and jet air intake under cockpit pod P 194.01-02 version with 15.3 m (50.2 ft) wingspan, bubble canopy and jet intake under cockpit pod P 194.02-01 as above, but with turbojet located beneath cockpit P 194.03-01 as P 194.01-02, but with jet intakes located in the wing roots at the sides of the cockpit pod.

== Specifications (P 194-01, as designed) == Data from General characteristics Crew: 1 Length: 12.1 m (39 ft 8 in) Wingspan: 15.3 m (50 ft 2 in) Height: 3.7 m (12 ft 2 in) Wing area: 36.4 m2 (392 sq ft) Empty weight: 6,500 kg (14,330 lb) Gross weight: 9,350 kg (20,613 lb) Powerplant: 1 × BMW 801D 14-cyl. air-cooled radial piston engine, 1,200 kW (1,600 hp) Powerplant: 1 × Junkers Jumo 109-004 axial flow turbojet engine, 8.7 kN (2,000 lbf) thrust Performance

Maximum speed: 775 km/h (482 mph, 418 kn) Range: 1,070 km (660 mi, 580 nmi) Service ceiling: 11,100 m (36,400 ft) Armament

Guns: 2 × fixed, forward-firing 30 mm (1.181 in) MK 103 cannon 2 × fixed, forward-firing 20 mm (0.787 in) MG 151/20 cannon Bombs: 500 kg (1,100 lb) of bombs in an internal bomb-bay

Notes

== References == Hugh Cowin, "Blohm und Voss Projects of World War II", Part I, Air Pictorial, October 1963, pp. 313–314. Myhra, David (1998). Secret Aircraft Designs of the Third Reich. Atglen: Schiffer. Nowarra, Heinz (1983). Die deutsche Luftrüstung 1933-1945. Bonn: Bernard and Graefe.

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