Blohm und Voss BV 40 (oz5736)

About this Plan

Blohm and Voss BV 40. Das Ugly Glider. Radio control scale German WWII glider fighter model.

Quote: "The B-17's droned on, deep into Germany now, but still flying an impec-cable formation. In the gun turrets of 'The Saint Jo Belle' wary eyes scanned the skies for attacking fighters. The rear gunner, like the others, saw nothing but enemy fresh air, except for what appeared to be a fly slowly approaching his window. As he leaned forward to get a closer look the fly opened fire.

Maybe this wasn't quite how Dr Vogt imagined it, but this was the basic idea behind his design, the Blohm and Voss BV40. Studies by the German Air Force had shown that it was almost impossible for their existing fighters to approach close enough to a bomber formation to execute an effective attack. What was needed was an invisible fighter, and the FW-190's frontal area of almost 17 square feet wasn't invisible by any means.

Richard Vogt, however, proposed that if sufficient frontal area could be removed, then invisibility could almost be achieved, and that this might be accomplished by eliminating the engine, and using a small glider as a fighter. Certainly unorthodox, the idea was not without appeal, and a design study to investigate the minimum frontal area fighter was made, which resulted in the BV40.

Our drawing on page shows the final configuration, the armament being two 30 mm cannon tucked under the wing roots. A further weapon was proposed - a small bomb which could be suspended from the glider by a cable, but this was not developed.

After the usual teething troubles with the prototype designs, satisfactory flying characteristics were obtained, and flying speeds of about 300 mph were achieved. However, time had run out on the Luftwaffe, and the BV4O programme collapsed (together with the Third Reich) before it could be tested in battle.

The model. We first scaled down the design to make the wing span around 50 in, but it was immediately obvious that certain changes would have to be made. The fuselage as drawn was much too bulky, and the tail surfaces too small. So we moved a line here, and changed a curve there until we had a sensible looking model. We don't therefore claim that this is a true scale model, but rather semi-scale, we tried to preserve the 'feeling' of the original.

Wings. The wings are made in two pieces. First obtain two sheets of 1/16 x 48 x 6 inch wide sheet, one reasonably stiff for the bottom surface, and a more flexible one for the upper surface. Pin down the lower sheet, and mark on the rib locations with a ball point pen. Cut out the required number of wing ribs and glue these in place after first gluing down the leading edge. Now fit the main spar to one wing, and when dry, attack to the other wing. The upper surface sheeting can now be fitted. Attack the wing tips which are made from soft block. Sand the complete wing to the final contours, then reinforce the centre section with gauze bandage securely glued in place. Don't cover the wings yet, as the fuselage fairing has yet to be attached..."

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Supplementary file notes

Article pages, text and drawings, thanks to DougStarwalt. These scans are from the newsletter 'Norair Modeller', not from RCME.

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