ANT-55
Blohm & Voss Bv 155 A High Altitude fighter prototype
Product Description
| The Blohm & Voss BV 155 A Höhenjäger (high-altitude fighter) was originally a project of the Messerschmitt company. The original designation was Me 155 B-1. Blohm & Voss (from Hamburg) signed a contract with Messerschmitt to co-operate in development of the Me 155, but the Augsburg-based company regarded it as a side product, not paying much attention to it. The Blohm und Voss team was faced with an extremely difficult task of both developing the high altitude fighter and overcoming the obstacles from the original contractor. Eventually the B&V management filed an official complaint with the RLM against Messerschmitt and finally, in mid-1944, all the work was entrusted to the Hamburg Company. Designers headed by Dr. Richard Vogt were at last able to introduce into Messerschmitt project all the changes they had long suggested. Needless to say, its shape was mainly influenced by the Messerschmitt, so the fuselage of the Me 109 G formed the basis for the airplane’s development. Dr. Vogt prepared a new wing design, complete with its fuel tanks that were integral with the structure and provided with excellent armor protection. Two large radiators in aerodynamics fairings were located on the upper wing surfaces. The undercarriage was entirely new, with a wide track of 6.82 mts. To save developing time, some components of the undercarriage were going to be taken over from types already in production: the main gear leg would come from the Junkers Ju 87 Stuka D; the 840 X 300 mm main wheel would be the same of the Me 262 and the retractable tail wheel of 380 X 150 mm would come from the Me 209. The plane would be powered by a Daimler-Benz DB 603U engine and equipped with the Heinkel-Hirth TKL 15 turbo-supercharger placed in fuselage bottom. A four blade VDM 9-11 propeller with a diameter of 3.40 mts. was chosen for the aircraft. As standard armament, it was planned to use two 20 mm MG 151/20 cannon fitted in each wing and a 30 mm MK 103 cannon in the fuselage firing through the propeller shaft. The wingspan of the aircraft was 21 mts, the fuselage length was 11.65 mts. and the height was 3.90 mts. A mock-up was built and tested in the LFA wind tunnel at Völkenrod, near Brünswick. Finally, the BV 155 A never was constructed, but it was served as basis for an entirely new project, born from Blohm und Voss Company, the Bv 155 B high-altitude fighter, whose V-1 prototype flew on February 8, 1945. |
