In Service:
First Flight: 1941
Manufacturer: Blohm
& Voss
Number built: 251
Type: Anti-ship Missiles
Guidance system: Gyroscopic autopilot
Length: 5.98 m
Wingspan: 3.17 m
Diameter: m
Weight: 1,073 kg
Engine: 1 ×
Walter
HWK 109-501 liquid fuel rocket engine producing up to
kg of thrust
Maximum speed: km/h
Range: 8,000 m
Warhead: 500 kg
Fuze:
Launch Platform:
He 111
Operators: Luftwaffe
Variants:
Bv 143A
Bv143B
Other: Missiles
Articles:
The Blohm & Voss Bv 143 was a winged torpedo glide bomb and
designed and developed by
Blohm
& Voss in 1941 under the leadership of Dr.-Ing.
Richard
Vogt.
Which was intended to be released from an aircraft at high
altitude to avoid the ever increasing presence of anti-aircraft
weapons on Allied merchant ships. The Bv 143 had a cigar shaped
body with very simple square tipped wings and a cruciform
tail unit, its course was maintained by a gyroscopic autopilot,
which adjusted the control services. These control services
consisted of a divided elevator, a divided rudder and ailerons
of the detached, and auxiliary wing type. stability was given
by wing dihedral. After being launched from a
He
111 the Bv 143 was designed to make its approach in a
flat glide and when 2 m from the sea's surface, a feeler arm
hanging from the fuselage was moved by the sea to switch on
the
Walter
HWK 109-501 liquid fuel rocket motor. The acceleration
and power produced by the
Walter
HWK 109-501 liquid fuel rocket motor was intended to bring
the missile into level flight, which would allow it to speed
into the target just above the waterline. However the Bv 143.
had too many technical difficulties and continually failed
to maintain altitude, or the liquid fuel rocket motors failed
to ignite, and so the project was cancelled. The Blohm & Voss
team were involved in a number projects similar to the Bv
143 like the
Bv
246
The Warplanes of the Third Reich.
ISBN-10: 0385057822
German Aircraft of the Second World War.
ISBN-10: 0370000242
Hitler's Luftwaffe.
ISBN-10: 051718771X
For a complete list of
sources
