In Service:
First Flight:
Manufacturer: Blohm
& Voss
Number built: 1,100
Type: Anti-ship Missiles
Guidance system: Radieschen homing guidance
Length: 3.53 m
Wingspan: 6.4 m
Diameter: 0.542 m
Weight: 730 kg
Engine: 1 ×
Maximum speed: 450 km/h
Range: 210 km
Warhead: 435 kg
Fuze:
Launch Platform: He
111,
Fw 190
Operators: Luftwaffe
Variants:
Other: Missiles
Articles:
The Blohm & Voss Bv 246 Hagelkorn (Hailstone) originally known
as Bv 226. Designed and developed by
Blohm
& Voss in 1943 under the leadership of Dr.-Ing.
Richard
Vogt.
The designation was changed to Bv 246 on 12 December 1943,
when production was started. The main idea for Bv 246 was
to attack targets from the air at a greater distance than
the defending anti-aircraft guns, allowing the bomb to glide
to its target and allowing the carrier aircraft to escape.
The Bv 246 had a clean cigar shaped fuselage and a cruciform
tail in early versions and a double ventral tail mounted on
the sides of a wide horizontal stabiliser. In later versions.
The wings were constructed of diecast concrete aerofoils with
a steel core. Although the concrete wings made the Bv 246
Hagelkorn extremely heavy, it did manage a very acceptable
glide angle of 25:1, allowing it a range of 210 km if dropped
from 10,500 m.
The Bv 246 was originally meant to be guided by a radiolink
from the carrier aircraft such as the
He
111,
Fw 190 and
Ju 88 but
the British had began successfully countering German radio
navigational aids and so the project was officially cancelled
on the 26 February 1944, mainly due to re-emphasising priorities
within the German missile programme.
However in 1945. There was renewed interest in the Bv 246
when it was used in tests with a Radieschen (Radish) which
was designed by Dr.-Ing. Kleinwächter. Ultrashort wave,
passive homing device, which would allow it to home in on
enemy radar systems.
The Bv 246 had to be modified to fit the Radieschen into the
nose compartment, and acted on gyroscopic autopilot for the
rudders and elevator. Ten Bv 246 were fitted with Radieschen
system and thoroughly tested out at Unterlüss artillery
range, of the ten only two managed to reach their target.
The eight failures were due to the gyroscopic autopilot, which
was still under development. However the two that did make
it were extremely accurate. Even though 1,100 Bv 246 have
been produced none ever made operational use. The Blohm &
Voss team were involved in a number projects similar to the
Bv 246 like the
Bv 143
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
