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 
