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 
