Safe to say, the BV 238 took to the War Thunder community like a duck to water. New to the German premium tech tree was a certain Dumbo-looking big, green monstrosity that'd last seen the light of day 71 years prior.
#BV 238 WAR THUNDER TECH TREE UPDATE#
That was, until September 29th, 2016, with the release of War Thunder's update 1.63 "Desert Hunters". Largely forgotten by both ex-airmen of the Allies and the Germans. And so, the BV 238 would fade into near complete obscurity. In any case, the BV 238 went to its death without carrying so much as Eva Braun's handbag.
Others claim it was the Americans flying P-51 Mustangs. Some claim the ship was strafed by the RAF using Hawker Typhoons. Instead, the final days of the only BV 238 are shrouded in mystery. It was thought the BV 238 could transport top German officials away from the crumbling capital of Berlin in the event of defeat, including Adolf Hitler himself.
It could also carry up to 20 551 lb (250 kg) bombs in wing-mounted bays or even Henschel Hs 293 radio-controlled glide bombs. A good aspect for sure when the airplane in question is the aerial target equivalent of the broad side of a barn. Consisting of as many as 20 or more machine guns ranging in size from 13 to 20mm, the 238 was very capable of defending itself. That's without talking about the aircraft's assessment of defensive weapons. Powered by six Daimler-Benz DB 603G inverted V12 engines, this 200,000 lb-plus (90,718 kg) behemoth could cruise at 200 mph (322 kph) across ranges of 6,620 km (4,110 miles) at altitudes in excess of 20,000 feet (6,100 m). With dimensions of 43.35 meters (142 ft 3 in) long, a 60-meter wingspan (197 ft 5 in), and a stunning 12.8 meters (42 ft) tall, an American B-29 Superfortress bomber, the largest plane in the Allied arsenal, sat comfortably within the BV 238s proportions. Soon after, the first full-scale prototype would be ready.
Though not exactly identical to the 238 in terms of looks, the design allowed German engineers to study the novel, durable, and highly advanced hull that the BV 238 would use in the field. Potentially even trans-Atlantic.Ī roughly quarter-scale model of the BV 238 was constructed in German-occupied Czechoslovakia. What was required was a super heavy cargo transport airplane capable of hauling hundreds of troops, dozens of vehicles, or whatever cargo the German Wehrmacht required over vast distances. The concept was simple in theory but endlessly complex in practice. The first whisperings of an attempt to build the largest flying boat ever constructed at that time date back to early 1941, during the dog days of Operation Barbarossa. Despite finding their home on the water, Blohm & Voss flying boats were under the jurisdiction of the land-based German Air Force (Luftwaffe) as opposed to the German Navy (Kriegsmarine). Their two most notable production models were the BV 138 tri-motor, a twin-boom flying boat, and a military cargo flying boat that was smaller than the BV 238 but still nonetheless massive, called the BV 222 Wiking. These are defined as seaplanes with ship-like hulls as opposed to floatplanes using water skids instead of a landing gear.įounded in 1933, the company consolidated its name to Blohm & Voss in 1937 to avoid confusion. Similar to the British Saunders-Roe Company, Blohm & Voss specialized largely in the area of flying boats.
It's a tale of desperation, ingenuity, and the prevailing idea that the war was not going to end well for the Third Reich.Ībteilung Flugzeugbau der Schiffswerft Blohm & Voss, or Hamburger Flugzeugbau for short, was the aeronautical division of the historic Blohm & Voss shipbuilding company of Hamburg, Germany.
#BV 238 WAR THUNDER TECH TREE FREE#
But for those among you who don't spend a portion of their waking free time grinding War Thunder's tech trees, let's take a deep dive into the story of Germany's largest military flying boat.
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