Germany's Podracer-esque Bomber: Blohm & Voss P 170
In this video, we talk about the Blohm & Voss P 170 , a proposed schnellbomber (fast bomber) design that (I think) strongly resembles the podracers from Star Wars. We talk about what the general concept of schnellbombers were supposed to be. We also talk about potential advantages and disadvantages of the P 170's strange design and why it would never be accepted or made in any capacity. Finally, we take a guess at how the P 170 would have performed if it had been made.
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We got free coffee at my work. I doubt that whatever Blohm & Voss offered their employees was legal even at the time...
What were the designers smoking? It certainly wasn't tobacco.
German engineers - "lets see, what kind of bomber platform and we produce that will be really different. Hold my beer while I show you my idea."
Got to admit Blohm and Vost built some fascinating weird planes 👍
Ah yes, the Warhawk from Crimson Skies.
That's what George Lucas has the inspiration from... 😂😂😂
I love weird german designs
One caveat you totally forget to mention and a strong reason TO NOT MAKE the design, is that each frame uses up THREE ENGINES which could be used to build three fighters of which Germany desperately needed to fight the Reich from bomber raids. The three engine design is pretty much why the project would never take off (quite literally) because those resources are too precious to the war effort at that point.
While loosing the war, Germany still won the weirdest Aircraft Design Award 🏆
Dry humor is the best way to handle most of the paper B&V designs. They were bound and determined to be remembered for their contributions to the air war and they got their wish. They were definitely remembered. For a few silly aircraft and a LOT of silly drawings.
If Kelly Johnson had designed it, there would be semi-circular winglets outboard of the end nacelles...
There's a game I used to play called Crimson Skies...one of the planes was called a Curtiss-Wright P2 Warhawk.
Oh, so that's what inspired that one Crimson Skies plane. I always wondered if it was based on something real, but never thought to look at bombers - the game made it a heavy fighter.
The deHavilland Mosquito was arguably the only successful Schnellbomber.
Blohm and Voss had some of the wierdest designed aircraft that never made it past the drawing board. This shnell bomber is certainly no exception. There was another Blohm and Voss design where this plane was piloted from a pod at the wingtip. The second pod at the opposite wingtip served as a gunners station. Not sure how this odd aircraft would have flown. It appears that many of Blohm and Voss's designs were rather unique and ambitious.
Remember that the British Mosquito was basically a "schnellbomber" and it was arguably one of the most successful planes of the entire war. This proves that the problem in this case clearly wasn't in the idea, it was in the execution. A lightweight tri-motor fast bomber could have been a fantastic idea if it had been executed more conventionally, with the two outboard engines mounted mid-wing rather than on the ends and a conventional tail.
The pc version of Crimson Skies had an inspired version of this. That game and Il2 1946 made me fascinated with prototype/never were planes.
Something you didn't mention is that plane would have been weird to fly. The initial g forces would be opposite of a normal aircraft as the tail cockpit swings the other way around the CoG. Then It would immediately reverse to the g forces applied to the whole plane. I imagine it would be highly discomforting
Definitely B&V getting deeply into weird designs. What a horror to land with all that fuselage in front of you. I would like to build an RC model to see if it would actually fly.
This aircraft has some beautiful lines; thanks for making this “what-if” video. With regards to vertical fin placement, Burt Rutan’s series of canard wing, pusher prop kit planes (the VariEze and LongEZ, etc) put the vertical surfaces out on the wingtips. Beautiful planes, and, like Blohm & Voss, Rutan designed some groundbreaking asymmetric and unconventional airframes. Now I’m going to find the video of the RC version one of your other viewers mentioned!