Blohm und Voss Bv-141
the most asymmetrical aircraft ever built
Blohm & Voss company of Hamburg, Germany was, and still is, a shipbuilder, (but I gather they've stopped building U-boats). They turned to the production of flying boats as well, with great success.
However, their most interesting aircraft may be this one. It was designed by Richard Vogt, but the Reichs Luftfahrtministerium shied away from the odd design. Still, Blohm und Voss had so much confidence in it that they produced a prototype at their own risk. This was followed up by two more prototypes and finally ten production models, but the unconventional appearance of the plane was too much for the Nazis. (Regarding this, it strikes one as extremely funny that the original tail design was altered to please the Brownies, resulting in inferior flying chracteristics.)
Lucky for us, because the first test flight on 25 February 1938 showed that the aerodynamic qualities of the design were unequalled. One of the main problems with a single engine plane is the motor torque, which was canceled out by the asymmetrism. Cockpit view must have been great as well.
The plane was 1215cm long with a wingspan of 1728cm. Powered by a BMW132 radial engine of 625hp, it had a top speed of 446km/hr, a ceiling of 9000m, and a range of 1260km (if "knots" and "nautical miles" are meant by the "miles" we got, as I expect and as it should be - when will you guys grow up and go metric?)
This range was almost twice that of the Fw-189 which the Nazis had preferred.
From The World's Worst Aircraft
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 from Airfix 1/72 model instructions BV 141 B-02 |
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Blohm und Voss seaplanes
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| BV Bv238 | BV Bv138 | BV Ha139 |
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| BV Ha139 in catapult |
 |  When you visit New York, don't miss the Blohm und Voss 1911 clipper Peking moored in the restored South Street Port in Manhattan. |  |
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