Blohm & Voss BV 155 - BV 155A

BV 155A

In September 1943, an order for five prototypes was placed. Blohm & Voss decided that the design problems still needed fixing, but by late 1943 they still hadn't been addressed. A meeting was called to finally address these problems, but the Messerschmitt people didn't bother to show up. As late as November 1943 changes were still being made, and Blohm & Voss decided to remove the complex underwing radiators favoured by Messerschmitt for two large scoop-type units mounted above the wings. B&V built a mock-up and had it tested in the LFA wind tunnel, but Messerschmitt refused to help. Late in 1943, Blohm & Voss formally advised the RLM of their problems with Messerschmitt and implored them to intervene. By this point, the T-Amt was just as fed up, and removed Messerschmitt from the project entirely.

The design, now named the BV 155A, was finally completely in the hands of one design team. B&V modified the design with a completely new laminar flow wing in place of the original "extended" one from the Me 155. They also changed details of many other parts of the plane, including new landing gear (from the Ju 87) and a new tail unit. Further wind tunnel testing showed that there was a serious problem with the overwing radiators, at high angles of attack the wing "blanked" them from the airflow and cooling would suffer. The decision was made to abandon the A model completely and move on.

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