Blohm & Voss BV 144

Blohm & Voss · Germany · first flew 1944 · airliner

The Blohm & Voss BV 144 was an advanced twin-engined airliner developed for Deutsche Luft Hansa. Two prototypes were completed and no production aircraft were built.

Recognition (WEFT)

W — Wings	High-mounted, straight
E — Engines	2 × piston, wing-mounted
F — Fuselage	21.8 m fuselage
T — Tail	Twin fin

WEFT is AircraftIQ's four-point recognition method — how it works.

Spot it by:

All-metal cantilever monoplane of broadly conventional layout with a high-mounted wing
Twin fins on the tail unit
Tricycle (nosewheel) landing gear, unusual for the period

Look for a twin-engined high-wing airliner with twin fins and a nosewheel undercarriage. Its wing could be rotated by up to 9 degrees to change the angle of attack without changing fuselage attitude.

Specifications

The Blohm & Voss BV 144 has a length of 21.8 m (72 ft).
It has a wingspan of 27 m (89 ft).
Its maximum speed is 470 km/h (292 mph).
Typical crew: 3.

Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.

History

Luft Hansa asked for a successor to the Junkers Ju 52 in 1940. The prototypes were built by Breguet in occupied France, and the first made its maiden flight in August 1944.

Variants

Two prototypes were built. After the war at least one received French Air Force markings, and it is claimed that one served as the private aircraft of Charles de Gaulle.

Where you'll see it

France decided against quantity production of the type, so it never entered airline service.

Related aircraft

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