Blohm & Voss Ha 139

Blohm & Voss · Germany · first flew 1936 · airliner

The Blohm & Voss Ha 139 was a four-engined, all-metal, inverted gull wing floatplane built for the German airline Deutsche Luft Hansa. At completion it was one of the largest float-equipped seaplanes built.

Recognition (WEFT)

W — Wings	Low-mounted, straight
E — Engines	4 × piston, wing-mounted
F — Fuselage	20.07 m fuselage
T — Tail	Twin fin

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Spot it by:

Parallel-chord inverted gull wing, with anhedral inboard and dihedral outboard
Four Junkers Jumo 205C diesel engines, the inner pair at the joint of the wing sections above the floats
Two pylon-mounted single-step floats, with twin fins and rudders

A large four-engined floatplane with an inverted gull wing and two floats on pylons under the wings. Larger fins and rudders were fitted after the first trials.

Specifications

The Blohm & Voss Ha 139 has a length of 20.07 m (66 ft).
It has a wingspan of 29.5 m (97 ft).
Its maximum speed is 288 km/h (179 mph).
Typical crew: 4-5.

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

History

Development began in 1935 to a Luft Hansa specification, and the first aircraft, Ha 139 V1, flew in October 1936. The wing used a large-diameter steel tube main spar that also served as a fuel tank, and was fitted with four hydraulic landing flaps.

Variants

The Ha 139B had greater size and weight and lower-mounted engines. A land-based derivative became the Blohm & Voss BV 142, and a reconnaissance bomber version was proposed but never built.

Where you'll see it

Luft Hansa received the first aircraft in 1937 and flew transatlantic routes, mainly in the South Atlantic between Bathurst and Natal. The aircraft were taken on by the Luftwaffe during the war, and none survived it.

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