BLOHM VOSS HA 137V-2

Blohm und Voss Ha 137 was a prototype German low-wing dive bomber from the interwar period. The prototype flight took place in 1935. The machine, however, never entered mass production. The drive was provided - in the Ha 137 V-4 - by a single Jumo 210Aa engine with 590 HP. The length of the aircraft was 9.45 meters with a wingspan of 11.15 meters. The deck armament consisted of four 7.92 mm MG 17 machine guns. The machine was also supposed to be able to carry a load of bombs weighing up to 200 kilograms. The Ha 137 model was developed at the Hamburger Flugzeugwerke aviation factory, a subsidiary of Blohm und Voss, and Richard Vogt was its chief designer. The machine was created in connection with a competition announced by the German Ministry of Aviation (German abbreviation: RLM) for a dive bomber for the Luftwaffe. The constructor, when creating the Ha 137 model, relied heavily on the assumptions and solutions that he had previously used in the experimental Kawasaki Ki-5 aircraft. The so-called inverted gull wings and various power units were tested. During the tests, a few prototypes were created and despite the fact that they performed well in the air, they were characterized by a very low load capacity of the bombs and no rear gunner position. Ultimately, the plane lost the competition with the Junkers Ju-87.