Blohm & Voss BV 138

what is it?

The Blohm & Voss BV 138 Seedrache (Sea Dragon) was a trimotor flying boat designed and built by the German aircraft manufacturer Blohm & Voss. It served as the Luftwaffe's primary seaborne long-range maritime patrol and naval reconnaissance aircraft operated by the Luftwaffe during the Second World War. The BV 138 was a pre-war design by Dr Richard Vogt, originally developed under the company name of Hamburger Flugzeugbau, and thus it was initially designated Ha 138 instead.

🔎How to recognise it: 3 piston engines with propellers · 26.9 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 285 km/htop speed
• range 1,220 kmwithout refuelling
• seats 10passengers
• size 17.7 tmax take-off weight
• built 297made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 89 years ago, in 1937.
• 🏎️Top speed is 2.2× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 26.9 m: about 6 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 3 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🌍Range of 1,220 km: 7× Amsterdam to Brussels.

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1937-07-15

introduced

1940

number built

297

role

maritime patrol, long-range reconnaissance

origin

German Reich

makers

Blohm+Voss

engines

3× Junkers Jumo 205D

passengers

10

length

19.9 m

wingspan

26.9 m

height

5.9 m

max take-off weight

17.7 t

top speed

285 km/h

cruise speed

235 km/h

range

1,220 km

ceiling

5,000 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.