The Blohm & Voss Bv 141 - A Technical Guide

Airframe Detail No. 1, Richard A. Franks, Valiant Wings Publishing Ltd., Bedford, England, 2014, ISBN 978-0-9575866-7-3. Illustrated, softcover, published in English.

Cover image © by Valiant Wings Publishing Ltd., 2014.

It is pleasantly astonishing that we live in an age where aircraft formerly thought of as rather obscure - or even outright unworthy of any attention - become the subject of lavish, dedicated publications. I do remember the time well when books on the former German Luftwaffe focused only on the most well known aircraft or units but still rendered all interested parties happy merely due to the fact that one was starved for a publishing house that would actually consider us odd crowd. If a glimpse at aircraft other than, say, Ju 52s, Bf 109s, or Fw 190s was desired, one was left with occasional brief but, in hindsight, vastly pioneering articles in magazines such as Flug Revue + flugwelt (authored by Hans Redemann), Modell Magazin (Heinz Birkholz, Theodor Mohr, Karl Kössler, Heinz Mankau, and many others), Modell Fan (Manfred Leihse, Gebhard Aders, etc.), or Luftfahrt international (Günther Ott, Karl Kössler, etc.).

Things have changed dramatically in the past thirty or forty years, of course. We are now not only treated to the substantial array of information available through the internet (as utterly flawed and/or regurgitated as it often is), the possibility of near-instant exchange of research and images provided by the very same medium, and plenty of books about rare types such as, e.g., the Junkers Ju 287, Messerschmitt Me 264, Horten Ho 229, or Focke-Wulf Ta 152. Happy times, indeed, and among the latest such publications is Richard Frank's Airframe Detail No. 1 on the rare but truly unique Blohm & Voss BV 141.

By and large the book follows the concept of earlier releases by Franks/Valiant Wings. And those have set a reasonably high standard. At 66 pages and a format of 29 x 21 cm, the layout, paper quality, and text and image reproduction of the book are quite exceptional, as expected.

Once again, as with Franks' previous Valiant Wings releases, The Blohm & Voss Bv 141 is a comprehensive examination of the aircraft's various details, preceded by an 11-page illustrated overview of the history of the BV 141. The material provided in the technical description section of the book is beautifully opulent, consisting of 38 pages of close-up photos as well as reproductions of drawings sourced from the aircraft's handbook. This comprises cockpit and interior details, landing gear, wings, empennage, armament, and equipment. Much of this material is known to those seriously studying the Luftwaffe, and the handbook has been available commercially for considerable time. Even so The Blohm & Voss Bv 141 serves as a significantly valuable collection of relevant information.

This content is bookended by a 9-page section discussing camouflage and markings. It also includes numerous rather lovely colour profiles. The profiles are a bit small, however, due to the probably inevitable decision to print them horizontally across the pages rather than vertically. The latter would have resulted either in less aircraft featured or more pages added to the publication. Nonetheless, it works as it is. The book concludes with a 5-page look at BV 141 scale models and a bibliography. All of this makes for a precious and thorough work of reference, not least given the lack of attention this fringe aircraft has endured through past decades. All that is lacking, mysteriously, is a good set of line drawings.

It seems perhaps a bit odd that some authors or publishing houses chose to accompany their specialist publications by advertising or content statements which, upon closer examination, simply serve to direct the reader's attention to very limitations of the publication in question. On page 3 of the book, Franks states that he believes that his The Blohm & Voss Bv 141 contains every existing photo of the BV 141. To anyone familiar with serious Luftwaffe research, this is of course an utterly perilous statement. In spite of the wealth of excellent photos actually featured in Franks' work, it is thus not surprising that a number of previously known photos are missing from the book (e.g. landing gear well details, tail wheel details, canopy details, etc.). Some of them have been available online for many years, for example, courtesy of Lars Kambeck and Gary Webster, or were part of Lars Kambeck's truly excellent four-part series of articles on the BV 141, published in Jet & Prop magazine in 2003 and 2004.

Also on page 3, Franks states that he has chosen a certain manner of writing the aircraft's designation (i.e., Bv 141, Bv 141A-0, etc.). This in spite of the fact that a majority of surviving Blohm & Voss company documentation (some of which is even reproduced in Franks' book) contradicts this (as evidenced by the manner used in this blog). An unimportant detail to some, perhaps, but I find this rather unnecessary and annoying, and it certainly doesn't serve to ensure historical accuracy and prevent confusion.

There are some further puzzling observations, most likely caused by an unfortunate yielding to production requirements. The photo of the cockpit of the BV 141 V2 on page 15, top, for example, also exists in an uncropped version (published by Kambeck) that actually shows the instrument panel referred to by Franks in its very caption. Moreover, some detail shots (a random example would be the cockpit port side shot on page 16, bottom left, or the rear observer's station and cabin interior images on page 17, top) are reproduced so small that they offer hardly any value. In addition, they have been reproduced far larger elsewhere. Odd for a publication named Airframe Detail.

Finally, on page 36, bottom left, there is a photo depicting a pair of devices under the aircraft's starboard wing (they are visible in other photos as well). Franks asks what they are and presumes they might serve to "measure gust". They are, in fact, the Paddelausgleich (Fahnenausgleich) zur Ausrichtung des Querruders [paddle balance supporting aileron movement].

The Paddelausgleich helped the pilot in operating the ailerons. It consisted of two sets of pairs of small, square paddles, mounted under the port and starboard outboard wing segments on slim, forward-pointing support arms. They were linked internally by means of rack and pinion linear actuators, and connected to the aileron by push rods, moving inversely. With increasing deflection of the aileron, the paddles were spread apart into the airstream, thus opposing the force of the control surface and relieving the pilot.

The Paddelausgleich was a device frequently seen on Blohm & Voss aircraft. It is featured, for example, in Modell Magazin 5/1976 (referring to the Blohm & Voss BV 222), Modell Fan 4/1977 and Modell Magazin 4/1977 (Blohm & Voss BV 138) or in Flugzeug Extra 2 (Blohm & Voss Ha 139).

The Heinkel He 219 "Uhu"

[Full title: The Heinkel He 219 "Uhu" - A Detailed Guide To The Luftwaffe's Ultimate Nightfighter], Airframe Album 1, Richard A. Franks, Valiant Wings Publishing Ltd., Bedford, England, 2012, ISBN 978-0-9567198-4-3. Illustrated, softcover, published in English.

Cover image © by Valiant Wings Publishing Ltd., 2012.

I am under the distinct impression that deciding to publish a book about the Heinkel He 219 nightfighter equals walking into a veritable minefield of uncertainty and inconsistency. In spite of the many years that have passed since these aircraft took to the sky, a definitive monograph on the type has yet to appear. Instead, the He 219 books so far published are often marred by contradictions, inaccuracies, and assumptions. Moreover, there's always a marked feel of incompleteness. Even some of the contents of what is currently probably the most thoroughly researched publication on the He 219, the third edition of R. Francis Ferguson's excellent The Heinkel He 219 - A Research Paper (which itself only works in conjunction with earlier publications), have recently been debated.

It's against this background that Richard A. Franks has put together his Detailed Guide on the He 219. That subtitle is quite a bold statement, given that truly reliable information on this aircraft seems so hard to come by. Does assembling and publishing a very large number of detail photos really equal a solid and fully dependable reference work? Well, the result of Franks' efforts is impressive, but also occasionally ambiguous.

Aimed primarily at the model builder, The Heinkel He 219 "Uhu" is for the most part a meticulous examination of the aircraft's technical details, using a combination of original period documentation, illustrations from the aircraft's handbook, and photos taken of what is currently the only complete surviving example, the NASM He 219. As thus expected, the actual history of the aircraft's development is covered only as a two-page summary. The next 43 pages provide a plethora of very valuable reference images, subdivided into sections on fuselage (including cockpit), undercarriage, tail, control surfaces, wings, engines and nacelles (which unfortunately does not include any photos depicting engines actually installed on an airframe), weapons, electrical installations, and access panels. It should be pointed out that some of the photos do show incomplete components.

In the following chapter, titled "Evolution", Franks makes an ambitious attempt to identify and distinguish most all variants of the He 219, whether they reached the actual manufacturing stage or remained mere projects. For a modeler seeking as many images of details as possible, this is perhaps of secondary importance. To me personally, however, this section was of greatest interest. Unfortunately, it is also the section of the book which fails to succeed.

While exactly such a visual depiction of all variants was long overdue and most welcome, it is somewhat pointless if attempted by small isometric drawings which offer only a single cursory view of each type. While author and publisher would probably argue that the inclusion of any further visual information would lead beyond the scope of this book, I do feel that if one actually endeavors to describe the differences between variants in detail, one also needs to provide illustrations to clearly depict them. Why even embark, if one is not prepared to walk the full mile? In this case, this would comprise, for example, drawings which are substantially more comprehensive, including views of the underside (including the weapons tray), and/or detail drawings of the areas of note which differentiate the individual variants.

This very same section of the book contains some further ambiguity. The He 219 V2 is described to have had "contra-rotating propellers/engines" (page 55). The correct description would be "counter-rotating", as "contra-rotating" is something entirely different and not found on the He 219. The text on the He 219 V1 on the previous page is clearer, but still technically incorrect. Due to the lack of actual period images, the isometric views at times also contain elements of speculation, such as the installation of turrets or braking parachutes. This is mostly pointed out, however.

An additional chapter sheds light of the NASM's He 219 A-2. As stated earlier, many photos in this book were taken during the restoration of this aircraft. Incidentally, some of these photos provide evidence of just how crudely the NASM staff proceeded when attempting to recreate the camouflage of this particular He 219. This is somewhat incomprehensible, as portions of the original camouflage had been preserved on the aircraft's skin.

The final chapter dealing with the historic aspect of the He 219 provides information on camouflage and markings. This is augmented by a series of beautiful color profiles by Richard Caruana. These don't always conform to the latest state of research, however. Ernst-Wilhelm Modrow's He 219 G9+FK (page 88), for example, did not carry the letter "U" on the underside of the starboard wing, nor was its Werknummer 190012, apparently (see Ferguson, page 16).

The closing section of The Heinkel He 219 "Uhu" contains a list of He 219 scale models and accessories, and a review of the Revell 1/32nd scale kit. Regrettably, the review in question fails to identify the various shape and accuracy issues that have since been the subject of extensive online discussions. Accordingly, it is of little use to the serious model builder.

With some reservations, Richard A. Franks' The Heinkel He 219 "Uhu" is thus a welcome and very absorbing publication.