From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
On April 5, 1877, Hermann Blohm and Ernst Voss founded the Blohm & Voss Schiffswerft und Maschinenfabrik shipbuilding and engineering works as a general partnership. A shipyard was built on the island of Kuhwerder, near the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, covering 1½ hectares, with a quarter-kilometre of water frontage and three building berths, two suitable for ships of up to 100 metres length.
The company has continued to build ships and other large machines for 125 years. Despite being almost completely demolished after the end of World War II, it now builds warships both for the Deutsche Marine and for export, as well as oil drilling equipment and ships for numerous commercial customers.
From about 1930 to 1945 Blohm & Voss also designed and built aircraft for use by both the German state airline, Lufthansa, and the air-force, Luftwaffe. Particularly noteworthy were the large flying boats the company produced, as well as ingenious approaches to aircraft building that often featured assymetric designs.
The company's Web site is http://www.blohmvoss.com, and an excellent (though copyrighted and hardly NPOV) summary of the company's history can be seen in English at http://www.blohmvoss.com/e/info/presse_02042002_2.html and in German at http://www.blohmvoss.com/d/info/presse_02042002_2.html. The company's name is often found spelled Blohm & Voß in German (and occasionally English) sources. See ß for an explanation of the use of this letter and changes in German spelling that have taken place over the last century with regard to its use.
Blohm & Voss aircraft included:
- Blohm und Voss BV 40, glider interceptor
- Blohm und Voss BV 138, flying-boat (early versions designated as Ha 138)
- Blohm und Voss Ha 139, long-range seaplane
- Blohm und Voss Ha 140, torpedo bomber flying-boat (prototype)
- Blohm und Voss BV 141, reconnaissance (asymmetric)
- Blohm und Voss BV 142, reconnaissance + transport
- Blohm und Voss BV 143, glide bomb (prototype)
- Blohm und Voss BV 144, transport
- Blohm und Voss BV 155, high-altitude interceptor (formerly Me 155)
- Blohm und Voss BV 222 Wiking (Viking), transport flying-boat
- Blohm und Voss BV 238, flying-boat (prototype
- Blohm und Voss BV 246 Hagelkorn (Hailstone), long-range radar-homing glide bomb
