Blohm & Voss BV-141 - was I hallucinating?

[johnhinson]

Something very strange flew low and slow over my house today in Northamptonshire.

It appeared to only have a single engine on one wing. After much scratching around the internet, I think it may have been a Blohm & Voss BV-141 - per:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blohm_%26_Voss_BV_141 and
http://www.vrcurassow.com/2dvrc/sscurac ... dVoss.html

On reflection, I think it is perfectly possible that the engine was actually on the fuselage, and the cockpit on the wing. I'm pretty sure the tail was balanced and not one sided, although it appears some were built like that. The wings and fuselage very much resembled the shape of said plane. So . . .
1. Do any of this type still exist?
2. Could an airworthy one be in the UK?
3. If not, do any reproductions exist?
4. Is there something similar I could have mistaken it for?

Or do I need to call for the men in white coats to take me away?

John

[DaveB]

Hi John..

Not heard of any 141 projects but that's often the way.. you get to hear about it when it's finished! I've fond memories of my Airfix model and that's probably the last one I saw.

ATB

DaveB :tab:

[Quixoticish]

Are you sure it wasn't one of these?

http://www.aviastar.org/air/usa/rutan_boomerang.php

[AllanL]

Rats - I was about to say that 2!!

[johnhinson]

Are you sure it wasn't one of these?

http://www.aviastar.org/air/usa/rutan_boomerang.php

Thanks - looking at the drawings and pictures I don't think so as:
a) the wings were large, square-ended, and not raked, and
b) the fuselage seemed more constant in thickness along its length.
c) definitely only one tail upright, because the lump on the wing didn't go back that far.
d) I would estimate it was doing about 100 to 120 KIAS (at 2500 to 3000 feet), that one's cruise speed is about twice that.
e) And it didn't sound at all Lycoming - a deep throaty piston engine.

and, whilst it is hard to compare from drawings and pictures (and just a passing glimpse), I'm guessing that is sort of Cessna-sized whereas what I saw was substantially larger, although not as big as, say, a C-47.

It is so hard to be certain now, it was only a momentary viewing and the longer time passes the less I can be sure about anything.

Best wishes,

John

[bigred1970]

could it have been something like this.

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Norpaq-( ... 1503834/L/

seen at a angle where one of the floats was blended in with the fuselage.

the otter is BIG for a single engine plane

[johnhinson]

Thanks for the good ideas, but no, not like that at all.

Must have been Dave's airfix kit on a day out.

Really strange . . . and almost unbelievable. Bet you all think I'm nuts!

John

[bigred1970]

it is the weekend, maybe if you go to one of your local airports you might see it out.

if you get a photo I am sure somebody here will be able to identify it.

[ianhind]

I'm going to throw this one in:

http://www.diamond-air.at/da42ng+M52087573ab0.html

Not least because it is powered by turbo diesel. So big round engine - perhaps it sounds different too?

There was one (D-GAAA) in at East Midlands on Tuesday - don't know where it went after that.

I saw one of these recently and managed to grab a photo (crop of photo using 450mm lens on Nikon D70 so good under the conditions!) and check the registration otherwise I would have been none the wiser.



From a different angle could the mystery plane be one of these?

Ian

[johnhinson]

You gents are being very patient with me, thanks.

Firstly, by its heading, I would say the first airport it would come across would be Coventry. Hard to be sure. Alas my heath prohibits outings at the moment.

Looking at that Diamond, again I would say far too small. Comparisons of proportions with what my memory still holds are:
1. wings deeper (front to rear)
2. fuselage more consistently sausage-shaped
3. what I thought was the engine (but could be the cockpit!) was also quite sausage shaped

In terms of cross-section, the fuselage was quite rounded - one of my first thoughts when seeing it (and before spotting the apparent lack of one engine) was that it could be some type of seaplane but I ruled that out before it had passed by far.

I saw it against a white sky so I can't be sure of the paint job but I don't think it had any Luftwaffe markings or anything obviously military in terms of markings. It looked quite plain, but that could have just been the silhouette effect. As you can well imagine, when I noticed it only appeared to have one engine my jaw dropped somewhat and I was totally focussed on that until it disappeared from view.

Spooky!

John