Blohm & Voss BV 138 escorting a Black Sea convoy shoots down an attacking Soviet bomber in 1943

Originally developed under the company name of Hamburger Flugzeugbau, the Blohm & Voss BV 138 was initially designated the Ha 138. Its appearance was unique in its combination of unusual design features with its twin boom tail unit, short fuselage and trimotor engine configuration. The short hull, with its hydrodynamic step beneath and flat sides, earned it the nickname, "Fliegender Holzschuh" (the flying clog).
The pre-production prototypes and the BV 138 A-01 to BV 138 A-06, were powered by various makes of engines ranging from 650-1,000 hp. The first standardized version, BV 138 B-1, was powered by three 868 hp Junkers Jumo 205D two-stroke, opposed-piston aircraft diesel engines. The engine cowlings also had an atypical appearance, due to the unique nature of the vertical orientation of the six-cylinder opposed-piston Jumo 205 diesel engines, and resembled the cowlings of 4 or 6-cylinder inverted inline engines found on smaller civil and utility aircraft from the Jumo 205's propshaft placement, emerging forward at the uppermost front end of the powerplant. The choice for diesel engines made it possible to refuel at sea from U-boats, who also use diesel engines. When refueling at sea, the airplane had to be fitted with a fuel filter as diesel fuel from ships contains some condensation.
There were three gun positions on the aircraft, the most powerful being at the bow as seen firing in the clip at 0:42 that featured an MG 151/20 20mm cannon in an enclosed powered turret. On the stern the fields of fire were obstructed by the tail with the horizontal stabilizer, so there was one gun position lower on the fuselage and a second one higher just behind the central engine. This latter position which could see over the horizontal stabilizer was fully open and could mount a 7.92mm MG 15 machine gun, but most aircraft mounted a 13mm MG 131 heavy machine gun. The lower gun position at the rear fuselage sighted below the horizontal stabilizer. It too was left open and equipped with a machine gun on early aircraft, however later most aircraft mounted an enclosed powered turret similar to the one on the bow as can be observed on the aircraft visible in this footage.
I do this for my own amusement but if you would like to support the channel consider www.buymeacoffee.com/hw97karbine

[@Hoopaball]

Talk about rare footage! That was an amazing perspective.

[@Flippernuts-hi1bp]

Blohm and Voss built some extraordinary aircraft. The company is still very much in business

[@JGCR59]

The shipyard is, the aircraft manufacturer section today builds Airbusses but the old factory site is still in use

[@navnig]

@@JGCR59 And helicopters I think.....

[@JGCR59]

The flying clog was a tough old beast. One of the few if not the only frontline service in WW2 with diesel engines, which had the additional benefit of making refuelling at sea by ships or U-Boats possible

[@hectorheathcote9495]

Great find. Never see actual combat footage of the BV-138's.

[@momotheelder7124]

I knew the Arado 196 tangled with Beaufighters in the Mediterranean, but this is completely new to me

[@soberossack6610]

Awesone! Did'nt see it before

[@TumbleTrashOfficial]

I didn't know they used these types of aircraft as escorts.

[@effoednagy1]

It always improves my day when you upload. All these cool videos I'd never find anywhere else.
Thanks for the content and love your stuff. Keep it up!

[@glennledrew8347]

Ah, the flying clog.

[@antibulletdodger101]

Where do you find all this never before seen footage? You must´ve found some archive which was never digitlized after WW2. Really cool.

[@hw97karbine]

i.imgur.com/PCIWLZ5.jpg

[@antibulletdodger101]

Yes, I was going to add that I know you wouldn´t reveal your main source. Obviously. I was more interested in some general information, like "old German basement with boxes filled with film reels", or such.@@hw97karbine

[@mattl3729]

@@hw97karbine LOL Understandable ;) But part of me is still so amazed that, like watching an incredible magic trick, I still want to know LOL

[@hw97karbine]

It's mostly obscure corners of national archives, I'm not doing any digitizing myself, the "trick" is to have the patience to trawl through hours of mundane footage to find those fascinating nuggets, and to have enough historical knowledge to know what you're looking at, because very often clips are poorly labeled if at all.

[@mattl3729]

@@hw97karbine Well then you deserve even more thanks for all that work!

[@212th]

Crazy footage

[@captain0080]

Interesting, i thought flying boats were only used in recon.

[@Smoshy16]

They were mostly used for recon and rescue but a number of the planes could hold their own in a battle. The Short Sunderland was nicknamed by the Germans as "The Flying Porcupine". It was quite a formidable opponent.

[@captain0080]

@@Smoshy16 thanks for the info 👍👍👍👍

[@capthawkeye8010]

@@Smoshy16 They were just used in sectors that weren't dense with fighters or AA. They'd be sitting ducks on any of the primary fronts-but the war was much larger than where the most well-known battles were happening.

[@PauloPereira-jj4jv]

Wich type of bomber? Anyone can guess?

[@captain0080]

​@@PauloPereira-jj4jvcant tell exactly, but looking at a list of ww2 era soviet naval aircraft it could be an Ilyushyn DB-4

[@mammaliturchi54]

molto bello questo filmato, e credo anche molto raro

[@normvw4053]

Reminds me a great deal about the P-61 Black Widow. Another innovative fighter, in the same idea of the P-38.

[@GrumblingGrognard]

NOT your typical dog fight!

[@ThePilot4ever]

If I am to make a calculated guess then the soviet bomber is a DB-3 judging by the black outline on top of the nose. Amazing footage all the same

[@russelljutte2682]

Diesel engines so they could be refueled at sea by tenders.