The Blohm & Voss BV P.144 was designed to serve a variety
of roles, and was to operate along the east coast of the United States.
This huge flying boat project was capable of landing on the high seas,
and the hull was stepped, with a standard hydrodynamic lower hull. Four
Jumo 223 (24 cylinder, 2500 horsepower each) engines
were mounted on the wing leading edge and provided the power. A twin fin
and rudder tail configuration was chosen, in part to provide a clear field
of fire for the remotely controlled tail turret. The underwing floats located
beneath the outboard wing sections were fixed and nonretractable.
A crew of ten manned the BV P.144, and there was a glazed weapons station at the rear of the fuselage, which remotely operated the tail turret, and a turret under the rear fuselage. This weapons station also served as the control and aiming station for air-launched remotely-controlled weapons (such as the Hs 293 of Fritz-X). These weapons could be mounted on underwing racks, along with aerial torpedoes, mines or normal bombs. There was also a waterproof internal bomb bay. Defensive armament consisted of the single tail FDL 151 (MG 151/20 20 mm cannon) and three FDL 131 ( twin MG 131 13 mm machine guns), mounted in three remotely-controlled turrets (two on the top of the fuselage, one beneath the rear fuselage). This project was canceled in 1944.
