• 
• 
• 

• 

• 
• 

.With the elegant seaplanes Ha 139 and Dornier Do 26, long-distance mail and cargo flights by Deutsche Lufthansa (DLH), especially over the South Atlantic between Brazil and West Africa, had become practically routine by 1939. Further plans by DLH had already envisaged similar air traffic over long mainland routes, for example from Berlin to Peking, Tokyo or Cape Town in South Africa. In addition to the considerable time savings of direct flights and the associated economic benefits, the propaganda value of such operations was also seen as not insignificant. Passenger flights would of course later supplement cargo flights. Lufthansa in particular had already been investing in this since the end of the 1920s. In this respect, the German Aerospace Center has done important pioneering work by promoting and tendering for appropriate models. One possible aeronautical solution for civil long-distance aviation was to convert a successful seaplane into a to convert it into a land plane and, on the other hand, to develop a completely new machine specially designed for this task.
Against this background, the Reich Aviation Ministry (RLM) awarded development contracts to Heinkel in 1936, among others Heinkel brought a new design into the air with the slim four-engine He 116, the HFB officials preferred proposed to further develop the Ha 139 floatplane into a land-based aircraft with wheeled undercarriage. Financial and time-related reasons certainly played a major role here. The requirements placed on the four-engine long-distance aircraft included a cruising speed of 320 km/h over a distance of at least 4000 kilometers with a payload of 400 kilograms. Using entire assemblies of the all-metal Ha 139 construction, the HFB team under chief developer Richard Vogt designed the P 38 project in close cooperation with DLH. After the first three designs, all of which were intended to use Jumo 205 diesel engines, were rejected by Lufthansa, the fourth variant proposed by Vogt with four BMW 132 radial engines brought the DLH representatives onto the scene. The reliable nine-cylinder radial engine was also installed in other aircraft, such as the Focke-Wulf Fw 200, and was designed as a quickly replaceable standard engine.
The design and technical effort for the landplane, now known as the Ha 142, was not a big deal for Richard Vogt and his team. The fuselage structure, including the layout for a crew of four and the 7.5 square meter cargo space, including the technical equipment, were taken from the Ha 139 B. The tail unit and wings of the Ha 139 B were also taken over almost unchanged. Instead of the two floats, the Ha 142 was given a retractable main landing gear with double tires, which was directly connected to the huge tubular spar that ran through the fuselage. The undercarriage swung hydraulically backwards into the engine nacelles and wings. The tail wheel, which also had double tires, could also be swung backwards and played its part in increasing the aerodynamics of the Ha 142. In order to reduce the landing speed, the hydraulically operated landing flaps were enlarged.
On October 11, 1938, the Ha 142 V1, serial number 218, with the registration D-AHFB, took off for its maiden flight in Hamburg-Finkenwerder. The engine was provided by four BMW 132 H engines, each with a take-off power of 880 hp. Compared to the 600 hp Jumo 205 engines of the Ha 139, these provided considerably more thrust. A few weeks later, the second machine followed with the serial number 219. Due to the integration of the HFB into Blohm & Voss at the end of 1937, the aircraft was now correctly designated BV 142 V2 according to the Reich Air Ministry. Both machines were then subjected to extensive factory testing with good results overall. Military concerns increasingly played a role here. During the test flights, a number of structural defects were noticed on the BV 142 V1 in particular, which cost a lot of time but which had to be eliminated at all costs. However, with the overall positive impressions in mind, the RLM commissioned Blohm & Voss to build two more test machines, which were completed in mid-1939. While the BV 142 V1, which had now been nicknamed While the V1 bearing the "Pollux" designation flew mainly at HFB, the BV 142 V2, D-ABUV, was handed over to Lufthansa for testing in 1939. Barely flown anymore Deutsche Lufthansa only used the BV 142 V2, nicknamed "Kastor", very little. Shortly after its completion, a second "142" came to DLH, the BV 142 V3 "Burgenland", D-ATTA. The V3, serial number 437, had improved radio equipment and was supposed to be quickly flown in long-distance testing, but this hardly ever happened. The BV 142 V4, serial number 438, was originally intended for the Luftwaffe, but initially ended up at the DLH as a replacement for the V1. However, the V4 also seems to have hardly flown with the DLH.
In addition, HFB was working on a Ha-142 variant planned for the Netherlands, running under the P 46.01, which was to have four American Wright Cyclone engines. However, the project was dropped. At the end of 1939, all BV 142s were back at Blohm & Voss. DLH's attention was increasingly focused on long-distance passenger traffic; pure mail and freight flights no longer seemed desirable. Above all, however, the outbreak of war largely thwarted Lufthansa's plans for the time being.

Long-range floatplane seaplane Ha 139 of the Hamburger Flugzeugbau company, during early flight tests in 1937, it showed good results, which could not but inspire its creators to develop a land version, mainly for mail transport. It was desirable to use as many components of the float plane as possible both to reduce development costs and to maintain the quality already achieved.

Therefore, when the 142 V1 appeared in 1938, it, like the 139, had a similar narrow fuselage and a reverse “gull” wing. Their skin was heavily thickened due to the use of only one tubular spar. The wing housed 5295 liters of fuel. The twin chassis wheels replaced both floats. In addition, a retractable two-wheel tail support has been added. The cockpit could accommodate a crew of four: two pilots, a navigator and a radio operator. The fuselage provided a small compartment for mail.

Registered as D-AHFB in honor of the manufacturer, the 142 V1 took off on October 11, 1938. The V2 soon appeared. Some time later, the company changed its name to Blohm and Voss, and the aircraft was renamed BV 142. By the summer of 1939, four prototypes participated in the flight test program, but LuftHansa was satisfied with only one - V1. After making some changes, it was transferred to the airline for the purpose of conducting research flights. Nicknamed "Castor" and registered as D-ABUV under the new name of the manufacturer, the aircraft made several flights and was returned to its owner. By this time, it had already been decided to abandon its commercial use.

Soon after the outbreak of World War II, a proposal was made to convert four prototypes into long-range naval reconnaissance aircraft, for which the V2 was selected as a prototype. dubbed BV 142 V2 / U1. The aircraft had an elongated glazed nose and defensive armament, as well as a small cockpit in the tail compartment for two gunners. The armament compartment served as a post office. The aircraft was equipped with numerous radio and navigation equipment known as the "transoceanic radio".

Under the code "RS + VS" in the spring of 1940 V2/U1 was delivered to the 2nd reconnaissance squadron of the main command of the Luftwaffe and assigned directly to the headquarters of the 3rd Air Fleet. The first prototype, which received the “RS + BB” code, was altered in the same way. They were to be followed by V3 and V4. However, a serious shortage of long-range transport aircraft forced them to be used during the invasions of Denmark and Norway. These aircraft entered service with the KGr.z.b.V. 105 and the X Air Corps, along with other large aircraft such as Ju 89, Ju 90. FW 200, and others, and their further fate is unknown.

The two aforementioned naval patrol aircraft did not live up to expectations - their flight performance with weapons turned out to be much lower than expected. Despite the presence of defensive weapons, they were considered too vulnerable, in connection with which only a few sorties were made. By 1942 they were decommissioned. There were plans to use this pair of aircraft to launch the Guided Blohm and Voss GT 1200C torpedo, but they never came to fruition.

Armament. 4 × 7.92-mm MG-15 machine gun in the nose, on the sides in the fuselage and in the ventral nacelle, one in the turret above the fuselage. The post office could accommodate four 100-kg or eight 50-kg bombs.