Propeller and jet in one airframe, and a what-if paint scheme to match
February 1945, somewhere over northern Germany. A heavy fighter climbs towards the American bomber stream on two roaring BMW radials, then lights two jet engines under its wings and leaves the escort fighters behind. It never happened, but on the drawing boards of Blohm & Voss in Hamburg it very nearly could have.
Meet the P.203.01, wearing a set of markings we invented for it: "3U+CN" of 5./ZG 26.
Get the Blohm & Voss P.203 kit
Two hearts, one airframe
Early jet engines were fast but thirsty, unreliable and weak at low speed. Propellers were the opposite: strong on take-off and in the climb, but losing effectiveness as speed rose. Blohm & Voss simply fitted both. Two BMW 801J radials pull from the front of the nacelles, and a jet engine is slung below and behind each one. Props for take-off, climb and long cruise; jets for the dash when it counts.
Built to do everything
The P.203 was conceived as a multi-role fighter-bomber: heavy fighter, night fighter, light bomber or ground-attack aircraft. Two crew sit in the cabin up front, with heavy armament in the nose. A bomb bay sits under the centre fuselage, and a remote-controlled barbette in the tail guards the rear. The straight, mid-mounted wing has thick inboard sections that swallow the main landing gear.
Three versions on paper
Blohm & Voss studied three variants, differing only in their jet engines: the P.203.01 with the Heinkel-Hirth HeS 011A, the P.203.02 with a Junkers Jumo, and the P.203.03 with a BMW unit. Our aircraft is a P.203.01, powered by the most advanced of the three, the HeS 011.
The what-if: 5./ZG 26, February 1945
In reality, Zerstörergeschwader 26 gave up its heavy fighters in autumn 1944. In our scenario it is re-formed on the P.203 and thrown into the defence of the Reich, attacking US four-engined bombers over northern Germany. The radials get it up to altitude; the jets carry it through the escort screen to the bombers. Unit, aircraft and markings are all invented, but kept as close to real late-war practice as we could.
Paint and markings
Soft-edged RLM 81/82 on the upper surfaces, RLM 76 below, with a fine 81/82 mottle on the fuselage sides: the typical late-war Zerstörer finish. Black-green RLM 70 spinners, bare metal and heavy heat staining behind the jet exhausts, and late-war outline crosses. The code "3U+CN" reads as ZG 26, individual aircraft "C" in red for the 5. Staffel, Staffel letter "N". Werknummer 330021 sits small on the fin.
The "Doppelherz" badge
Every good unit needs a badge, so II./ZG 26 got a new one: a shield split in two, a white propeller on dark green on one side, a jet flame shaped like a lightning bolt on black on the other. Two hearts, propeller and jet. Six white victory bars on the fin, each with a tiny US star, show that 3U+CN has already brought down six four-engined bombers.
Build your own
The my3dbase Blohm & Voss P.203 kit is 3D printed in PLA and available in 1:48 and 1:72. It's a kit for builders with some experience and the right tools: it needs cleaning up, gluing and painting, and rewards you with an aircraft you won't find on anyone else's shelf. Paint it as 3U+CN, or invent your own unit.
