What's new
British Ordnance Collectors Network

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Bt 1400

Grzesio

Well-Known Member
I was interested in Bombentorpedos a little bit recently and one question came to my mind.
Is it known how the BT 1400 looked like?
It was one of the types chosen for operational service, but while it is apparently included in the L.Dv. 4200 as are the BT 200, BT 400 and BT 700, it is not illustrated there as opposed to its smaller brothers.

Available representations of the BT 1400 are very different one from another. It seems, scale plans authors and model makers opt for something very similar to a scaled up BT 700 (although the cylindrical section of the warhead is a little bit longer here) - uppermost drawing in the picture below.
OP 1666 in turn (2nd drawing from top), depicts the BT 1400 with fins not protruding behind the tail section - although the drawing does not seem to be particularly accurate, e.g. the body is too slim.
The 3rd drawing is from an unknown source, I just found it on my HD, it seems to be pretty schematic anyway.
The 4th drawing from top is an original German plan of an Ar 234 armed with the BT 1400 - the warhead shape and dimensions are spot on the figures given by Hahn, but tail section is still a riddle for me and I cannot figure out, how it should actually look like. It's worth noticing, this warhead has relatively short conical section as compared to smaller BTs and so the suspension lug should be located on the cylindrical section (the location of the lug in the drawing is a little bit to the rear from the centre of mass of the warhead calculated as for a solid object, i.e. 1804 mm from the nose; this seems pretty reasonable, as the tail section was of a lightweight sheet metal construction).
Finally, the 5th drawing is my own proposition - warhead drawn after Hahn with tail section inspired by the OP 1666 and Ar 234 drawings.

BT_1400y_900.jpg

Are there any original drawings or photos of the BT 1400, which could show its actual shape? Or a preserved specimen maybe? :)

Kind regards

Grzesio
 
Last edited:
Top