Meanwhile, in June 1940, 10 BV 138 A-1s
arrived at 2 Staffel/Küsten iegergruppe 906
(2./906) – formerly a Dornier Do 18 unit – at
Hörnum and the Staffel prepared itself to
go operational with the new aircraft. At the
same time, training was being undertaken on
the new type by Flieger Ergänzungsgruppe
(See) at Kamp. The main problems were
now involved the LB 204 cannon turret in the
nose, which regularly jammed (most were
then removed) and, yet again, the Jumo 205
C engines were found to be temperamental.
Also, the 20mm MG 204 cannon which was
intended to be tted in the turret, also suffered
frequent stoppages. Initially, there was an
open turret in the stern of the hull armed
with a 7.9mm MG 15 machine gun and the
intention was for a second LB 204 turret to be
tted once the teething problems had been
sorted. Above this turret was another open
gun position just behind the engine.
With just 25 A-1s and 20 B-1s built, all of
this prompted yet more redesign work, but notbefore the type was declared operational and,
in October 1940, moved to Brest-Lanvéoc in
western France for operational trials. It was
quickly proven that the BV 138 A suffered
badly from poor serviceability, especially
due to the engine and propellers, and the
bad winter weather showed that the hull and
stabilisers were unable to withstand much
pounding by waves. By means of example,
the rst loss over the Atlantic was Werk
Nummer 386 commanded by Leutnant zur
See Heinz Claus, which failed to return from
a mission west of Ireland on November 16,- On November 25, 1940 Werk Nummer
381 commanded by Oberleutnant zur See
Konrad Neymeyr suffered a double engine
failure off the Blasket Islands in Ireland. The
pilot, Feldwebel Willi Krupp, landed safely but
one of the stabilisers collapsed, the wing tip
hit the sea and the aircraft began to sink. The
rst crew of ve were all reported missing,
while the second ve-man crew were all
interned in Ireland. Shortly after, 2./906
moved back to Hörnum where its A-1s were
replaced by B-1s and later, C-1s.
By the end of 1940, all 25 A-1s had been
delivered, three A-0s had been rebuilt to B-1
standard, all ten B-0s had been modi ed
to B-1 standard and three B-1s had left
the factory. However, the BV 138 C-1 was
now starting to be produced – essentially
the same as the B-1, but with a four-bladed
propeller on the central engine and broader
blades on the other two powerplants. The
defensive armament was the same for both
the ‘B’ and ‘C’ variants, a 20mm MG 151
in the bow and stern turrets and a 13mm
MG 131 in the open upper position. Later,
an optional MG 15 was tted, ring from
a port on the starboard side. Also, eld
modi cations now allowed for three 110lb
(50kg) bombs or two 331lb (150kg) depth
charges to be tted each side between the
wing engines and hull. Understandably,
surviving B-1 versions now started to be
altered to C-1 standard.
Despite all these changes, 1941 was a
quiet year for the BV 138 – not helped by
apparent production bottlenecks due to the
increased intensity of Germany’s war following
the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941.
With the A-1 now being relegated to training
units, 2./406 began converting to the B-1 in
the spring of 1941. Its rst casualty was a
B-1 that crashed in an accident at Pütnitz
on May 15, 1941 killing its pilot Unteroffizier
Willi Kolbe. The same day saw the rst loss
of a C-1 when Leutnant Hans-Joachim Fried
of 2./906 crashed at Hörnum in another
accident, injuring him and three others and
resulting in the death of his gunner.
The rst operational loss of 1941 did
not come until August 23, when Soviet
ghters damaged a C-1 of the HQ unit
Fliegerführer Ostsee. By then, 2./906 had
converted to the Junkers Ju 88 and then
back to the He 115 leaving 2./406, which
was operating from bases in Norway, as
the main operational BV 138 unit by the
end of 1941. In late 1941 and early 1942,
3./406 converted to the C-1 from the Do 18.
Also in early 1942, 3./Aufklärungsgruppe
125 (See) changed to the same variant
from the Arado Ar 95 and began operating
in the Black Sea from Constanza in
Romania. It would be augmented by 1./
Aufklärungsgruppe 125 (See) later in 1942,
but this Staffel operated from Norwegian
and Baltic bases. The numbers of BV 138
units were further increased in mid-1942
when 3./906 and later 1./706 joined the
order of battle and at last the ‘Flying Clog’
started to make an impact.ENDURANCE
Normal endurance for a C-1 was just over
six hours, but this could be increased with
auxiliary fuel tanks to just under 17 hours.34 Aviation News incorporating Jets October 2018
This 2 Staffel/Seeauklärungsgruppe 130 BV 138 C-1 water taxies to dock in Norway in October 1943.The BV 138 could be launched from catapult
ships, as shown here. The Westfalen, pictured,
and other catapult vessels were mainly
moored in the fjord off Trondheim in Norway.