BV 138 C-1
Contents
Description
The BV 138 C-1 is a rank I German bomber at with a battle rating of 1.3 (AB) and 1.7 (RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Direct Hit".
General info
Flight performance
The BV 138 isn´t made for speed, it´s also not made for having a big payload or high survivability, the BV 138 is nothing less than the perfect low-tier gunship. Average speed in level flight will be between 180 km/h and 280 km/h, manouverability is very good for such a large plane, accelaration is mediocre at best, all 3 depending on damage and altitude.
| Characteristics | Max Speed (km/h at _,___ m) |
Max altitude (metres) |
Turn time (seconds) |
Rate of climb (metres/second) |
Take-off run (metres) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AB | RB | AB | RB | AB | RB | |||
| Stock | 266 | 253 | 8002 | 41.0 | 44.2 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 700 |
| Upgraded | 302 | 283 | 37.3 | 39.0 | 4.0 | 2.2 | ||
Details
| Features | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Combat flaps | Take-off flaps | Landing flaps | Air brakes | Arrestor gear |
| _ | ✓ | ✓ | _ | _ |
| Limits | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wings (km/h) | Gear (km/h) | Flaps (km/h) | Max Static G | |||
| Combat | Take-off | Landing | + | - | ||
| 440 | x | x | 410 | 380 | ~4-5 | ~-24 |
| Optimal velocities (km/h) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Ailerons | Rudder | Elevators | Radiator |
| < 230 | < 210 | <220 | > ___ |
Survivability and armour
The survivability is very good, in short term. That means you are very likely to survive oncoming enemy fire, but as soon as you take damage to the engines or wings, it will be very hard to fly back to base. Even just an orange wing can be fatal if you don´t have the necessary altitude to get back to base. There is no armor on the plane, the gunners and pilot however are unlikely to be fatally hit due to the planes´ size - most bullets will hit into the middle of the plane where no crew are situated.
Modifications and economy
| Flight performance | Survivability | Weaponry | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armaments
The BV 138 is very well armed. Having one 20mm gun on the nose, infront of the pilots, and one on the tail section along with a 13mm gun placed behind the upper engine. All guns have excellent firing angles, all guns are exceeding 100° horizontally.
-front 20mm gun: +-110° horizontally; -30° depression; +55° elevation
-backside 20mm gun: -100°/+140° horizontally; -10° depression; +55° elevation
-13mm gun: +-130° horizontally; -55° depression; +15° elevation
The most effective firing angle is the classic broadside, all 3 guns can aim at the same target in a ca. 40°x15° window directly to each side of the plane. Other than that the backside is more heavily armed.
Suspended armament
The BV 138 C-1 can be outfitted with the following ordnance:
- 6 x 50 kg SC50JA bombs ((300 kg total) - that being just enough to destroy one base in most matches)
Defensive armament
The BV 138 C-1 is defended by:
- 1 x 20 mm MG 151 cannon, nose turret (1,000 rpg, 750 RPM)
- 1 x 20 mm MG 151 cannon, tail turret (900 rpg, 750 RPM)
- 1 x 13 mm MG 131 machine gun, dorsal turret (1,450 rpg, 900 RPM)
Usage in battles
Due to the bad high altitude performance, it is recommended to drop to 2-2.6km in altitude at the beginning of the battle. After that you either defend against incoming fighters (which shouldn´t be a problem) while going for an enemy base or you go straight for the enemy planes, the latter also being the task after bombing the base. The extremely low wing-rip speed will most likely force you to start decending around 8km before the runway, if you want to land at all, that is. If you feel like an enemy is too dangerous, try to get your back pointed at them, even better would be to get them into the broadside-window mentioned earlier. Watch out for enemy AA as they can easily send you back to the hangar with on shot in an engine or wing.
Pros and cons
Pros:
-Absolutely deadly defensive armament
-Good manouverability
-Easy to get to maximum speed (<20 seconds to get from 180 Km/h to 280 Km/h)
Cons:
-Even non-critical damage can send you crashing
-Low maximum altitude
-Very slow -> engines inadequate
History
Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the aircraft in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).
Media
Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.
See also
Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:
- reference to the series of the aircraft;
- links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.
External links
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- other literature.
| Germany bombers | |
|---|---|
| Arado | Ar 196 A-3 |
| Blohm & Voss | BV 138 C-1 · BV 238 |
| Dornier | Do 17 E-1 · Do 17 Z-2 · Do 217 E-2 · Do 217 E-4 · Do 217 K-1 · Do 217 M-1 |
| Focke-Wulf | Fw 189 A-1 · Fw 200 C-1 |
| Henschel | Hs 123 A-1 |
| Heinkel | He 111 H-3 · He 111 H-6 · He 111 H-16 · He 115 C-1 · He 177 A-3 · He 177 A-5 |
| Junkers | Ju 87 B-2 · Ju 87 R-2 · Ju 87 R-2 Libya · Ju 87 D-3 · Ju 87 D-5 · Ju 88 A-1 · Ju 88 A-4 · Ju 188 A-2 · Ju 288 C |
| Messerschmitt | Me 264 |
| Savoia-Marchetti | ▀S.M.79 serie 1 · ▀S.M.79 B · ▀S.M.79 serie 4 · ▀S.M.79 serie 8 |
| ▀S.M.79 AS · ▀S.M.79 bis/N · ▀S.M.79 bis/T.M | |
| Trophies | ▀Wellington Mk Ic |
