The Aircraft

The BV-40 was one of those ideas that never came to full operational capability. It was conceived in 1943, when the bombers were hitting all over the Reich, day and night. The concept was to build a small, light wooden aircraft which didn’t use much in the way of strategic materials but could shoot down bombers. Its small size would make it very difficult for bomber gunners to hit it. The armament was to be 2X 30 mm MK108 cannon, one in each wing root. The pilot lay on a mat in the armored cockpit. The BV40 was to be towed to altitude, above the bombers by a Bf-109, then released. The BV would then dive on the bomber stream and do as much damage as possible, then glide home. The wheeled landing gear were dropped on take off to save weight, and there was a skid under the belly.

Background

Embraer is an aircraft manufacturer located in Brazil. They started building some private and military aircraft but have found their niche by developing a line of smaller regional airliners. They started with a twin turboprop airliner named the Bandeirante and then the Brasilia. This was followed by a couple of twin jet airliners using some of the same airframe components, the ERJ-135 and ERJ-145. The engines on these aircraft were mounted at the rear of the fuselage. Following success with these products, Embraer started their E-jet series which featured larger fuselages and wing mounted twin jet engines. The initial production version is the Embraer 170. Over 1000 E-jets have been delivered as of September of 2013 and the airplane is well received by airlines around the world.