Richard Vogt (aircraft designer)

Richard Vogt (19 December 1894 – January 1979) was a military German aircraft designer who was known for his original airframes, including the asymmetrical BV 141 during World War II.

After the war, he moved to the United States as part of Operation Paperclip, where he worked on American military aircraft design.

Richard Vogt was born in Schwäbisch Gmünd, a town in the Kingdom of Württemberg, which at that time was a constituent state of the German Empire.

In 1933 he was offered the position of Chief Designer at Hamburger Flugzeugbau, an aircraft manufacturer recently established by Blohm & Voss shipbuilders.

During his flight back from Japan he worked on the idea of a tubular steel main wing spar which could also double as an armoured fuel tank.

Shortly before World War II broke out, Hamburger Flugzeugbau was reformed as the aircraft division of Blohm & Voss and changed its name accordingly.

Vogt also developed a series of gliding munitions, but the advanced control systems caused problems and although quite large quantities were manufactured, none saw operational service.

& V.Vogt's final innovation was a tailless "pfeilflieger" (swept wing) design, well suited to the new jet engines then under development.

A series of designs culminated in the P 215 all-weather fighter, which received an order for three prototypes just weeks before the war ended.

[2][3] After World War II, Vogt was recruited by the US Air Force under "Operation Paperclip", and he moved to the United States.