Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Kondor

This German ocean-patrol aircraft was in service from 1940-45. Focke-Wulf had built the Fw 200 Kondor (Condor) as a long-range civil airliner, and in 1937 it hit the headlines with nonstop flights to distant cities including New York and Tokyo. In early 1939 the Japanese ordered some Kondor airliners, as well as a single aircraft converted into a naval long-range reconnaissance bomber. These were never delivered, but at the outbreak of World War II the Luftwaffe suddenly realized that it had no long-range attack aircraft to harass Allied shipping or undertake any long-range bombing. The only answer was the Fw 200C, a specially developed Kondor based on the work done for the Japanese. The Fw 200C had only modest performance, on four 1,000hp Bramo (BMW) Fafnir radial engines, and was really only a lash-up built in small numbers (only 278 in all). Moreover, it kept falling apart, either the fuselage or the wing breaking in the air or, especially, on landing. Yet it remained a thorn in the Allies' side until near the end of the war, and in 1942-43 it had an effect on Allied Atlantic shipping that was out of all proportions to the numbers of Kondor used.           Most Kondor had a crew of seven or eight. Up to about 2,100kg of bombs were carried in a long gondola under the fuselage and on external wing racks. Later versions had deep outboard engine nacelles to carry the Henschel Hs 293 missile. Defensive armament often comprised a 20mm cannon at the front of the gondola, a 13mm or 15mm gun in the dorsal turret, and up to five other guns aimed by hand. After the climax of the U-Boat campaign in May 1943 the big Kondor found life harder, and by 1945 nearly all had been reduced to being covert transports.

	Technical data and/or diagram of Focke-Wulf Fw 200.
	A side view of a Fw 200.
	The frontal part of a Fw 200, note the extensive radar/radio antennae.
	Another view of a Fw 200, one of which also served as personal transport for Hitler.
	A Fw 200C3 being readied for the next long mission.
	A shot of an Fw 200C3 taken from another Fw 200.

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