Book Review of
Eagles of the Luftwaffe 2
Focke-Wulf FW-200
Author: Matthew Willis
Tempest Books
ISBN: 978-1-911658-65-8
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 2023
MSRP: $22.50
ISBN: 978-1-911658-65-8
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 2023
MSRP: $22.50
HISTORY:
The Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor, also known as Kurier (German for courier to the Allies, is a German all-metal four-engined monoplane originally developed by Focke-Wulf as a long-range airliner. A Japanese request for a long-range maritime patrol aircraft led to military versions that saw service with the Luftwaffe as long-range reconnaissance and anti-shipping/maritime patrol bomber aircraft. The Luftwaffe also made extensive use of the Fw 200 as a transport aircraft.
It achieved success as a commerce raider until mid-1941, by which time it was being harried by long-range RAF Coastal Command aircraft and the Hurricane fighters being flown from CAM ships.
The Fw 200 resulted from a proposal by Kurt Tank of Focke-Wulf to Dr. Rudolf Stüssel of Deutsche Lufthansa to develop a landplane to carry passengers across the Atlantic Ocean to the US. At the time, it was an unusual concept because airlines used seaplanes on long over-water routes. To fly long distances economically, the Fw 200 was designed to cruise at an altitude of over 3,000 m (9,800 ft) - as high as possible without a pressurized cabin. Existing airliners were designed to cruise at altitudes below 1,500 m (4,900 ft).
The Fw 200 was briefly the world's most modern airliner, until other high-altitude airliners started operating: the Boeing 307 Stratoliner in 1940 and the Douglas DC-4 in 1942. The designation "Condor" was chosen because, like the condor bird, the Fw 200 had a very long wingspan relative to other planes of its era, to facilitate then a high-altitude flight.
Deutsche Lufthansa issued a specification in June 1936 after discussions between Tank, Stüssel and Carl August von Gablenz. The plane was designed by Ludwig Mittelhuber with Wilhelm Bansemir as project director. The first prototype, the Fw 200 V1, made its first flight after just over one year of development on 27 July 1937 with Tank at the controls.
It was an all-metal, four-engined monoplane powered by four American 652 kW (875 hp) Pratt & Whitney Hornet radial engines, and intended to carry 26 passengers in two cabins for up to 3,000 km (1,900 mi). Two further prototypes were powered by German 540 kW (720 hp) BMW 132 G-1 radials.
The Japanese Navy requested a military version of the Fw 200 for search and patrol duties, so Tank designed the Fw 200 V10 with military equipment. This Fw 200 was held in Germany because war had broken out in Europe by that time. This aircraft became the basis for all later military models used by the Luftwaffe.
To adapt it for wartime service, hardpoints were added to the wings for bombs, the fuselage was strengthened and extended to create more space. Fore and aft dorsal gun positions were added, in addition to an extended-length version of the Bola ventral gondola typical of World War II German bomber aircraft; incorporating a central bomb bay (usually used for additional long-range fuel tanks), as well as heavily glazed fore and aft ventral flexible machine gun emplacements at either end.
The extra weight introduced by its military equipment meant that some early Fw 200 aircraft broke up on landing, a problem that was never entirely solved. Later models were equipped with Lorenz FuG 200 Hohentwiel low UHF-band ASV radar in the nose.
In 1943 a version entered service that could carry the Henschel Hs 293 guided missile, mandating fitment of the associated Funkgerät FuG 203 Kehl radio guidance gear on a Condor to steer them.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Crew: five
Capacity: 30 fully armed troops in transport configuration
Length: 23.45 m (76 ft 11 in)
Wingspan: 32.85 m (107 ft 9 in)
Height: 6.3 m (20 ft 8 in)
Wing area: 119.85 m2 (1,290.1 sq ft)
Empty weight: 17,005 kg (37,490 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 22,714 kg (50,076 lb)
Powerplant: 4 × Bramo 323R-2 9-cylinder single-row air-cooled radial piston engine, 809 kW (1,085 hp) each
Propellers: 3-bladed variable-pitch propellers
Maximum speed: 380 km/h (240 mph, 210 kn) at 4,800 m (15,700 ft)
Cruise speed: 335 km/h (208 mph, 181 kn) at 4,000 m (13,000 ft) (Max cruise)
Range: 3,560 km (2,210 mi, 1,920 nmi)
Endurance: 14 hours
Service ceiling: 6,000 m (20,000 ft)
Armament:
Guns: 1 × 7.92 mm (0.312 in) MG 15 machine gun in Drehkranz D-30 forward dorsal turret with 1,125 rounds, 1 × 13 mm (0.51 in) MG 131 machine gun in aft dorsal turret with 1,000 rounds, 1 × 20 mm (0.79 in) MG 151 cannon in forward ventral gondola position with 800 rounds, 1 × 7.92 mm (0.312 in) MG 15 machine gun in rear ventral gondola position with 750 rounds, 2 × 7.92 mm (0.312 in) MG 15 machine gun in flexible mountings firing laterally, one on each side of the fuselage with 1,500 rounds
Bombs: Up to 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) of bombs internally or up to 5,400 kg (11,900 lb) externally on four PVC 1006 underwing racks
Role: Airliner, reconnaissance, bomber, transport aircraft and maritime patrol aircraft
Manufacturer: Focke-Wulf
First flight: 27 July 1937
Primary users: Luftwaffe, Deutsche Lufthansa, Syndicato Condor
Produced: 1937 - 1944
Number built: 276
THE BOOK:
Tempest books is located in the UK.
This book is soft-cover of 146 pages in 7 ¼” x 9 ¾” page format.
The cover art shows a FW-200 in flight, being attacked by 2 U.S. Bell P-39 Airacobra fighters.
The FW-200 is dark green over a grey undercarriage. It has a white skeletal German cross, followed by a white letter E. A white outlined swastika on the rudder and radar antenna on the nose.
The P-39’s are overall olive-drab over grey under-carriages. One has a black nose cone and the one in the distance has a white one.
It contains 126 black and white photos, 16 color profiles, 1 color illustration, a P-80, a chart showing 16 British aircraft, a 2-view and 3-view line drawing and 1 color photo.
CHAPTERS:
1936-1939
The 1st FW-200 V1 D-AERE “Brandenburg” on rollout. With close-fitting cowlings, upswept outer wing and single wheel undercarriage. It is overall white, with a red banner across the rudder with a white circle with a black swastika on it. Shown in flight.
Five photos of a FW-200 with black fuselage code D-AETA and Westfalen and Lufthansa on the sides of its nose, in the same color as D-AERE.
A Luftwaffe pilot posed in front of FW-200, code D-ADHR, with black Saarland on its sides, in the white color.
FW-200 S2 code D-AMHC, with black Nordmark on its sides.
The V1 FW-200, code D-ACON, with the definitive swept outer wing on world record-breaking flight to New York in August 1938.
The inside of a FW-200 showing a steward, which was a first.
A poster that says a FW-200 can easily fly with only 2 engines running. It shows a devil holding two propellers that are stopped.
Two photos of Hitler’s personal all white FW-200 with fuselage code D-2600 and It shown in its peacetime scheme of overall white, with black swastika , outlined in white on the rudder and black fuselage code WL + 2600.1941.
Thirteen photos of FW-200’s in dark-green spines, over grey under-carriages, with circled-globe on noses.
The rudder of F8-AL is shown with 30 sinking credit marks and 13 bombing mission marks over the UK on the rudder.
Two aerial photos of air-fields.
1942
The 2nd production FW-200 A-o, the airliner OY-DAM “Dania”. This aircraft was in Britain when Germany invaded Denmark and was impounded and allocated to the BOAC.
Scenes of airfields in Berlin and an airfield in Norway. Aircraft shown has a dark-green spine over a grey under-carriage and an illustration of a circled earth globe on its nose.
An FW-200 c under construction.
More photos in Norway and one over the ocean.
The color side-views section shows:
FW-200 v1, 1st prototype “Brandenburg”, with black fuselage code D-AERE in all white.
FW-200A-6 in dark-green and light-green spine and grey under-carriage camouflage pattern, with black fuselage code F8 + white H black H and black swastika, outlined in white on the rudder.
FW-200A-o in the same scheme as above one. With a yellow fuselage band, followed by a black NK + NM.
FW-200D-3 in the same scheme as above two. With black fuselage code VB + UA.
FW-200C-2 in the same scheme as above three. With black fuselage code F8 + white E black H.
The same FW-200C-2 that has the ringed-earth insignia on its nose now and fuselage code changed to black F8+KH.
The next 6 profiles are in the same dark-green and light-green camouflage on their spines with grey unde-carriages.
The 1st two have the circled globe insignia on their noses. Each has 3 victory marks on their rudders.
One carries the black fuselage code F8+DK. The other one has black F8 + white C black H.
The next 4 are in the same camouflage.
FW-200C-3. Black fuselage code F8+GH, FW-200C-4 black fuselage code KE+IV, FW-200C-3 black fuselage code SG+KS. FW-100C-4, circled globe on nose and black fuselage code F8+ white outlined black GT.
An all-white FW-200C-4/U1, with yellow fuselage band followed by black code KE+IX.
FW-200C-8 with nose radar antenna on it. Camouflage pattern and black fuselage code TO+XL.
FW-200 in the camouflage pattern of earlier ones, but with a second heavy narrow white line pattern over it and white cowling fronts. Black fuselage code F8 skeletal white German cross black FR and radar antenna on nose.
Final FW-200 in the camouflage pattern, with no fuselage code, just a black cross outlined in white on its sides.
More photos of aircraft, pilots and ground-crewmen in final chapter years.
The FW-200 could carry various types of bombs and the Henschel Hs-293 “Kehl” glider bomb.
Great picture album.
The book will be of great interest to modelers, who plan on wanting to build a FW-200 and to aviation historians alike.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishers for this review sample. They are the N. American distributor of Tempest Books and all their titles can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
The Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor, also known as Kurier (German for courier to the Allies, is a German all-metal four-engined monoplane originally developed by Focke-Wulf as a long-range airliner. A Japanese request for a long-range maritime patrol aircraft led to military versions that saw service with the Luftwaffe as long-range reconnaissance and anti-shipping/maritime patrol bomber aircraft. The Luftwaffe also made extensive use of the Fw 200 as a transport aircraft.
It achieved success as a commerce raider until mid-1941, by which time it was being harried by long-range RAF Coastal Command aircraft and the Hurricane fighters being flown from CAM ships.
The Fw 200 resulted from a proposal by Kurt Tank of Focke-Wulf to Dr. Rudolf Stüssel of Deutsche Lufthansa to develop a landplane to carry passengers across the Atlantic Ocean to the US. At the time, it was an unusual concept because airlines used seaplanes on long over-water routes. To fly long distances economically, the Fw 200 was designed to cruise at an altitude of over 3,000 m (9,800 ft) - as high as possible without a pressurized cabin. Existing airliners were designed to cruise at altitudes below 1,500 m (4,900 ft).
The Fw 200 was briefly the world's most modern airliner, until other high-altitude airliners started operating: the Boeing 307 Stratoliner in 1940 and the Douglas DC-4 in 1942. The designation "Condor" was chosen because, like the condor bird, the Fw 200 had a very long wingspan relative to other planes of its era, to facilitate then a high-altitude flight.
Deutsche Lufthansa issued a specification in June 1936 after discussions between Tank, Stüssel and Carl August von Gablenz. The plane was designed by Ludwig Mittelhuber with Wilhelm Bansemir as project director. The first prototype, the Fw 200 V1, made its first flight after just over one year of development on 27 July 1937 with Tank at the controls.
It was an all-metal, four-engined monoplane powered by four American 652 kW (875 hp) Pratt & Whitney Hornet radial engines, and intended to carry 26 passengers in two cabins for up to 3,000 km (1,900 mi). Two further prototypes were powered by German 540 kW (720 hp) BMW 132 G-1 radials.
The Japanese Navy requested a military version of the Fw 200 for search and patrol duties, so Tank designed the Fw 200 V10 with military equipment. This Fw 200 was held in Germany because war had broken out in Europe by that time. This aircraft became the basis for all later military models used by the Luftwaffe.
To adapt it for wartime service, hardpoints were added to the wings for bombs, the fuselage was strengthened and extended to create more space. Fore and aft dorsal gun positions were added, in addition to an extended-length version of the Bola ventral gondola typical of World War II German bomber aircraft; incorporating a central bomb bay (usually used for additional long-range fuel tanks), as well as heavily glazed fore and aft ventral flexible machine gun emplacements at either end.
The extra weight introduced by its military equipment meant that some early Fw 200 aircraft broke up on landing, a problem that was never entirely solved. Later models were equipped with Lorenz FuG 200 Hohentwiel low UHF-band ASV radar in the nose.
In 1943 a version entered service that could carry the Henschel Hs 293 guided missile, mandating fitment of the associated Funkgerät FuG 203 Kehl radio guidance gear on a Condor to steer them.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Crew: five
Capacity: 30 fully armed troops in transport configuration
Length: 23.45 m (76 ft 11 in)
Wingspan: 32.85 m (107 ft 9 in)
Height: 6.3 m (20 ft 8 in)
Wing area: 119.85 m2 (1,290.1 sq ft)
Empty weight: 17,005 kg (37,490 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 22,714 kg (50,076 lb)
Powerplant: 4 × Bramo 323R-2 9-cylinder single-row air-cooled radial piston engine, 809 kW (1,085 hp) each
Propellers: 3-bladed variable-pitch propellers
Maximum speed: 380 km/h (240 mph, 210 kn) at 4,800 m (15,700 ft)
Cruise speed: 335 km/h (208 mph, 181 kn) at 4,000 m (13,000 ft) (Max cruise)
Range: 3,560 km (2,210 mi, 1,920 nmi)
Endurance: 14 hours
Service ceiling: 6,000 m (20,000 ft)
Armament:
Guns: 1 × 7.92 mm (0.312 in) MG 15 machine gun in Drehkranz D-30 forward dorsal turret with 1,125 rounds, 1 × 13 mm (0.51 in) MG 131 machine gun in aft dorsal turret with 1,000 rounds, 1 × 20 mm (0.79 in) MG 151 cannon in forward ventral gondola position with 800 rounds, 1 × 7.92 mm (0.312 in) MG 15 machine gun in rear ventral gondola position with 750 rounds, 2 × 7.92 mm (0.312 in) MG 15 machine gun in flexible mountings firing laterally, one on each side of the fuselage with 1,500 rounds
Bombs: Up to 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) of bombs internally or up to 5,400 kg (11,900 lb) externally on four PVC 1006 underwing racks
Role: Airliner, reconnaissance, bomber, transport aircraft and maritime patrol aircraft
Manufacturer: Focke-Wulf
First flight: 27 July 1937
Primary users: Luftwaffe, Deutsche Lufthansa, Syndicato Condor
Produced: 1937 - 1944
Number built: 276
THE BOOK:
Tempest books is located in the UK.
This book is soft-cover of 146 pages in 7 ¼” x 9 ¾” page format.
The cover art shows a FW-200 in flight, being attacked by 2 U.S. Bell P-39 Airacobra fighters.
The FW-200 is dark green over a grey undercarriage. It has a white skeletal German cross, followed by a white letter E. A white outlined swastika on the rudder and radar antenna on the nose.
The P-39’s are overall olive-drab over grey under-carriages. One has a black nose cone and the one in the distance has a white one.
It contains 126 black and white photos, 16 color profiles, 1 color illustration, a P-80, a chart showing 16 British aircraft, a 2-view and 3-view line drawing and 1 color photo.
CHAPTERS:
1936-1939
The 1st FW-200 V1 D-AERE “Brandenburg” on rollout. With close-fitting cowlings, upswept outer wing and single wheel undercarriage. It is overall white, with a red banner across the rudder with a white circle with a black swastika on it. Shown in flight.
Five photos of a FW-200 with black fuselage code D-AETA and Westfalen and Lufthansa on the sides of its nose, in the same color as D-AERE.
A Luftwaffe pilot posed in front of FW-200, code D-ADHR, with black Saarland on its sides, in the white color.
FW-200 S2 code D-AMHC, with black Nordmark on its sides.
The V1 FW-200, code D-ACON, with the definitive swept outer wing on world record-breaking flight to New York in August 1938.
The inside of a FW-200 showing a steward, which was a first.
A poster that says a FW-200 can easily fly with only 2 engines running. It shows a devil holding two propellers that are stopped.
Two photos of Hitler’s personal all white FW-200 with fuselage code D-2600 and It shown in its peacetime scheme of overall white, with black swastika , outlined in white on the rudder and black fuselage code WL + 2600.1941.
Thirteen photos of FW-200’s in dark-green spines, over grey under-carriages, with circled-globe on noses.
The rudder of F8-AL is shown with 30 sinking credit marks and 13 bombing mission marks over the UK on the rudder.
Two aerial photos of air-fields.
1942
The 2nd production FW-200 A-o, the airliner OY-DAM “Dania”. This aircraft was in Britain when Germany invaded Denmark and was impounded and allocated to the BOAC.
Scenes of airfields in Berlin and an airfield in Norway. Aircraft shown has a dark-green spine over a grey under-carriage and an illustration of a circled earth globe on its nose.
An FW-200 c under construction.
More photos in Norway and one over the ocean.
The color side-views section shows:
FW-200 v1, 1st prototype “Brandenburg”, with black fuselage code D-AERE in all white.
FW-200A-6 in dark-green and light-green spine and grey under-carriage camouflage pattern, with black fuselage code F8 + white H black H and black swastika, outlined in white on the rudder.
FW-200A-o in the same scheme as above one. With a yellow fuselage band, followed by a black NK + NM.
FW-200D-3 in the same scheme as above two. With black fuselage code VB + UA.
FW-200C-2 in the same scheme as above three. With black fuselage code F8 + white E black H.
The same FW-200C-2 that has the ringed-earth insignia on its nose now and fuselage code changed to black F8+KH.
The next 6 profiles are in the same dark-green and light-green camouflage on their spines with grey unde-carriages.
The 1st two have the circled globe insignia on their noses. Each has 3 victory marks on their rudders.
One carries the black fuselage code F8+DK. The other one has black F8 + white C black H.
The next 4 are in the same camouflage.
FW-200C-3. Black fuselage code F8+GH, FW-200C-4 black fuselage code KE+IV, FW-200C-3 black fuselage code SG+KS. FW-100C-4, circled globe on nose and black fuselage code F8+ white outlined black GT.
An all-white FW-200C-4/U1, with yellow fuselage band followed by black code KE+IX.
FW-200C-8 with nose radar antenna on it. Camouflage pattern and black fuselage code TO+XL.
FW-200 in the camouflage pattern of earlier ones, but with a second heavy narrow white line pattern over it and white cowling fronts. Black fuselage code F8 skeletal white German cross black FR and radar antenna on nose.
Final FW-200 in the camouflage pattern, with no fuselage code, just a black cross outlined in white on its sides.
More photos of aircraft, pilots and ground-crewmen in final chapter years.
The FW-200 could carry various types of bombs and the Henschel Hs-293 “Kehl” glider bomb.
Great picture album.
The book will be of great interest to modelers, who plan on wanting to build a FW-200 and to aviation historians alike.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishers for this review sample. They are the N. American distributor of Tempest Books and all their titles can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
Highly recommended.