Focke-Wulf Fw.200 Condor. Part Five. The Fw.200 in 1940.

 

In order to adapt the Fw.200 for the Luftwaffe, a series of changes were made to the fuselage. Hardpoints were added to the wings, fuselage was extended and enlarged to create more space, fore and aft dorsal gun positions were added, a 'Bola' ventral gondola was included (which was very typical of the German bombers of the time) and a central bomb bay was incorporated in lieu of the additional long-range fuel tanks that the civilian version had. The extra weight of the military equipment made some Fw.200 to broke up on landing, problem that was never fully solved. 

In service with the Luftwaffe, the Fw.200 was initially used to support the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) under Fernaufklärungstaffel, an unit create for long-range patrols over the North Sea in November 1939. This unit was expanded on 18th April 1940 to form I. Gruppe of Kampfgeschwader 40, in order to undertake patrols over Norway when Germany launched Operation Weserübung Nord, the invasion of Denmark and Norway. 

During this campaign the Condor was used in the transport role too, additional role that would, virtually, perform during the whole war. The I./KG.40 was initially based at Cottbus, then at Aalborg and then Copenhagen from where they attacked Royal Navy ships off the coast of Namsos, in Norway and helped resupply the garrison at Narvik when the British forces counter-attacked. 

Given the small amount of Fw.200 available, it was decided to concentrate them almost entirely in the KG.40, and, despite Focke-Wulf's production efforts, only two Gruppen (Squadrons) of the KG.40 could be fully equipped with the type.

In June 1940, with the introduction of the new Fw.200C variant, the Fw.200 came into its own as an attack on the British Isles was highly possible. That month, however, the KG.40 was withdrawn from the frontlines to upgrade to the Fw.200C of which, only 10 examples were completed. 

Resuming operations, the KG.40 was assigned to Luftflotte.2 for operations against England. It was based at Lorient, France, for U-Boat support operations, which became the Condor's main role. Flying from Bordeaux-Merignac air base, it could sweep the whole Bay of Biscay and an arc ranging from the west of Ireland to Norway where they could be rebased to the air bases of Stavangar-Sola or Trondheim-Vaernes. 

During the Battle of Britain in August 1940 the Fw.200s of KG.40 were used as a conventional bomber, the only time during its career. They were employed, together with other Heinkel He.111 and Dornier Do.17s against night raids on Liverpool-Birkenhead area during 28th to 31st August. 

It was, however in the anti-shipping role where the Fw.200 shined. During the early war, the Fw.200 was responsible for the sink of thousand of tons of Allied shipping. In August 1940, the I./KG.40 alone, sank 90.000 tons. The Fw.200 did usually work in conjunction with the U-Boats. An example of this is the sinking of the Empress of Britain ship, which was lost off the north-eastern cost of Ireland after two bombs made impact on the ship disabling her and the U-38 sinking the ship with torpedoes. 

By November the Condor scored 18 ships making a total of 66.438 tons sunk, being the  British freighter MV Apapa the first to be sunk on 15th November entirely by Condors while on Convoy. 

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focke-Wulf_Fw_200_Condor

2. Osprey Publishing - Combat Aircraft 115 - Fw 200 Condor Units of World War II

3. Hall Park Books - Warpaint 13 - Focke-Wulf Fw.200 Condor