Focke-Wulf Fw.200 Condor. Part Four. Pre-war and early-war German users.

 

The Focke-Wulf Fw.200 came from a proposal made by Kurt Tank, of Focke-Wulf to Dr. Rudolf Stüssel of Deutsche Lufthansa to design a completely land-based passenger plane capable of flying from Europe to the United States across the Atlantic Ocean. This was quite a revolutionary concept at the time as airlines employed seaplanes to cover long-range sea distances. In order to cover long distances in an economic fashion, the Fw.200 was designed to cruise at an altitude of over 3.000 m (9,800 ft), which was the highest possible attainable altitude without a pressurized cabin. Back then, airliners cruised at an altitude of 1.500 m (4,900 ft). When it was completed, the Fw.200 was, for a brief period of time, the most advanced airliner of the world, until more modern passenger planes appeared on the scene like the Boeing 307 Stratoliner in 1940 or the Douglas DC-4 in 1942. It received the denomination of "Condor" because, due to its large wingspan, it resembled a condor bird.

Deutsche Lufthansa issued a specification in June 1936 and, later, the aircraft was designed by Ludwig Mittlehuber and Wilhelm Bansemir. The first prototype, labelled as Fw.200 V-1 flew for the first time on 27th July 1937 and was flown by Kurt Tank himself. This first prototype was entirely made out of metal and was powered by four American Pratt & Whitney Hornet engines rated at 875 hp each. It could carry up to 26 passengers divided in two cabins and had a range of up to 3.000 km (1.900 milles). Two additional prototypes, V-2 and V-3 were powered by four BMW 132G-1 radial engines. 

In civilian service it was used mainly by Deutsche Lufthansa and some other airlines around the world. On 14th April 1945, Lufthansa flew the last scheduled flight before the of the World War 2, from Barcelona, in Spain to Berlin. 

The first prototype was upgraded with extra fuel tanks and had its engines replaced. It was redesignated as Fw.200 S-1 and made several record flights. The V-1 became the first heavier-than-air aircraft to fly nonstop from Berlin to New York, covering a distance of around 6.400 km (4.000 milles) on 10th to 11th August 1938 in 24 hours and 56 minutes. The return trip was shorter and took 19 hours and 47 minutes. Later, on 28th November, it flew from Berlin to Tokyo via Basra (Iraq), Karachi (British Raj - nowadays Pakistan) and Hanoi (French Indochina - nowadays Vietnam).

Outside Lufthansa, the Luftwaffe operated the type too (more on that in the next posts), with one unit, Fliegerstaffel des Führers, having the type as its major aircraft during pre-war and the whole world war 2. It was used to fly high-ranking political and military figures of Germany, from Hitler downwards. 

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