Focke-Wulf Fw.200 Condor. Part Six. The Fw.200 in 1941

 

The amount of shipping losses attributed to the KG.40 and its Fw.200s was so high that British Intelligence was concerned that the Germans were using Air-to-Surface-Vessel (ASV) radars to find British ships. In order to confirm or not this fact, some pics of Fw.200 taking off were smuggled into Britain by Portuguese fishermen and an Irish WAAF. The results were that, by the time the photos were taken, the Condors had not yet, any on-board radar. However, in November 1941 the Germans managed to fit a captured ASV radar set, taken from a shot-down British airplane, in a Condor, months before the first German-made ASV radar became fully operational. 

The KG.40, however, had problems of their own as they lacked specialized aircraft which could outstand the strains of low-flights over the sea and the one that could, was only available in small numbers. That's why a Geschwader Stab was formed in late 1940 equipped initially with the Junkers Ju.88A-17 and later, in the winter of 1940-1941, with Heinkel He.111H-6 too. The Fw.200 was so precious that it was collected by the crews of the KG.40 as soon as they rolled out the factories. In spite of those problems, the KG.40 scored a total of 147.500 tons sunk between January and February 1941. 

From March 1941, the KG.40 was put under a new command, Fliegerführer Atlantik with base at Lorient, Brittany, France. This force was composed by German aircraft of every type, totalling 115 of them. 

The Allied introduced new counter-measures to defend against the Condor. Their merchant ships were armed with extra anti-air guns. These measures proved to be effective enough as the Condor could not withstand much combat damage or many stress-inducing maneuvers at low-level flight over the sea. By the summer 1941 the Allied had also introduced more threatening measures, like Hawker Hurricane fighters that could be catapulted from merchant ships. In fact, on 3rd August one Condor was shot down by a Hurricane that was launched from a Catapult Aircraft Merchantmen (CAM) ship. These counter-measures rose the amount of lost Condors during the late summer. Therefore, the KG.40 went from actively attacking convoys to radio their positions to the U-Boats. 

During 1941 the Fw.200C-2 and C-3 was developed with many improvements and sub-variants, among them revised engine nacelles, new engines and improvements to the fuselage that allowed the type to carry a bigger payload. It was also equipped with a new dorsal turret placed just aft the cockpit. 

Thanks to the increased output of Focke-Wulf's factory at Cottbus, a second Gruppe of KG.40 could be deployed as a Condor unit in December 1941. This was III./KG.40, as the II./KG.40 was reformed to operate other type of aircraft. Being fully equipped with Condors took until early 1942, but meanwhile, before the end of 1941, the KG.40 enjoyed, and suffered, notably successes and failures.

For instance, on 16th December, some Condors radioed the position of convoy HG-76 bound to Britain from Gibraltar. This convoy was attacked by U-Boats and the Condors were attacked by Grumman Wildcat fighters from the HMS Audacity escort carrier. Several Condors were lost this way, as it posed the biggest threat for future operations of the Fw.200, as the Allied looked upon closing the Atlantic Gap to both U-Boats and Fw.200s.

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