Focke-Wulf Fw.200. Part eight. Radar-equipped Condors over the Atlantic.

 

In autumn 1943 the Condors of KG.40 were supported by aircraft of 1./FAGr.5 with base in Mont-de-Marsan. These airplanes consisted on various Junkers Ju.290A which had a range of 6.148 km (3.820 miles). The Ju.290 was initially conceived as a replacement of the Condor, however, just a handful of aircraft were completed and given to the FAGr.5, which helped KG.40 at shadowing their targets. 

The Henschel Hs.293 was world's first air-to-surface missile, and it was designed to be launched from a large aircraft like the Condor. One of the first unit which tested the missile was II./KG.40 in the Mediterranean using Dornier Do.217. Condors employed the Hs.293 for the first time on 28th December 1942 when four Condors, one of them equipped with missiles, attacked Royal Navy's ships in the Atlantic. The attack was unsuccessful as the missile-equipped Condor was forced to ditch after running across a Short Sunderland of the Coastal Command. As a matter of fact, very few ships were sunk during the war from a direct impact of a Hs.293 fired from a Condor. 

The Condor was kept in production with the Fw.200C-5, of which there were a total of 19 machines plus two C-5/U1 and one C-5/U2 before production was switched to the C-6. 

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