Description

The Fw200 was designed in 1936 as an airliner for the Lufthansa. It was low-winged and featured mainly all-metal construction. Its first flight was in July 1937. Although originally a commercial aircraft converted to military use, it was as a maritime patrol bomber that the Fw200C-3/4 Condor made its mark during the Second World War. In this capacity, acting in cooperation with U-boat packs, it formed one of the most effective Luftwaffe combinations of the war, and many a convoy was to rue the moment it first spied a Condor above the horizon. Meantime, the airline Fw200Bs and the few pre-production C-0s were pressed into service as transports. Production continued until early 1944 through sub types C-1, -2, -3, -4 and -6, with a total of 263 Condors of all versions being built. Towards the end of the war, when the Fw200 marauding tactics had been largely mitigated, several Condors were diverted to transport duties for the use of Hitler and his staff. A projected development, the Fw300, with enlarged wing span and inline engines of greater power, did not progress beyond the design stage.