'Blast from the past' - the FW200, scourge of the Atlantic
Jun 13, 2020 11:07:13 GMT
Fighting6 and Theaetetus like this
Post by warspite1 on Jun 13, 2020 11:07:13 GMT
First published on Forumini February 2008 at a time when the only Kondor/Condor card was the one supplied with the original set. This card contained certain errata. If a newer card has since been produced I would certainly like to see it.
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The Focke-Wulf 200C Kondor was unusual among the other German bombers used in World War Two. While the other types were mostly designed for combat but were being passed off as civilian aircraft during their development years, the FW 200 really WAS a civilian aircraft which was pressed into service as a four-engined maritime patrol and attack aircraft. It was as if the US Air Force had to start adapting Jumbo Jets to carry bombs or depth charges today. The British sometimes called it the Kurier, due to this history as a mail plane.
The FW200 achieved several long distance flight records pre-war and this led to several nations ordering them for civilian operation. One, ordered by Japan but never delivered, was for a maritime reconnaissance aircraft. The Japanese, with their greater experience of naval aviation, could clearly see the aircraft's naval potential. When war broke out in 1939 the Germans were woefully short of four-engined aircraft due to massive development problems and cancellation of other types and all FW200s were 'drafted'.
All foreign orders were pressed into service, initially as transports, but when a long-range anti-shipping unit, 1/KG40 was formed in April 1940 it received six of the 10 pre-production FW200C-0 planes which were hastily fitted with bomb racks. The first production C-1s, of which only 26 were built in 1940, were more militarised but it soon became clear that the aeroplane had some serious problems. There was very little armour, the fuel lines were vulnerable and production versions had the unnerving habit of breaking their backs either on take-off or landing. Catastrophic structural failures dogged the type throughout its life. The early versions also had a bizarre bomb sight system which required the carriage of a 500kg dummy concrete bomb which first had to be dropped to caliberate the bomb sight, every time the aircraft attacked. [2020 edit: a close look at the Wiki link, bottom, shows that early attacks were carried out at very low level, mostly against un-armed merchantmen. This suggests that the crews were well aware of the problems with the bomb sight and simply ignored the whole ‘concrete bomb’ sighting procedure in favour of close attack. The need to go low and the lack of warship attacks and losses also suggests that the crews were well aware of their vulnerability to AA fire. Note also that in one attack an Irish merchant ship and an FW200 were mutually destroyed. The ship blew up when bombed and took the Kondor with it]
Despite this the Kondor [also sometimes called Condor or Kurier in wartime publications] became a bogeyman on the Western Approachs to the British Isles attacking mostly unprotected merchant ships. One unit sank 363,000 tons of shipping in six months. Sir Winston Churchill famously called it: "The scourge of the Atlantic". No more than 287 Kondors were ever built and at most times only eight or 10 of these were ever operational. Indeed there were so few in service that when a new one was rolled out at the factory an aircrew from KG40 would go to the factory to collect it rather than risk it in the hands of ferry pilots.
Low level anti-shipping bombing attacks started in the second half of 1940 and one spectacular early victim was the British liner Empress of Britain which was hit in October 1940, burned out and eventually sunk by a U-boat.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Empress_of_Britain_(1930)
1941 saw the arrival of the C-2 and C-3 versions which carried an improved bomb load and attempted - only partially - to solve the strutural integrity problems. This was never fully cured. By this time FW200s were operating out of France over the Bay of Biscay and the Western Approachs and out of Norway over the North Sea and the Arctic convoy routes.
To combat the Kondor more AA escort ships were deployed by the Royal Navy as the Kondor proved vulnerable to gunfire. When Kondors reverted more to spotting for the U-Boat fleet and stayed out of the ships' AA gun range, old Hurricanes and later Fairy Fulmars were carried on catapults aboard specially converted merchant ships [CAM ships]. Pilots were catapulted in these land planes on a one-way flight. They had to chase the Kondor, shoot it down and then either fly to nearby land or ditch in the sea near a friendly ship and get themselves picked up. The eventual widespread deployment of the British developed escort carrier saw the Kondor's demise in a combat role in 1944.
1942 saw the introduction of radar in the Kondor C-4 but the FW200s suddenly vanished from the Atlantic for a while and found themselves at the other end of Europe. The Atlantic aircraft had been ordered to Stalingrad where these valuable maritime strike aircraft were being pressed into service to deliver [and later parachute] supplies to the cut off German 6th Army. This is one indication of how desperately short of four-engined aircraft the Germans really were. When supply drops failed the Kondors reverted to night bombing raids on the railway lines around Stalingrad before finally being withdrawn and returned to the Atlantic coast. They had now been fitted with the Lofte 7D bomb sight enabling the aircraft to bomb accurately from medium altitude without recourse to dropping a concrete bomb first. The shift from low level to medium level attack was a logical response to equipping many merchant ships with light AA weapons. The Kondors were attempting to move up or out of range.
The FW200 was now under pressure. Improvements in RAF Coastal Command meant heavy fighters like Mosquitos and Beaufighters were operating out over the Bay of Biscay and the Western Approaches and Kondors had to take more southerly routes to avoid them. Attacks diminished in favour of pure recon in support of the U-boat arm but more Kondors were put in the air whenever a disguised German surface raider attempted to slip out into the sea lanes.
By 1943 the Kondor's combat days were ending but later versions were able to carry a pair of the Henschel 293A stand-off missiles - one under each wing. These were not operational until the last month of 1943 and by D-Day on June 6 1944 the Kondor was being used ONLY in the transport role. It remained in this role until the last days of the war when an early model Kondor actually flew out of Berlin carrying Nazi VIPs escaping to Spain. This last aeroplane disappeared for 10 years but the wreckage was eventually located near Munich. Another Kondor was used by Heinrich Himmler as his personal transport and this was flown in Britain after the war.
As modelled in War At Sea the Kondor appears to be the 1942 version [indeed '1942' appears on the card] which had the improved bomb sighting arrangements. Players using 'dated' fleets should note that the Henschel anti-shipping missile was not deployed until December 1943 and the Kondor itself was out of service six months later. The missile version should therefore appear in 1944 or later fleets only.
Players wishing to use the Kondor in 1940 or 1941 should subtract two bombing dice, one ASW dice and ignore the Henschel special ability. They could probably also deduct one point from its cost in this period. The Kondor never carried torpedoes, was not a noted ASW aircraft and does not appear to have ever fought over the Mediterranean which excludes it from co-operating with the Italian Navy or with any U-boats in the Mediterranean. It was never a direct threat to large warships, most of its targets were mercantile or their warship escorts.
It was, however, a major benefit to the U-Boat arm in locating Allied convoys and 'homing' the Wolf Packs to their targets. Several other aircraft types like the HE115 and BV 138 flying boats also fulfilled this role but the FW200 is certainly representative of the Kriegsmarine's most effective piece of naval/air co-operation in the early years of the war.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focke-Wulf_Fw_200_Condor
From Wiki: On 22 October 1940, Luftwaffe Fw 200C-1 "F8+OK" of I/KG 40 went missing over the Irish Sea. Possibly unknown bomber which sank the Irish Vessel "Kerry Head" in the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Clear Island, County Cork, Ireland; reportedly the bomber was brought down in explosion; no survivors from either ship or plane.
*** *** *** ***
The Focke-Wulf 200C Kondor was unusual among the other German bombers used in World War Two. While the other types were mostly designed for combat but were being passed off as civilian aircraft during their development years, the FW 200 really WAS a civilian aircraft which was pressed into service as a four-engined maritime patrol and attack aircraft. It was as if the US Air Force had to start adapting Jumbo Jets to carry bombs or depth charges today. The British sometimes called it the Kurier, due to this history as a mail plane.
The FW200 achieved several long distance flight records pre-war and this led to several nations ordering them for civilian operation. One, ordered by Japan but never delivered, was for a maritime reconnaissance aircraft. The Japanese, with their greater experience of naval aviation, could clearly see the aircraft's naval potential. When war broke out in 1939 the Germans were woefully short of four-engined aircraft due to massive development problems and cancellation of other types and all FW200s were 'drafted'.
All foreign orders were pressed into service, initially as transports, but when a long-range anti-shipping unit, 1/KG40 was formed in April 1940 it received six of the 10 pre-production FW200C-0 planes which were hastily fitted with bomb racks. The first production C-1s, of which only 26 were built in 1940, were more militarised but it soon became clear that the aeroplane had some serious problems. There was very little armour, the fuel lines were vulnerable and production versions had the unnerving habit of breaking their backs either on take-off or landing. Catastrophic structural failures dogged the type throughout its life. The early versions also had a bizarre bomb sight system which required the carriage of a 500kg dummy concrete bomb which first had to be dropped to caliberate the bomb sight, every time the aircraft attacked. [2020 edit: a close look at the Wiki link, bottom, shows that early attacks were carried out at very low level, mostly against un-armed merchantmen. This suggests that the crews were well aware of the problems with the bomb sight and simply ignored the whole ‘concrete bomb’ sighting procedure in favour of close attack. The need to go low and the lack of warship attacks and losses also suggests that the crews were well aware of their vulnerability to AA fire. Note also that in one attack an Irish merchant ship and an FW200 were mutually destroyed. The ship blew up when bombed and took the Kondor with it]
Despite this the Kondor [also sometimes called Condor or Kurier in wartime publications] became a bogeyman on the Western Approachs to the British Isles attacking mostly unprotected merchant ships. One unit sank 363,000 tons of shipping in six months. Sir Winston Churchill famously called it: "The scourge of the Atlantic". No more than 287 Kondors were ever built and at most times only eight or 10 of these were ever operational. Indeed there were so few in service that when a new one was rolled out at the factory an aircrew from KG40 would go to the factory to collect it rather than risk it in the hands of ferry pilots.
Low level anti-shipping bombing attacks started in the second half of 1940 and one spectacular early victim was the British liner Empress of Britain which was hit in October 1940, burned out and eventually sunk by a U-boat.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Empress_of_Britain_(1930)
1941 saw the arrival of the C-2 and C-3 versions which carried an improved bomb load and attempted - only partially - to solve the strutural integrity problems. This was never fully cured. By this time FW200s were operating out of France over the Bay of Biscay and the Western Approachs and out of Norway over the North Sea and the Arctic convoy routes.
To combat the Kondor more AA escort ships were deployed by the Royal Navy as the Kondor proved vulnerable to gunfire. When Kondors reverted more to spotting for the U-Boat fleet and stayed out of the ships' AA gun range, old Hurricanes and later Fairy Fulmars were carried on catapults aboard specially converted merchant ships [CAM ships]. Pilots were catapulted in these land planes on a one-way flight. They had to chase the Kondor, shoot it down and then either fly to nearby land or ditch in the sea near a friendly ship and get themselves picked up. The eventual widespread deployment of the British developed escort carrier saw the Kondor's demise in a combat role in 1944.
1942 saw the introduction of radar in the Kondor C-4 but the FW200s suddenly vanished from the Atlantic for a while and found themselves at the other end of Europe. The Atlantic aircraft had been ordered to Stalingrad where these valuable maritime strike aircraft were being pressed into service to deliver [and later parachute] supplies to the cut off German 6th Army. This is one indication of how desperately short of four-engined aircraft the Germans really were. When supply drops failed the Kondors reverted to night bombing raids on the railway lines around Stalingrad before finally being withdrawn and returned to the Atlantic coast. They had now been fitted with the Lofte 7D bomb sight enabling the aircraft to bomb accurately from medium altitude without recourse to dropping a concrete bomb first. The shift from low level to medium level attack was a logical response to equipping many merchant ships with light AA weapons. The Kondors were attempting to move up or out of range.
The FW200 was now under pressure. Improvements in RAF Coastal Command meant heavy fighters like Mosquitos and Beaufighters were operating out over the Bay of Biscay and the Western Approaches and Kondors had to take more southerly routes to avoid them. Attacks diminished in favour of pure recon in support of the U-boat arm but more Kondors were put in the air whenever a disguised German surface raider attempted to slip out into the sea lanes.
By 1943 the Kondor's combat days were ending but later versions were able to carry a pair of the Henschel 293A stand-off missiles - one under each wing. These were not operational until the last month of 1943 and by D-Day on June 6 1944 the Kondor was being used ONLY in the transport role. It remained in this role until the last days of the war when an early model Kondor actually flew out of Berlin carrying Nazi VIPs escaping to Spain. This last aeroplane disappeared for 10 years but the wreckage was eventually located near Munich. Another Kondor was used by Heinrich Himmler as his personal transport and this was flown in Britain after the war.
As modelled in War At Sea the Kondor appears to be the 1942 version [indeed '1942' appears on the card] which had the improved bomb sighting arrangements. Players using 'dated' fleets should note that the Henschel anti-shipping missile was not deployed until December 1943 and the Kondor itself was out of service six months later. The missile version should therefore appear in 1944 or later fleets only.
Players wishing to use the Kondor in 1940 or 1941 should subtract two bombing dice, one ASW dice and ignore the Henschel special ability. They could probably also deduct one point from its cost in this period. The Kondor never carried torpedoes, was not a noted ASW aircraft and does not appear to have ever fought over the Mediterranean which excludes it from co-operating with the Italian Navy or with any U-boats in the Mediterranean. It was never a direct threat to large warships, most of its targets were mercantile or their warship escorts.
It was, however, a major benefit to the U-Boat arm in locating Allied convoys and 'homing' the Wolf Packs to their targets. Several other aircraft types like the HE115 and BV 138 flying boats also fulfilled this role but the FW200 is certainly representative of the Kriegsmarine's most effective piece of naval/air co-operation in the early years of the war.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focke-Wulf_Fw_200_Condor
From Wiki: On 22 October 1940, Luftwaffe Fw 200C-1 "F8+OK" of I/KG 40 went missing over the Irish Sea. Possibly unknown bomber which sank the Irish Vessel "Kerry Head" in the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Clear Island, County Cork, Ireland; reportedly the bomber was brought down in explosion; no survivors from either ship or plane.
