Nice video of the FW200C 4-Engine Luftwaffe aircraft

[Mysticpuma]

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c0e_1298864052&p=1

Click on the title in the Orange Bar above the video where it says Video not found, as it appears Liveleak don't allow hot-linking.

Cheers, MP

[Royraiden]

Very Nice, had not seen this plane before but will be nice to see it in game.

[Zorin]

I really do hope we will be able to fly the AI planes in CoD from external view like we can now in IL-2.

[Meusli]

What stopped the Luftwaffe from using more of these? Was it a philosophy problem or was it not really as good as allied strategic bombers. Also it looks like a up scaled He111 is that basically what it was?

[Jg2001_Rasputin]

The FW 200 is a converted civil long-range passenger/transport plane. It has nothing to do with the He 111. Btw the focus of the Luftwaffe in the early years never lay on strategic bombers.

[Kittle]

Originally Posted by Meusli

What stopped the Luftwaffe from using more of these? Was it a philosophy problem or was it not really as good as allied strategic bombers. Also it looks like a up scaled He111 is that basically what it was?

The Fw-200 was not stressed for combat operations. In fact, many of them ended up with broken fuselages after landing, or having the wings fall off. It was not at all what was needed for the strategic bomber role. Had it been built for war and not as an airliner, it might have been the best maritime patrol aircraft of the war, with good payload and heavy defensive armament. As it was, there was never enough to go around, and IIRC only two units ever fielded the aircraft in full strength.

The He277 would have made a great bomber, if they had done away with the 177 earlier and focused on the traditional 4 engine 277 it may have made a difference, but I doubt the end would have been any different, just the death toll.

BTW - It is in IL2, AI only but it's there.

[The Kraken]

Beautiful plane, thanks for the video! As many converted airliner designs, the FW-200 wasn't suited too well for a combat role compared to a dedicated bomber design, except for patrol duty due to its exceptional range. Not sure I'd want to fly a full maritime patrol mission in real time though...

[Blackdog_kt]

Actually, the He111 was also used as a civilian transport and mail carrier to sidestep the restrictions of the Versailles treaty, so it's not really that strange seeing the Fw200 following a similar route.

The difference was that the 111 was probably designed from the start as a combat aircraft and disguised as a civilian one, while the Fw200 was a genuinely civilian airliner pressed into military service for lack of other alternatives.

The reason that the luftwaffe lacked strategic heavies is usually attributed to the way the air force was used under the blitzkrieg doctrine, a mostly tactical tool to support the advance of a mechanized ground army.

[rivalsavages]

My father served on sloop HMS Starling during the Battle of the Atlantic and he told me a preposterous story about an incident where Johnnie Walker, the ship's Captain complained about how the convoy was being shadowed. Apparently the tactic of the Condors was to circle clockwise out of reach of Anti Aircraft Fire for hours at a time.

Walker apparently got his morse code operator to send a message to the Condor. It read "You are making us dizzy. Could you fly round in the opposite direction please?"

Astoundingly, back came the reply "Anything to oblige!" and the Condor turned and flew in an anti clockwise direction for the rest of the afternoon!

[BadAim]

LOL! That one puts a humorous twist on a not-so funny reality. Even though there were rarely more than 40 Condors in service at any given time, with only 20 or so actually flyable, they were a deadly menace to the convoys.

When used properly as a long range patrol aircraft, they proved more than adequate, in spite of their being of poor construction for military use. I suspect the laughs were over for rivalsavage's father and his mates when said condor was done marshaling in a Wolf pack. (I'm glad he survived)

Hermann Goring put paid to the program though when he sent them all to Stalingrad for the airlift operations (for which they were utterly useless) loosing every one. They were never again available in sufficient numbers to be effective.