Focke Wulf Fw 200 Condor – Lufthansa

1/72 scale
Kit No. 4387
Price: $35.00
Decals: Two Versions – Lufthansa and Det Danske Luftfartselskab (Danish Airlines)
Comments: Engraved and raised panel lines; detailed radial engine faces; boxed in wheel wells

History

The Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor, also known as Kurier to the Allies, was a German all-metal four-engined monoplane originally developed by Focke-Wulf as a long-range airliner. A Japanese request for a long-range maritime patrol aircraft led to military versions that saw service with the Luftwaffe as long-range reconnaissance and anti-shipping/maritime patrol bomber aircraft. The Luftwaffe also made extensive use of the Fw 200 as a transport.

It achieved success as a commerce raider until mid-1941, by which time it was being harried by long-range RAF Coastal Command aircraft and the Hurricane fighters being flown from catapult aircraft merchant (CAM) ships. But before it became, in Winston Churchill’s memorable phrase, “the Scourge of the Atlantic,” strengthening Hitler’s grip on Britain’s throat by helping coordinate U-boat attacks against vital shipping, the Fw 200 was an ultra-modern airliner that brought Lufthansa international prestige in an era in which Germany was striving to overcome the stain of the 1919 Versailles Treaty and the more recent Hindenburg disaster of May 1937.

The Fw 200 resulted from a proposal by Kurt Tank of Focke-Wulf to Dr. Rudolf Stuessel of Deutsche Lufthansa to develop a landplane to carry passengers across the Atlantic Ocean to the USA. At that time this was unusual, as airlines used seaplanes on long over-water routes. To fly long distances economically, the Fw 200 was designed to cruise at an altitude of over 3,000 m (9,800 ft) – as high as possible without a pressurized cabin. In the 1930’s, existing airliners were designed to cruise at altitudes below 1,500 meters (5,000 ft). The Fw 200 was briefly the world’s most modern airliner, until other high-altitude airliners such as the Boeing 307 and the Douglas DC-4 began to operate, in 1940 and in 1942. respectively. The designation “Condor” was chosen because, like the condor bird, the Fw 200 had a very long wingspan, to facilitate high-altitude flight.

Deutsche Lufthansa issued a specification in June 1936 after discussions between Tank, Dr. Stüssel and Carl August von Gablenz resulted in consensus on the project’s feasibility. The plane was designed by Ludwig Mittelhuber with Wilhelm Bansemir as project director. The first prototype, the Fw 200 V1, took its maiden flight after just over a year of development on July 27, 1937 with Kurt Tank himself at the controls. The prototype was an all-metal, four-engined monoplane powered by four American 875 hp Pratt & Whitney Hornet radial engines, intended to carry 26 passengers in two cabins for up to 3,000 km (1,860 mi). Two further prototypes were powered by German 720 hp BMW 132G-1 radial engines.

Photo Credit: airvectors.net

The Fw 200 V1, upgraded with extra fuel tanks and redesignated Fw 200 S-1, made several record flights. It was very modern save for its fabric-covered control surfaces and portions of the wing aft of the main spar which were also fabric-covered. It was the first heavier-than-air craft to fly non-stop between Berlin and New York City (4000 miles), making the flight from Berlin-Staaken to Floyd Bennett Field on August 10-11, 1938 in 24 hours and 56 minutes. The return trip on August 13, 1938 took 19 hours and 47 minutes.  Previous flights had been made by zeppelins such as the lighter-than-air Hindenburg, and taken significantly longer.

These flights caused a sensation and triggered American anxiety about potential German strategic bombing capability, and lent a special urgency to refining the development of the Boeing B-17, which had first flown in 1935 and entered service with U.S. Army Air Corps just four months before the Condor flights. Ironically, the Americans would continue to seriously pursue the military potential of long-range strategic bombing, while Germany would not. The historic 1938 Condor flights are commemorated with a plaque in Böttcherstraße, a street in Bremen. Beginning on November 28, 1938 it flew from Berlin to Tokyo via Basra, Karachi and Hanoi.

The Fw 200 was operated by Deutsche Lufthansa, DDL Danish Airlines and Lufthansa’s Brazilian subsidiary Syndicato Condor. Dai Nippon KK of Japan also ordered Fw 200 airliners. Production was relatively slow and these planes could not be delivered to Japan once war broke out in Septermber 1939, so they were handed over to Deutsche Lufthansa instead. Most of them ultimately saw service as military transports or patrol aicraft helping to coordinate offensive U-boat operations in the North Atlantic.

Two Condors became famous as the official aircraft of Adolf Hitler and Joachim von Ribbentropp, the Nazi Foreign Minister. The latter flew to Moscow in an Fw 200 in late August 1939 to meet with his counterpart Molotov and finalize the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, a fateful agreement that made the Second World War all but inevitable. Original film footage of von Ribbentropp’s arrival in the Russian capital shows his aircraft bearing the German civil registration of D-ACVH. Hitler’s aircraft was destroyed in an Allied air raid on Tempelhof airport in July 1944. On April 14, 1945 an Fw 200 flew Lufthansa’s last scheduled service before the end of World War II, from Barcelona to Berlin. Other airlines continued to operate the Fw 200 after the end of World War II.

The Kit

Released by Revell AG in 1991, the Lufthansa version of the Focke Wulf Fw 200 Condor is presented on five sprues and bears engraved panel lines. The kit is injection molded in white plastic and consists of 86 parts, 22 of which are clear plastic for the cockpit windscreen and cabin windows.

While it bears engraved panel lines, this kit is less detailed than Revell AG’s 2010 release of the militarized Fw 200 C-4 version of the Condor, which features more intricate molding of the wings, control surfaces, internal bulkheads and wheels. In addition, the Lufthansa version features two-bladed propellers to the C-4’s three.  In fact, the civil Lufthansa Condor is heavily based on Revell’s original 1965 militarized version; it has some new parts but does not represent a complete re-tooling. The cockpit is fairly detailed with individually mounted seats and control yokes featuring bomber-style controls, and a main instrument panel with rather plain raised details (although a decal is also provided).  The landing gear assembly literally involves cementing the two main gear components into two boxes that represent the wheel wells, and are themselves cemented into the engine nacelles in the lower wing halves. Each engine has its own cowling and radial engine face.

Markings

Although covered by a foolscap sheet, the kit decals are on a large sheet not easily protected from oxidation and are yellowed with age; they may not be serviceable. Markings are provided for two versions of the Condor. The first is a Lufthansa aircraft, call letters D-AETA, representing a Fw 200 B designated “Westfalen.” It bears a scheme of overall aluminum with black cowlings, a black nose, with black flashes down the spine and sides of the fuselage, matched by four black flashes trailing from the cowlings and coming to a point at the trailing edge of the top surface of the wing, and trail straight back on the under surface of the wing.

The second version is for a Danish airliner in overall aluminum with a red nose accompanied by red flashes down the spine and sides of the fuselage, matched by four black flashes trailing from the cowlings and coming to a point at the trailing edge of the top of the wing, and trail straight back on the under surface of the wing. The difference is that on the Danish aircraft, the cowlings themselves are painted aluminum. Aftermarket decals may be necessary, as the kit markings are in such a condition that they may not survive contact with water.

Conclusion

This is an unusual kit of the initial civil version of the well-known Condor, notable both for its historical interest and its impact on the development of American airpower. Highly recommended.

References

• wikipedia.org
• airvectors.net
• airwar.ru