FW-200 Condor

[ABWorsham4]

Around 250 of these four engine bombers were built. Had these planes been predestined as a bomber instead of forced into the role would these planes made a huge impact on the war.

These planes were dreaded in the North Sea, Bay of Biscay and on the Gibraltar “bomb ally” route.

[Witt]

Mornng Worsham.
We all know Germany was ill prepared for a prolonged war and Bomber production reflects this. The Luftwaffe had good Medium Bombers, but no Heavy ones. As Sherman discovered in your Civil War, you had to take the war to the enemy. There was no better way to do this than with Bombers. (They are A&A’s best all round tool.)

The Condor was put to excellent service in the Atlantic, as you have pointed out. I am not sure it was the right plane for high altitude bombing, but it would have been a start. I don’t think having many more (then used) in the Battle of Britain, would have helped them there.
I believe a long ranged Fighter was necessary to win that campaign.
In the Atlantic, I think it would have been another matter. In cooperation with Subs, it was a killer.
Thank you for your poll.

[CWO Marc]

I concur with Wittmann that the greatest utility for large numbers of FW-200s would have been in the first half of the Battle of the Atlantic, provided that it could have operated either in close coordination with the Kriegsmarine or, better yet, under full Kriegsmarine control.  But I’d just like to add a comment about the “Had these planes been predestined as a bomber instead of forced into the role would these planes made a huge impact on the war / it was still a commercial plane pressed as a bomber” statement.  The FW-200’s origin as a civilian airliner does not, in and of itself, count as a strike against its wartime effectiveness.  Consider for example the Douglas C-47 Skytrain, a.k.a. the Gooney Bird or the Dakota, which I think Eisenhower once declared (post-war) to have been one of the USA’s four most important war-winning weapons.  The C-47 was basically a militarized version of the venerable DC-3 airliner, and as I recall its “militarization” was fairly simple: they reinforced the floor to enable it to carry heavier loads, they installed a large door at the back of the fuselage, and they painted it green.  Just as the DC-3 had proved to be an excellent airliner (some were still flying decades later), the C-47 proved extremely versatile and reliable in its military role.  The FW-200 was similarly a good plane, with excellent range and altitude capabilities and able to carry a decent payload; I wouldn’t be surprised if its performance was better than that of some German bombers that were intended to be military aircraft right from the start (I think the Heinkel 111, for example, was disliked by pilots for being slow and poorly maneuverable).  And it’s possible that its original status as a civilian airliner may have caused the British and the French to pay less attention to its design during the late 1930s than if it had been developed as a military plane.

[ABWorsham4]

I believe the Condors accounted for 400,000 old shipping sunk, the plane was in such small numbers they were used with hesitation.

These planes flew over Spain to spot Gibraltar to Freetown convoys and the dramatic Malta convoys.