Fw 200 Condor Vs Atlantic Convoy: 1941-43 (Duel)
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FW 200 CONDOR ATLANTIC CONVOY 1941–43 ROBERT FORCZYK First published in Great Britain in 2010 by Osprey Publishing, Acknowledgements Midland House, West Way, Botley, Oxford, OX2 0PH, UK I would like to thank Nik Cornish, the staff at the Bundesarchiv, 44–02 23rd St, Suite 219, Long Island City, NY 11101, USA the Imperial War Museum, John Cross at HITM Archives, the E-mail: [email protected] US Library of Congress and the National Archives and Research Administration for providing help with locating photographs and © 2010 Osprey Publishing Ltd. other research materials. Also, Dr Geraldine Finlayson, All rights reserved. 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Please support our continuing book publishing programme by using this pdf responsibly. CONTENTS Introduction 4 Chronology 6 Design and Development 8 Strategic Situation 25 Technical Specifications 30 The Combatants 38 Combat 44 Statistics and Analysis 71 Conclusion 76 Further Reading 77 Glossary 78 Index 80 INTRODUCTION After the fall of France in June 1940, the Third Reich was faced with only two strategic military options to deal with its remaining enemy, Great Britain. It could mount a direct assault on the home islands or it could adopt a blockade strategy and attempt to cut off the British economy from its overseas sources of raw materials. Adolf Hitler was never confident about mounting an invasion of Great Britain and even before the Luftwaffe made its bid to force the British to the negotiating table during the Battle of Britain, he authorized the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine to mount intensive attacks on British trade to bring their war economy to a standstill. While the Kriegsmarine had prepared for an attack on British trade routes with its U-boat arm, the Luftwaffe had not seriously considered long-range attacks on enemy shipping prior to 1940. However, in a remarkable display of ingenuity, and within a very short time, the Luftwaffe was able to adapt existing long-range Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor civil airliners to the anti-shipping mission and scored some impressive successes against Allied convoys that had little protection from air attack. Although not built for war, the Condor established such a combat reputation that Winston Churchill soon referred to it as “the scourge of the Atlantic.” In contrast, the Royal Navy spent considerable effort prior to the war on developing doctrine and tools for trade protection, but the main threats were thought to be U-boats and German surface raiders. Convoys, ASDIC and escorts were regarded as the answers to those threats. It was assumed that the Royal Air Force (RAF) would protect merchant shipping in British coastal waters from enemy air attack. Yet since very few long-range aircraft existed in the mid-1930s, the risk of air attack on convoys further out to sea was regarded as unlikely and few measures were taken to provide any 4 kind of defense for this. Thus until mid-1941, the initial duel between the Luftwaffe’s Fw 200 Condors and Britain’s Atlantic convoys was essentially one-sided, with merchant shipping virtually defenseless against air attack. Yet in another amazing display of adaptability, the Royal Navy was able to develop a series of countermeasures in 1941–42, with some help from the RAF and United States Army Air Force (USAAF), that essentially neutralized the threat to shipping posed by the Fw 200 Condors. The development of Catapult Aircraft Merchant (CAM) ships and escort carriers, as well as better coordination with long-range aircraft of the RAF’s Coastal Command, effectively created an air umbrella over the convoys that became increasingly difficult for the Condors to penetrate. Condors that attempted to bomb convoys were shot down with greater frequency and the Luftwaffe was forced to suspend this type of anti-shipping attack. However, just as it appeared that the duel had virtually been decided, the Luftwaffe added a new dimension in Pre-war postcard depicting 1943 that offered the possibility of reversing the advantage once again, by introducing an Fw 200 Condor airliner standoff attacks with guided missiles. It was only the general deterioration of the crossing the Atlantic. Focke-Wulf hoped to dominate Luftwaffe’s overall strength, and the growing power of Allied air forces, that prevented the nascent trans-Atlantic the missile-armed Condor and its successor, the Heinkel He 177, from inflicting passenger market with the serious losses on Allied convoys in 1943–44. In summary, the duel between Condor. This particular Fw 200 Condors and Britain’s Atlantic convoys illustrates the importance of being aircraft, one of the original pre-production models, was able to adapt off-the-shelf hardware for new missions, and highlights the difficulty of sold to Brazil in June 1939 preventing a small enemy strike force from attacking shipping across a broad swath and remained in service until of ocean. 1947. (Author’s collection) CHRONOLOGY 1936 November 12 Admiralty and RAF agree to develop August 1 Lufthansa places order with Focke- CAM ships. Wulf for Fw 200 prototype. 1941 1937 January 22 Royal Navy begins converting first British Admiralty begins looking escort carrier from merchant hull. for new anti-aircraft (AA) weapon February 26 Convoy OB 290 is attacked by to equip merchant ships and four Fw 200s, resulting in seven escorts. ships sunk. September 6 First flight of Fw 200 V1 prototype. 1938 June 27 An Fw 200 flies non-stop from Berlin to Cairo. August 10 An Fw 200 achieves first non-stop flight from Berlin to New York City. 1939 March Focke-Wulf begins converting an Fw 200 B into armed V10 prototype. September 18 Luftwaffe orders 20 Fw 200 Cs for use as maritime patrol aircraft. October 10 Fernaufklärungstaffel is formed and soon re-designated 1./KG 40. 1940 February 19 KG 40 receives first Fw 200 C-1. April 18 First Fw 200 attack on British shipping. May 25 First Condor shot down by a British fighter. June 9 First British merchant vessel sunk by KG 40 Condor. Kurt Tank, the aeronautical engineer at Focke-Wulf GmbH. He was the July Condors operate against individual driving force behind first developing the Fw 200 as a revolutionary civilian airliner and then converting it to a maritime patrol aircraft. Tank shipping in the Western approaches was eager to carve out military contracts for Focke-Wulf, which in 1939 August 17 Germany declares a “total was almost dead last among other German aircraft manufacturers in blockade” of Britain. orders from the RLM. (Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-L18396) 6 October 27 First Fw 200 attack on a convoy.