Role Airliner, reconnaissance, bomber,
transport aircraft and maritime patrol aircraft
Manufacturer Focke-Wulf
First flight 27 July 1937
Primary users Luftwaffe
Deutsche Lufthansa
Syndicato CondorProduced 1937 - 1944
Number built 276
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 US. At the time, it was an unusual concept because 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. Existing airliners were designed to cruise at altitudes below 1,500 m (4,900 ft). The Fw 200 was briefly the world's most modern airliner, until other high-altitude airliners started operating: the Boeing 307 Stratoliner in 1940 and the Douglas DC-4 in 1942. The designation "Condor" was chosen because, like the condor bird, the Fw 200 had a very long wingspan relative to other planes of its era, to facilitate then high-altitude flight
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Only one complete reconstructed Fw 200 exists today, an aircraft that ditched in February 1942 and sank to a depth of 60 m (197 ft). This aircraft was raised from Trondheim Fjord in Norway on 26 May 1999.
At the suggestion of his personal pilot Hans Baur, Adolf Hitler specified a modified and unarmed prototype Condor, the Fw 200 V3, as his personal transport, as a replacement for his Junkers Ju 52.
Chronic fuel shortages and enemy air superiority over the 189 defence area (chiefly Berlin) meant that few aircraft were shot down by these craft.