Fw200 Questions

[stephen f. polyak]

What connection did Wesser Flugzeugbau have with the Fw200? Did Wesser make parts for the Fw200 or, beyond parts, perhaps build/assemble these aircraft under license?

Is there any record of a Fw200 with the WNr. 0182?

These questions were prompted by entries on a data plate.

Thank you for your help,
Steve

[Günther Ott]

Weserflug was involved in the Fw 200 production by providing components and even complete wings, but they never built or assembled these aircraft. This was the task of Focke-Wulf, initally at Bremen and later at Cottbus.

W.Nr. 0182 was a Fw 200 C-4, GC+SK, and flown at Cottbus on 17 December 1942. Its subsequent career is still subject to further investigation, but it ended up as F8+IR of 7./K.G.40. The fuselage was lying relatively intact outside a hangar at Bordeaux-Merignac in August 1944 when the Germans retreated. This fuselage survived for quite a while and its center section served as a shepherd's hut in the region until not so long ago. Thus it is of interest that a manufacturers plate of just this plane is showing up now.

Regards

Günther

[stephen f. polyak]

Thank you Gunther. Here is a picture of the data plate. It marked a Fw 200 "rudder fin" assembly (made by Weser). This plate was removed from Fw 200 W.Nr.0176 in 1946. This particular Fw 200 (designated AM-94) was taken from Germany to England at war’s end and used as a transport by the British. Later it was put on public display there with other German types. The plate was taken while that Fw 200 was in a scrap yard at Farnborough awaiting destruction.

[Günther Ott]

This manufacturer's plate is really an interesting item. However, W.Nr. 0176 was Himmler's personal transport (Fw 200 C-4/U1 GC+AE) and it is rather unlikely that this plane would have flown with a spare part from W.Nr.0182. So the Werknummer that is shown on the plate is not related to the respective Fw 200 C-4 but to the component that was manufactured by Weserflug.

[edNorth]

Hello both:

I have feeling this part-plate might still have come from W.Nr. 0176 as in ´my list´ this is:

0182 Fw 200 C-4 ( ) GC+SK Luftwaffe - F8+BR III/KG 40 (France) - Abandoned at Bordeaux/ Merignac, Airfield 1944/1945

... and I know parts (often?) bearing ´number near each other´ are known found ´in other machines close by´. This I think they were perhaps simply fitted to the nearest airframe on the factory floor - and this plate does not carry the 8-200- one whould expect to see at that point in the war. But alternatively is the scrap-source of the plate then not in UK but in France?

cheers
ed

[stephen f. polyak]

Thank you gentlemen. I’m positive that this plate came from AM-94, W.Nr. 0176. I was fortunate to acquire the plate (in 1994) from the man who removed it in 1946. He served at RAE Farnborough and was attached to the air intelligence branch AI2(g). He collected ID plates from several German aircraft after the planes were released for scrapping. (Some of these plates will be subjects of future “Data Plates Exposed” installments.)