FW 200 Condor Losses

[schnellmeyer]

Can anybody please confirm if any FW 200 Condors were lost on the following dates , 1/10/40 , 22/10/40 and 3/3/41 . Thanks .

[Chris Goss]

No, yes, no in that order. Yes is 3/KG 40 FW 200 C-2, 0024, F8+OK but I think you know this already as the pilot and Met Man were buried in Ireland

[schnellmeyer]

Cheers Chris , many thanks for your help . It was the first and third dates that had me puzzled .

[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

According to the EoE Luft loss list, this is listed as:

"October 22, 1940: 2./KG40 Focke-Wulf Fw200C-2 (0024). Crashed off the west coast of Ireland during weather reconnaissance sortie over the North Atlantic, cause unknown. FF1 Oberlt Theodor Schuldt (Staffelführer) and Reg. Rat. Meteorologe Dr Hans Sturm both killed, FF2 Fw Walter Berghaus, BF1 Fw Friedrich Gruber, BM Fw Friedrich Hoeger, and BF2 Gefr Walter Grässle all missing. Aircraft F8+OK 100% write-off.
The body of Theodor Schuldt was found on Aillebrack beach, near Ballyconneely, on November 12. Dr Hans Sturm was found washed ashore the same day on Dinish Island, near Lettermullen, County Galway."

Was there any eye-witness or other reporting that put the location of this crash more precisely than off the W. coast of Ireland (obviously somewhere near Dinish Island if the bodies washed ashore the same day)?

Does anyone know of the existence of photos prior to the crash for F8+OK? This would make a good subject for a color profile if it can be further documented with a photo of the a/c. Since "O" was not a common a/c letter in 1940, especially for a unit that didn't often have a full TO&E of a/c, it's possible that this is an error, although double checks of the source Luft records confirm that an "F8+OK" is what is recorded there.

Also, Chris lists this a 3.KG40, whereas our listing and the a/c code would indicate a 2 Staffel machine. Is there any explanation for the difference?

Regards,

[schnellmeyer]

Would anybody know the pre-KG40 Code of FW 200 F8+OK Wrk nr.0024 .I recently acquired over two hundred photos of FW200 Condors many which carry factory codes before been sent to KG40 . Thanks .

[RolandF]

Factory code of Fw 200C-2 WNr 200 024 was BS + AX.

Regards

Roland

[schnellmeyer]

Thanks for your help Roland , I will check through my Condor photos to see if I have a photo of BS+AX .

[Laurent Rizzotti]

I have a Fw 200 loss on 2 March 1941, one day earlier than your third date:

The Fw 200 C-3 Condor Wnr 31 F8 + BT of III./KG 40 was intercepted east of Sumburgh, Shetland Islands, by two British Hurricane of 3 Sqn RAF flown by Plt Off Robertson and Plt Off Gabb that claimed it as damaged at 1435 hrs. The damaged Condor force-landed at Varhaug, 40km S of Stavanger, Norway and was damaged beyond repair (60% damaged) but only one of the 6 crew was wounded, the others were unhurt.

Source:
http://www.rafandluftwaffe.info/luftwaffe1.html
http://www.luftwaffe.no/SIG/Losses/tap411.html
Fighter Command files on Tony Wood's website (http://www.lesbutler.ip3.co.uk/tony/tonywood.htm)