Fw 200 " F8+BW"

[schnellmeyer]

You are very welcome Swifte , I am glad you you liked the photos .

[Marc BENOIT]

Hello Justin,

Nice photos ! After taking a close look at the plane, it seems to me that it's a C-2 model with a C-3 upper forward defensive turret, a rather special bird !
I do not agree with you about Daser : there were not enough planes at that time so that each crew had it's own.
Another indication : the 30.10.1940 mission was flown by Oblt Burmeister
Hope this helps
Best regards
Marc

[schnellmeyer]

Hello Marc ,
glad you liked the photos and thanks for your comments. To be honest I am not sure if the three photos I posted are of the same Condor but the tail markings are very similar . Thanks for pointing out that Oblt. Burmeister flew the mission on 30.10.40 , keep in touch , thanks.

[Günther Ott]

Apparently just buying Fw 200 photos in the dozen on Ebay as abbtav doesn't provide for serious research on the subject. Off course, Hptm. Edmund Daser never flew F8+BW on any mission and schnellmeyer might have been trapped by false information on Internet.

The photos to which Revi16 has kindly hinted, originate from Bundesarchiv files and llustrate the usual training with the veteran Condor employed as F8+BW, once the training of Fw 200 crews had been relegated solely to 12./KG 40 at Orleans-Bricy.

Earlier, this aircraft was used by 11./KG 40 with Vkz. F8+BV, so as seen on the group photo purchased by schellmeyer on Ebay. It shows the ground staff of this unit, with the CO Hptm. Willers posing in the middle on a motorcycle, on the occasion of his departure from 11./KG 40 for taking over command of KGrzbV 200 in December 1942.

The aircraft photographed as F8+BV and F8+BW with 11. and 12./KG 40, was in fact Fw 200 C-2 W.Nr. 0016, Stkz. NA+WI, which was taken over by 1./KG 40 on 10 July 1940, only then used occasionally by Hptm. Daser before transferred to 3./KG 40 in 1941 until it was relegated to Fw 200 crew training with IV./KG 40. The aircraft became a total loss on 21 May 1944 when strafed by USAAF fighters while under maintenance with the Lufthansa workshops at Leipzig-Schkeuditz airfield.

It shows again that photos have their stories, but often different ones than assumed.

Günther Ott

[Martin Gleeson]

Herr Ott,

I hope you and Schnellmeyer will not mind me diverting this interesting thread. Firstly thank you for the very informative history of W.Nr. 0016.

I wish to ask if you are planning to publish soon Teil 2 of your planned 'Focke-Wulf Fw 200 "Condor"' series from Air DOC. Teil 1 (ADC 006) was superb and in my opinion the first and only work to fully explain in accurate fashion the tangled history of the early Condors. However I await with great anticipation your work on the early Fw 200Cs and the first year or so of KG 40.

Regards,

Martin Gleeson.

[Günther Ott]

Many thanks, Martin Gleeson, for your positive and encouraging comments.

Part 2 of my Fw 200 documentation in the AirDoc series can be expected during the second part of this year. Among others, I had diverted my attention to different topics, and one of them was contributing as co-author to the book 'Junkers F 13 - The World's First All Metal Airliner', published last autumn. I thought this was well worth my efforts.

Next to the AirDoc publications, limited by the average number of pages and photos scheduled for this series, more detailed projects, one devoted to the Fw 200 aircraft history and another one to the KG 40 unit history, are yet to follow. But that will take its time.

Regards,

Günther Ott

[schnellmeyer]

Thank you Gunther for your help. The information that you posted is very interesting and most helpful .
You are dead right when you said that buying photos doesn't provide for serious research but it does give one good quality photos of the Fw200 . Of course the history behind the photos is another matter as we can clearly see here by what you have posted Gunther .
Now with your help and knowledge I have the story behind these photos and I am very grateful for your help with this.
Like Martin , I too look forward to next publications on the Fw200 and KG40 .

[Martin Gleeson]

Herr Ott,

Thank you for that very encouraging reply. I look forward to purchasing all your future works on the Fw 200 and KG 40.

Schnellmeyer,

Thank you for sharing those very interesting photos !

Regards,

Martin.

[schnellmeyer]

Hello Martin , glad you enjoyed the photos . Always to see good quality photos of the Fw200 Condor in use , especially when some of these photos have not been seen before .

[Chris Goss]

The right hand of your photos (not from BA) came from Otto Kipp-I have the same photo with the same marks