Fw 200 C-5, the invisible sub-type? A review of published and documentary sources.

[INM@RLM]

PART #1 of 7: PUBLISHED SOURCES AND THE Fw 200 C-5.
Published authors are all over the place on the Fw 200 C-5 sub-type. It’s really most confusing. At least six different, erroneous pictures of this sub-type have been presented in published accounts of the Condor. To summarize the variety of positions:
A. There was no Fw 200 C-5 sub-type, but there was both a C-6 & a C-8 sub-type, both of which were used as launch aircraft for the Hs 293. (William Green in his Warplanes of the Third Reich)
B. There was a single example each of the Fw 200 C-5 (W.Nr. 0201) and the C-5/U1 (W.Nr. 0221). (Nowara text p.100)
C. There was a C-5 sub-type but
(i) either, we don’t know anything much about any of these although there were around 21 C-5s, 14 C-6s and 18 C-8s, plus three C-8/U10s. Only these last three along with a couple of C-3/U7 trials aircraft were equipped to launch the Hs 293. (Nowarra Appendices and a sprinkling of six references in the text, exhibiting the normal Nowarra inconsistency when compared with the position he stated on p.100).
(ii) or the C-5 subtype was a transport version which was possibly used for service tests of the Rostock radar over the Atlantic, plus there were C-5/U1, C-5/U2 & C-5/FK versions but we don’t know anything much about any of those. (Scutts)
(iii) or there was no C-5 sub-type but there were some examples of the C-5/U1 and C-5/U2 (see the Table of Condor Basic Military Variants in Goss Classic at p.8 [published 2017] echoing exactly Appendix 6 of Goss Osprey p.90 [2016]. Goss refers to all these variants as Umrüstsätze, but the Focke-Wulf company and the RLM knew the /U* designations as Umbau, the great majority of which could only be implemented in the FoWu plant during aircraft final assembly. No Sätze were involved.)
(iv) or there were all of: “C-5 (transport and trials), C-6 (modified to carry missiles), C-7 (believed to be a transport) and finally the C-8 (as the C-6, ventral gondola lengthened).” (see Goss Air War Archive p.vii [2019]).
(v) and finally there is this from Salgado, p.90-II text: “Some 32 C-5 aircraft with strengthened armament were built in 1943.“
Only the last comes anywhere close to what is shown in the assembled documentary evidence for the Fw 200 C-5.

The aim of this investigation is to see whether it is possible to do better than what has been presented by these authors. The object is to assemble a coherent account of the Fw 200 C-5 and related variants based on surviving evidence in sources now accessible to the general public.
Immediately below are the extracts from William Green, Heinz Nowarra and Jerry Scutts mentioned above. In the three Goss publications on the Condor, apart from the brief mentions noted above, as far as I can find, Goss never actually goes so far as to actually introduce or detail any of the C-5, C-6 or C-8 sub-types. In Goss these types live only in the shadows and remain without explanation.
With the quotations below to hand readers will more easily appreciate the degree of divergence between what has appeared in publications and what can be learned from German documentation, photographic evidence and RAF Intelligence files.


EXTRACTS FROM SELECTED PUBLISHED SOURCES ON THE Fw 200 C-5 & RELATED VARIANTS
1970 William Green’s Warplanes of the Third Reich, pp.228/30
According to William Green in Warplanes of the Third Reich there never was a Fw 200 C-5 version. To write out of the Condor story the sub-type accounting for almost a quarter of all Condors delivered is an impressive feat of historical ‘disappearing’. Probably not the sort of accolade one would wish to be remembered for.
In Green’s account the Condor development story passes directly from the C-4 (p.228) to the Fw 200 C-8 and the C-6 (both on p.230). Further, according to Green it was the Fw 200 C-8 examples that were “built specifically as carriers for the Henschel Hs 293A missile”, whilst in regard to the Fw 200 C-6 he states: “Prior to the delivery of the Fw 200 C-8s late in 1943, a small number of Fw 200C-3/U1 and U2 Condors were adapted to carry the Hs 293A, these being known after modification as Fw 200 C-6s.”
On the last two variants, Green has these detailed comments:
“The Fw 200 C-3/U1 differed in having a large hydraulically-operated HDL 151 forward turret housing a single 15-mm. MG 151 cannon with a 500-round belt and a spare 300-round belt, and a 20-mm. MG 151 cannon with a 300-round belt in the nose of the ventral gondola in place of the old MG-FF. Although the HDL 151 turret provided an appreciably more effective defence than the Fw 19 with its 7.9-mm. weapon, its drag was not inconsiderable, reducing the maximum speed by 16-18 m.p.h., and the Fw 200 C-3/U2 reverted to the Fw 19 forward turret. The primary change in the Fw 200 C-3/U2 was the introduction of the Lotfe 7D bombsight which necessitated the replacement of the 20-mm. MG 151 canon in the nose of the ventral gondola by a 13–mm. MG 131 as the breach of the cannon interfered with the bomb sight’s stowage.” [Green: Warplanes pp.227-II/8-I]
[Note: Suffice to say here that almost every statement in this paragraph is incorrect. Further, for the Focke-Wulf company, the RLM and the Luftwaffe, as documented in Part 2 of these posts, no example of the C-3/U1 was ever completed and only a single example of the C-3/U2 was delivered. Photographs of the latter verify that this was not fitted with a Lotfe bombsight.]
1988 Nowarra: Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor, p.100
“Der C-4 folgte unmitelbar die reine Fernaufklärerausführung C-5 und C-5/U1, von denem aber nur zwei Maschinen, die Werknr. 0201, TA+MC, später F8+DT, und 0221, TA+MW, später F8+?T, gebaut wurden.”
"The C-4 was immediately followed by the dedicated long-range reconnaissance version C-5 and C-5/U1, of which only two machines, the Werknr. 0201, TA + MC, later F8 + DT, and 0221, TA + MW, later F8 +? T, were built. "

2010 Scutts: The "Fw 200 Condor": A Complete History, p.55
“Fw 200 C-5 Condor development continued with the Fw 200C-5 transport, at least fifteen of which were completed and delivered in 1943. These may well have been the aircraft selected for Rostock installation for a thorough operational trial over the Atlantic; the same number of aircraft were involved in the programme, which was designed to prove that ASV radar gave a significant advantage. Few of the results obtained would appear to have survived, although the quality of German airborne radar had gradually matured.
Fw 200C-5/U1 A single C-5/U1 (0201) has been identified as such. It was identified as TA+MB before serving with KG 40 as F8+DT.
Fw 200C-5/U2 An unknown number of Condors were known as C-5/U2s, which probably differed mainly in the type and calibre of armament fitted.
Fw 200C-5/FK No examples of the C-5/FK have been identified by Werk Nummer and the reason (if any) for the FK suffix remains obscure.”

[INM@RLM]

PART #2 of 7: BUILDING A BASELINE.
Exactly 280 Fw 200 aircraft were built in total. Twelve of these were numbered in the Focke-Wulf manufacturer's sequence of construction numbers. These were the two prototypes (the symbolic W.Nr. 2000 plus W.Nr. 2484) followed by the ten A-Serie civil aircraft [W.Nr. 2893 to 2895 (3), W.Nr. 2993 to 2996 (4), plus W.Nrn. 3098, 3099 and 3324]. The other 268 Fw 200 were each assigned a Werk-Nummer in a separate unbroken type-sequence running from 0001 to 0268. All but five of this second sequence were examples of the Fw 200 C. Chronologically, all Fw 200 W.Nr. assignments were made sequentially, however, because of the additional time required to perform factory conversions for several examples not all were delivered in strict W.Nr. order.
Unusually and most fortunately we have an almost complete and comprehensive Focke-Wulf company listing for all Fw 200 C W.Nr. assignments up to a little beyond W.Nr. 0200 and this is detailed by sub-type. This list is set out in the document titled ‘Baumuster-Übersicht Fw 200 C, Stand vom 20.II.1943’ which covers all Fw 200 C production to the end of the C-4 sub-type. By the date of this document actual Fw 200 completions had reached to around W.Nr. 195. So the only identified omission is the distinction of W.Nr. 0198 as the third example of the Fw 200 C-4/U2, Bewaffnetes Führerbegleitflugzeug, rather than a vanilla C-4 example.
The contents of this document were reproduced pretty much verbatim in Nowarra’s 1988 Condor book across pages 134-138 ('Übersicht über die Baureihen Fw 200 B-F’). (In putting this together, Nowara also failed to add W.Nr. 0198 into the listing of C-4/U2 identities.) Besides this useful but often questionable source, we are privileged that a downloadable scan of the original company document has been posted on the Fw 200 restoration project web site at https://fw200-restaurierung-bremen.de/2016/11/.
Even more extraordinary is that Fw 200 completions up to the end of the C-3 sub-type have been independently corroborated by an earlier but undated version of a similar FoWu company document from the S.O. Archiv at Bad Eilsen. This sits on a RAF Intelligence file in the UK National Archives at reference AIR 40 154 (see https://discovery.nationalarchives.g...ils/r/C4103837). How this document came to be on this file is not explained.
As a consequence of this FoWu company documentation there is very little room left for doubt regarding the Fw 200 variants assigned W.Nr. 0001 to 0200. That almost fully documented sequence, only now corrected for W.Nr. 0198, is tabled below:
1 W.Nr. 0001, 1 x Fw 200 Versuchsmaschine, Fw 200 V10 "Rowehl" (Bildaufklärer)
2 W.Nr. 0002, 1 x Fw 200 Versuchsmaschine, Fw 200 V11 equivalent to the C-1 Musterflugzeug
3 W.Nr. 0003 to 0008, 6 x Fw 200 C-1, first batch.
4 W.Nr. 0009 to 0010, 2 x Fw 200 D-1, sole batch (ex-KB-1)
5 W.Nr. 0011 to 0014, 4 x Fw 200 C-1, second & final batch.
6 W.Nr. 0015, 1 x Fw 200 Versuchsmaschine, Fw 200 V12 C-2 Musterflugzeug (counted as a C-2)
7 W.Nr. 0016 to 0018, 3 x Fw 200 C-2, first batch.
8 W.Nr. 0019 to 0021, 3 x Fw 200 D-2, sole batch (ex-KC-1)
9 W.Nr. 0022 to 0024, 3 x Fw 200 C-2, second & final batch.
10 W.Nr. 0025, 1 x Fw 200 Versuchsmaschine, Fw 200 V13 C-3 Musterflugzeug (counted as a C-3)
11 W.Nr. 0026 to 0054, 29 x Fw 200 C-3, first batch.
12 W.Nr. 0055, 1 x Fw 200 C-3/U2, singleton example. Langstrecken-Aufklärer
13 W.Nr. 0056 to 0063, 29 x Fw 200 C-3, second batch.
14 W.Nr. 0064, 1 x Fw 200 C-3/U3, singleton example.
15 W.Nr. 0065 to 0069, 5 x Fw 200 C-3, third & final batch.
16 W.Nr. 0070 to 0094, 25 x Fw 200 C-3/U4, sole batch.
17 W.Nr. 0095, 1 x Fw 200 C-3/U5, singleton example. C-4 Musterflugzeug (but NOT counted as a C-4)
18 W.Nr. 0096 to 0098, 3 x Fw 200 C-4, first batch.
19 W.Nr. 0099, 1 x Fw 200 C-3/U9, singleton example. Bewaffnetes Führerflugzeug
20 W.Nr. 0100 to 0129, 30 x Fw 200 C-4, second batch.
21 W.Nr. 0130, 1 x Fw 200 C-4/U3, first example. Einbau FuG "Rostock" ASV search radar.
22 W.Nr. 0131 to 0136, 6 x Fw 200 C-4, third batch.
23 W.Nr. 0137, 1 x Fw 200 C-4/U1, first example. Bewaffnetes Führerflugzeug
24 W.Nr. 0138, 1 x Fw 200 C-4/U2, first example. Bewaffnetes Führerbegleitflugzeug
25 W.Nr. 0139 to 0171, 33 x Fw 200 C-4, fourth batch.
26 W.Nr. 0172, 1 x Fw 200 C-4/U3, second example. Einbau FuG "Rostock" ASV search radar.
27 W.Nr. 0173, 1 x Fw 200 C-4, singleton example. (In the event also Einbau FuG "Rostock" ASV search radar.)
28 W.Nr. 0174 to 0175, 2 x Fw 200 C-4/U3, third & fourth examples. Einbau FuG "Rostock" ASV search radar.
29 W.Nr. 0176, 1 x Fw 200 C-4/U1, second example. Bewaffnetes Führerflugzeug
30 W.Nr. 0177 to 0178, 2 x Fw 200 C-4/U3, fifth & sixth examples. Einbau FuG "Rostock" ASV search radar.
31 W.Nr. 0179, 1 x Fw 200 C-4, singleton example.
32 W.Nr. 0180, 1 x Fw 200 C-4/U3, seventh and final example. Einbau FuG "Rostock" ASV search radar.
33 W.Nr. 0181, 1 x Fw 200 C-4/U2, second example. Bewaffnetes Führerbegleitflugzeug
34 W.Nr. 0182 to 0197, 16 x Fw 200 C-4, fifth batch.
35 W.Nr. 0198, 1 x Fw 200 C-4/U2, third example. Bewaffnetes Führerbegleitflugzeug
36 W.Nr. 0199 to 0200, 2 x Fw 200 C-4, sixth and final batch.

Footnotes:

1. In both documents W.Nr. 0002 is described only as the Fw 200 V11, and never as a Fw 200 C-1. This is different to the treatments of the V12 and the V13 in these documents, where they are separately distinguished in the earlier document but are clearly counted as being a C-3 and C-4 sub-type respectively in the later listing. [Thus, in the later document the W.Nr. for the V12 & V13 are simply listed within the sequence spans linked with the C-3 and the C-4 sub-types.]
A second corroboration of only the V11 identity being used for W.Nr. 0002 comes from the page with the performance curves included in the 1941 Kennblatt for the Fw 200 C-1 & C-2 Serie. That diagram is annotated with:
"Erflogen mit:
Flugzeug: Fw 200 V 11 W.Nr. 0002
Motor: BMW 132 H1
Luftschrb.: 3flgl. VDM-Verstell.
Start mit 22,7 t Fluggewicht:
nAbheben 2250 U/min, p =1,42 ata
Luftschraubensteigung 1200
Landeklappen in Startstellung”
[This Kennblatt is also be found in UK TNA AIR 40/154.]
So in terms of Focke-Wulf company accounting and RLM procurement, there only ever were just ten examples of the Fw 200 C-1.
The operational career of the V11 was relatively short since a recent analysis seems to have established that W.Nr. 0002, the twelfth Condor built, was the aircraft shot down a little north of Narvik on 29-May-40 - see https://fw200-restaurierung-bremen.de/2017/09/

2. Despite what William Green, Scutts & Goss have written, the Focke-Wulf documentation confirms there never ever were any examples of a Fw 200 C-0 sub-type. (This point was covered accurately in the accounts by Nowarra and Salgado.)

3. Note that there is no mention in the sequence above of the Fw 200 C-3/U1. The reason is that although W.Nr. 0052 was selected to become this Umbau version, the reality is this never happened. These explanations for the gap appear in the ‘Baumuster-Übersicht Fw 200 C, Stand vom 20.II.1943’:
"für 0052 geplant
Umbau nicht ausgeführt"
at the top of the column for this development, plus at the foot is what appears to be:
"Lufttorpedo Einbau
Ausgeführt vom C-3".
I believe there is sufficient information in the RAF's POW Interrogation Reports and the published discoveries of Sonke Neitzel to work out why the C-3/U1 never happened, but there were Condors with torpedoes. A separate theme for another day.

4. Note also that there was but a single Fw 200 C-3/U2. This was W.Nr. 0055. The story propagated by William Green and which continues to march on in the books of Mr Goss (published 2016 & 2017) that has the C-3/U2 as the first service variant fitted with the Lotfe 7D bombsight is a compete fabrication. The manual for the Lotfe 7D bombsight (D.(Luft) 5205 only appears in Aug-42 and deliveries of the Fw 200 C-3 had ended long before then. Like the story of Bramo 323 R-2s fitted with water-methanol powering Condors from 1941, this tale of the C-3/U2 as the Lotfe 7D variant is one more fantastic myth without foundation. Another preposterous plant of misinformation in the distant past that has not been even cursorily checked.

So far so good. The challenge remaining then is to reconstruct in detail the balance of the sequence from W.Nr. 0201 to 0268.

[INM@RLM]

PART #3 of 7: WAS THERE A Fw 200 C-5 SUB-TYPE?
Each of the Focke-Wulf company, the Luftwaffe and the RLM certainly thought so. There is conclusive evidence for the C-5 production series in FoWu company documentation, RLM Delivery Plans and 1944 C-Amt Monthly Reports of New-build Aircraft Delivered.
1. The FoWu evidence is the mention of an issued Ladeplan for the Fw 200 C-5. This was numbered 8 – 200000 – 7049, and is mentioned on Blatt 8 of the Focke-Wulf company proposal document: 'Focke Wulf Fw 200 F Fernaufklärer mit erhöhter Reichweite, 11 Mai 1943'. Unfortunately no copy of this Ladeplan seems to have survived but we do know that this was in issue by May 1943 (whilst at that point we also know from the same source that there was as yet no Ladeplan for the projected Fw 200 C-6 sub-type).
2. For the Luftwaffe, the monthly Bewegungsmeldungen returns submitted by I. and III./KG 40 evidence quantities of the Fw 200 C-5 being assigned to and on the strength of both these units in the period from Apr-43 to July-44. That data is analysed below in this post.
3. There is definitive evidence that the RLM planned production in the final phase of the Fw 200 programme as 65 examples of the Fw 200 C-5 sub-type, and that final deliveries of Fw 200s reported in the C-Amt Monatsmeldungen for Jan-/Feb-/Mar-44 are all identified as being of the Fw 200 C-5 sub-type. This RLM evidence is detailed in at least three places:

GL/C-B Lieferplan 225, Flugzeug-Programm, Blatt 13 of g.Kdos.-Nr. 18382/43, Datum 1.12.1943 (archive reference BA-MA RL 3/1035)
Fw 200 C-3 Total delivered = 71, all completed by 30-Nov-43
Fw 200 C-4 Total delivered = 103, all completed by 30-Nov-43
Fw 200 C-5 Total ordered = 65; 50 delivered by 30-Nov-43; Balance of 15 to be delivered: 4 in Dec-43, 6 in Jan-44 and 5 in Feb-44.

GL/C-PrI Lieferplan 226, Flugzeug-Programm, Blatt 13 of g.Kdos.-Nr. 1486/44, Datum 15.5.1944 (archive reference BA-MA RL 3/1040)
Fw 200 C-3 Total delivered = 71, all completed by 30-Apr-44
Fw 200 C-4 Total delivered = 103, all completed by 30-Apr-44
Fw 200 C-5 Total delivered = 65, all completed by 30-Apr-44

RLM C-Amt Monatsmeldungen – Neubauflugzeuge section (from US NARA Microfilm T-177. Bundesarchiv reference not yet traced.)
Month Accepted in: Total Delivery now - Actual & Planned
Jan-44 Fw 200 C 5: 6 übernommen im Januar: Gesamt-Lieferung Ist= 64: Gesamt-Lieferung Soll = 60
Feb-44 Fw 200 C 5: Nil übernommen im Februar: Gesamt-Lieferung Ist= 64: Gesamt-Lieferung Soll = 65:
Mar-44 Fw 200 C 5: 1 übernommen im März: Gesamt-Lieferung Ist= 65: Gesamt-Lieferung Soll = 65:
Apr-44 NO MENTION

Putting this data together with what else we know of late-production Fw 200s, a reasonable conclusion is that the 65 Fw 200 C-5s were PLANNED as four different sequences within the last sixty-eight Fw 200 Werk-Nummern. The result would have looked something very close to this:
37 W.Nr. 0201 to 0215, 15 x Fw 200 C-5, first batch.
38 W.Nr. 0216, 1 x Fw 200 C-4/U2, fourth example of a Bewaffnetes Führerbegleitflugzeug
39 W.Nr. 0217 to 0229, 13 x Fw 200 C-5, second batch. (to include at least one C-5/U1 as W.Nr. 0221)
40 W.Nr. 0230, 1 x Fw 200 C-4/U2, intended fifth example of a Bewaffnetes Führerbegleitflugzeug
41 W.Nr. 0231 to 0239, 9 x Fw 200 C-5, third batch.
42 W.Nr. 0240, 1 x Fw 200 C-4/U1, third example of a Bewaffnetes Führerflugzeug
43 W.Nr. 0241 to 0268, 28 x Fw 200 C-5, fourth and final batch.

However, what is very clear from the Luftwaffe Bewegungsmeldungen for KG 40 is that in reality a lot fewer than 65 Fw 200 C-5s entered unit service, and that unit deliveries by sub-type of late-production Fw 200s involved much more than just the C-5. These points are developed further in Part 5 of this thread.

So we can conclude there definitely was a Fw 200 C-5 series-production sub-type, and that aircraft built to this baseline standard comprised a quarter (24.7%, 65 out of 263) of all Fw 200 C-Serie built. That’s quite a sizeable proportion for some authors to have written out of the Condor story.

[INM@RLM]

PART #4 of 7: DISTINGUISHING CHARACERISTICS OF THE Fw 200 C-5
Without a Flugzeugmuster Kennblatt for the C-5, or at very least the Ladeplan for the C-5, we cannot be completely sure what distinguished the Fw 200 C-5 sub-type. However, the defensive armament for both the C-5 and the C-5/U1 are set out in the ‘Baumuster-Übersicht Fw 200 C, Stand vom 20.II.1943’ and there the short description given for the C-5 is: Verstärkte Bewaffnung i. C.- u. Fensterstand = Reinforced armament in the C-Stand and Window positions. This is an unambiguous indication that the major changes all related to the aircraft's defensive armament. There is also good confirmatory photographic and operational evidence available to set alongside this. Taking these together, the picture they provide of the Fw 200 C-5 although it might still be incomplete in the fine detail, does I believe capture all of the key points.

Collecting together what we do know that is beyond reasonable doubt, the C-5 was a C-4 fitted with an improved D-Stand and Rumpfwanne nose in which - for the very first time in the operational evolution of the Fw 200 - a Lotfe D bombsight was fitted as STANDARD equipment. (So this did not happen in 1941 [fantasy] but only in 1943 [reality].) This version of the Lotfe enabled horizontal bombing of merchant shipping from medium-altitude with a degree of accuracy.
Armament in the lens-mount of the D-Stand where the bombsight was fitted, was also substantially upgraded. Instead of a MG 15 mounted excentrically in the plexiglas lens at the front of the mount, a MG 131 was mounted in the centre of the lens and this type of mounting was accompanied by a very distinctive external rectangular sheet-metal conduit running backwards beneath the D-Stand to a slanted aperture on the port side of the protruding bombsight fairing. This external channel running on the underside of the D-Stand guided ejected shell cases safely to one side of and away from the bombsight housing. The combination of prominent underside bombsight fairing, prominent underside channel for ejected cartridge cases and the centrally-mounted MG 131 are the key characteristics of the Fw 200 C-5 as well as of the subsequent C-6, C-8 sub-types and of the C-5/FK conversions.
In German documentation, the new D-Stand mount is described as MG 131 with L 151/1 (800 Schuß) (Linsen-lafette = lens mount). The FoWu document 'Focke Wulf Fw 200 F Fernaufklärer mit erhöhter Reichweite, 11 Mai 1943', confirms on Blatt 8 that this D-Stand installation was first introduced for the C-5, describing it as "wie bei C-5 angenommen" = "as adopted for the C-5".
All indications are that the fuel arrangements in the C-5 were exactly the same as those for the C-4, with a 540-litre self-sealing fuel tank (Voll geschützt) fitted as standard equipment in the forward bomb bay of the under-fuselage gondola (Rumpfwanne or Bodenwanne to the Luftwaffe). The main fuselage and wing tanks were all configured exactly as standardized at the start of C-series production.
The pattern aircraft (Musterflugzeug) for the C-5 subtype was Fw 200 C-4, W.Nr. 0114. This may be the aircraft pictured in the photo at p.201(mid lft) of Goss Classic, with a very short external conduit fitted below the D-Stand (forward gun position of the under-fuselage gondola).

The close-up reference photo for this new design of D-Stand is a superb Bundesarchiv photograph which has been reproduced in many different places, including: Ries: Bild 3 p.115(top); Salgado p.96(top) & Scutts p.89(btm). [In Ries: Bild 3 this was mis-captioned as "MG 131 in der Linsenlafette des A-Standes einer FW 200C-3/U2 beim KG 40." [This should have read: D-Stand not A-Stand and Fw 200 C-5 or later not Fw 200 C-3/U2]. Surprisingly however, this photo was not included in any of the three Goss publications on the Fw 200. Perhaps its significance was not appreciated? Most conveniently, the photograph also includes the beginnings of the W.Nr. painted on the fuselage underside just ahead of the D-Stand, conclusively confirming that this particular aircraft carried a 02?? Sequence Werk-Nummer.

The other changes documented in the Baumuster-Übersicht as definitely only first introduced with the Fw 200 C-5 were:
Armament in the C-Stand was upgraded from a KL15 (Kegel-lafette = conical mount) with MG 15 to the KL15 WL 131 with MG 131 and a single belt of 500 rounds.
Armament in the two F-Stände (Fensterstände = window positions in the fuselage waist, links u. rechts) was now upgraded from MG 15s to an MG 131 in a SL 15 (Schwenklafette = swivelling mount) each side, with a single belt of 500 Schuß.

We also know from the weight comparisons presented at Blatt 8 of 'Focke Wulf Fw 200 F Fernaufklärer mit erhöhter Reichweite, 11 Mai 1943', that an additional 32 kg of armour was fitted to the Fw 200 C-5, total armour increasing from 200 kg in the C-4 to 252 kg for the C-5. Previously the Fensterstände had been entirely unprotected. These now received 36 kg of armour plate, offset by a 5.1 kg saving in the C-Stand armouring and an even smaller adjustment in the B-Stand.
To offset the weight and the CG effect of armouring the Fensterstände and replacing MG 15s by MG 131s in all the rear gun positions we can deduce that the tailwheel retraction mechanism was now deleted. If the tailwheel is hanging down on a Condor in flight then this was definitely built as a C-5 (or later) sub-type. (For now this is an INM HYPOTHESIS – no documentary evidence yet.)
[As an aside, this is a very public demonstration of the painful choices that now had to be made to extend the service life of the Condor given the continuing absence of the Hertel Horror He 177. When RLM Delivery Plan, LP 22E, effective from 01-Oct-42, was put together production of the Fw 200 patrol bomber was to end in Dec-43. The Fw 200 would remain in production at the same rate of 6 per month but phasing in from Nov-43 all of these would now be delivered as transports. In the same period He 177 production was building up to a rate of 120 per month, and would run forward at that level beginning in Jan-44. See BA-MAL RL 3/1009 How things changed …]

Probably also characteristic of the Fw 200 C-5 was that aircraft of this and subsequent sub-types were all factory-fitted with the FuG 200 Hohentweil air-to-surface vessel search radar.

An excellent reference photo for the Fw 200 C-5 sub-type is the Bundesarchiv photo of W.Nr. 0218 (reference BA 482-2874-3A). This also has been widely reproduced, including: Ries: Bild 4 p.82(btm), Nowarra p.126(btm), Salgado p.95(btm), Goss Osprey p.57(btm) & Goss Classic p.223(top). In the 12OCH Errata for Sea Eagles this was identified as a Fw 200 C-6, but truth to tell, you cannot actually make this identification for sure since the HD 151 of the C-5's A-Stand is externally indistinguishable (or almost so) from the HD 151/1 of the C-6's A-Stand, whilst the B-Stand is not visible in this photo. (For the B-Stand, the C-6 was fitted with a MG 131 in a rotating DL 15 turret, whilst the C-5 retained the open D30 Drehkranz, ring mount with MG 131 that had been first introduced with the C-3/U4.) Although W.Nr. 0218 was reported lost 100% as a C-6 that was not until 14-Aug-44 when the aircraft was assigned to 8./KG 40. Since no C-6 variants are reported entering service with III./KG 40 until May-44 (well after Fw 200 deliveries had ended) and all these C-6 examples came from repair (bar one transfer from an unknown unit) the probability is that when photographed as an aircraft of the III. Gruppe Stab, W.Nr. 0218 was actually configured in the form in which it had been delivered. That is, it was in fact a Fw 200 C-5.

If there actually was to be a way of distinguishing between the HD 151 and HD 151/1 turrets then this would probably come down to whether there was a hatch in the left side of the turret plexiglas. In the HD 151 this provided the essential access for loading the 500-round ammo belt into the left side of the MG 151/20 cannon. This could only be done on the ground and of course only a single belt of ammo was carried. In the HD 151/1, a second, reserve belt was also carried and the ammunition feed into the cannon was from the right to enable the gunner to load a new belt during flight. Hence with the HD 151/1 turret there did not need to be such a flap on the left side of the turret and this may have been deleted. (For now no photographs or manuals have been traced that will either prove or disprove this statement. There was another flap at the rear of the turret allowing the cannon to be withdrawn for maintenance and this may well have provided all the other access necessary in the HD 151/1.) If it was indeed the case that there was no flap on the left of the HD 151/1 transparency, then the turret in this reference photo of W.Nr. 0218 is very definitely an HD 151, since the left-side flap is clearly visible. That would definitively identify W.Nr. 0218 at this point as a Fw 200 C-5.

[INM@RLM]

PART #5 of 7: HOW MANY EXAMPLES OF THE Fw 200 C-5 SAW SERVICE: WHAT SUB-TYPES COMPRISED THE BALANCE OF Fw 200 DELIVERIES IN THE W.Nr. 02XX SEQUENCE?

The challenge then is to reconstruct in detail how the sequence from W.Nr. 0201 to 0268 was made up. We have data for around 30 individual aircraft numbered in this span (so about 45%) but some of it appears to include some particularly inconvenient inconsistencies, and there is no documentation AFAIK that provides an overview for even a part of this sequence.

However, there is a lot of detailed information by sub-type given in the Luftwaffe Bewegungsmeldungen for the Fw 200s assigned to KG 40. Most generously, this report series has been made freely available on Michael Holm's www.ww2.dk web site. I explored this data set to assess whether it could possibly throw some useful light into this very murky area. As it happens, there did appear to be enough useful insights from this study to allow a reasonable attempt at a full reconstruction of exactly what sub-types applied to the final 65 Fw 200 C produced at the point these were delivered to KG 40. The detailed evidence and explanation of the logic used will be of no interest to most readers so these have been separated into the files of the attached ZIP.

The key findings from this exploration into the Bewegungsmeldungen are:

(a) Of the planned 65 Fw 200 C-5s, at most just 35 entered service with KG 40 as this sub-type. (This 35 includes the singleton C-5/U1, W.Nr. 0221.) The total of 35 comprises 29 x Neufertigung Fw 200 C-5 assigned to III./KG 40 plus another 5 allocated to to 3./KG 40, with one more C-5 being transferred from another unit to 3./KG 40 in Jul-43. As it happens this last can be tracked through the Bewegungsmeldungen for 3./KG 40 and identified as W.Nr. 0204 which was lost 100% by that Staffel in Jan-44. What we do not know at this point is what unit this aircraft was transferred from. Perhaps from an Erprobungskommando allocated this aircraft to assess from an operational point of view the changes necessary to convert the design into a satisfactory guided weapons launcher?
(b) Another 5 Fw 200 C-5s were converted into different sub-types by the Focke-Wulf plant at Cottbus before delivery of the aircraft. These became:
an initial batch of 3 x Fw 200 C-8 (W.Nr. 0223 to 0225, with all three delivered to 3./KG 40 in Aug-43),
and
the initial 2 x Fw 200 C-5/FK that were used for trials with the Hs 293 at Karlshagen (W.Nr. 0226 & 0227, both documented in Nowarra at pp.112 & 116/7, plus there is a well-known full-frontal photograph of W.Nr. 0226 carrying two Hs 293s, with the W.Nr. painted on the front lip of the deepened gondola and readable in a good print).

[There is a twist to this story, however, in that four of the 34 C-5s (35 minus the singleton C-5/U1) were actually plated and delivered with a C-6 designation. Plated means that the aircraft’s manufacturing plate was stamped to identify the aircraft as a Fw 200 C-6. Plus, to add some extra spice, in the Bewegungsmeldungen for III./KG 40 these C-6 examples were tracked and reported as C-5s, whilst in the equivalent 3./KG 40 reports they were always separately distinguished as C-6s. Going forward, I will refer to these aircraft as C-6 (1943 variant). Clearly the distinction between these C-6s and the standard C-5 was a very fine one. So fine that it could often be ignored entirely.]

Based on this study then - but for the present completely ignoring the inconvenience of the C-6-with-KG 40 twist - the next 43 Fw 200 W.Nr. assignments after W.Nr. 0200 can be stated with reasonable assurance to have been:
37 W.Nr. 0201 to 0215, 15 x Fw 200 C-5, first batch. INM RECONSTRUCTION
38 W.Nr. 0216, 1 x Fw 200 C-4/U2, fourth example. Bewaffnetes Führerbegleitflugzeug
39 W.Nr. 0217 to 0220, 4 x Fw 200 C-5, second batch. INM RECONSTRUCTION
40 W.Nr. 0221, 1 x Fw 200 C-5/U1, singleton example.
41 W.Nr. 0222, 1 x Fw 200 C-5, singleton example. (Confirmed by Lw Loss data)
42 W.Nr. 0223 to 0225, 3 x Fw 200 C-8, first FoWu Neufertigung batch. Only W.Nr. 0225 is an INM RECONSTRUCTION
43 W.Nr. 0226 to 0227, 2 x Fw 200 C-5/FK Trials machines FoWu Umbau from FoWu Neufertigung C-5
44 W.Nr. 0228 to 0229, 2 x Fw 200 C-5, third batch. INM RECONSTRUCTION
45 W.Nr. 0230, 1 x Fw 200 C-6/U2 (C-6 1943 variant), singleton C-6/U2 example. Bewaffnetes Führerbegleitflugzeug
46 W.Nr. 0231 to 0239, 9 x Fw 200 C-5, fourth batch. INM RECONSTRUCTION
47 W.Nr. 0240, 1 x Fw 200 C-4/U1, third example. Bewaffnetes Führerflugzeug
48 W.Nr. 0241 to 0243, 3 x Fw 200 C-5, fifth and final batch. INM RECONSTRUCTION

The main complications then are confined to determining the sub-types of the final 25 examples of the Fw 200 (W.Nr. 0244 to 0268) at the point each was first assigned to KG 40.

The Bewegungsmeldungen clearly show that KG 40 started receiving significant numbers of Fw 200 C-8s, reported as transfers from another unit, in the exact same period of Dec-43 to Mar-44 as the unit also reported being assigned eight 8 new-build C-8s (Neufertigung C-8s). It would appear then that following the earlier, initial trial batch of three C-8s sent to 3./KG 40 in Aug-43, the whole balance of the final 25 x Fw 200s were to be converted from C-5s into C-8s by Focke-Wulf and ‘another unit’ before their delivery to KG 40.
The stress here is on ‘would appear’, because the C-5/FK sub-type is never mentioned in the Bewegungsmeldung. That means that aircraft of this sub-type only appear in that report series in disguise. That C-5/FK aircraft were actually present with KG 40 in Dec-43 is confirmed by the loss record for W.Nr. 0246 reported as a Fw 200 C-8(C-5) 100% lost on 29-Dec-43 with 7./KG 40. (Apparently carrying Hs 293s per Goss Air War Archive p.147 but at Goss Classic pp.200 & 266 the mission was Seenotsuche Atlantik).

What is clear from the Bewegungsmeldungen evidence though is that these conversions, nominally at least into C-8s, were being performed in different places, by at least two different parties, and in a chronological sequence with probably five separate phases discernible. So the reality was considerable more complicated than FoWu now completing the final 25 examples as C-8s rather than C-5s.

The start point for unwrapping this tangle is to determine the W.Nr. range of the 8 later FoWu Cottbus factory conversions of Neufertigung C-8s from newly-built C-5s. For this we have the evidence from Focke-Wulf company photographs. It seems to have been standard company practice to make a particular photo study of the initial example of any new variant. We have at least three such FoWu photographs for Fw 200 C-8 W.Nr. 0256 (Stammkz. TO+XL). [Two of these are on p.203 of Goss Classic (mid+btm) and the third is in Scutts p.185(mid).] This evidence identifies W.Nr. 0256 as the first of the 8 Fw 200 C-8s counted by KG 40 as Neufertigung C-8s. (Neufertigung because they came directly to KG 40 from the FoWu plant at Cottbus.) Supporting that identification is that the FoWu photograph of Fw 200 C-5/FK W.Nr. 0259 (Stammkz. TO+XO) is also within seven places of W.Nr. 0256.

With the limited information surviving there may never be any certainty here, but taking these two pieces of FoWu company photographic evidence together suggests that the final Fw 200s delivered direct to units by Focke-Wulf Cottbus were probably these seven as Fw 200 C-8s: W.Nr. 0256 to 0258 (3) and W.Nr. 0260 to 0263 (4), plus this singleton eighth Fw 200 C-8, W.Nr. 0259 (TO+XO), which had on RLM instruction been further converted by FoWu Cottbus from a C-8 into a Fw 200 C-5/FK. These aircraft had all been delivered by FoWu Cottbus during Dec-43 and Jan-44 but only dribbled through to KG 40 as Neufertigung C-8s in the quarter ending Mar-44.

A reasonable reconstruction then of the final 25 Fw 200 W.Nr. assignments by sub-type at the point these aircraft were delivered at the FoWu Cottbus works to the RLM looks to be:
1 W.Nr. 0244 to 0255, 12 x Fw 200 C-5.
2 W.Nr. 0256 to 0258, 3 x Fw 200 C-8, second FoWu Neufertigung batch, converted by FoWu from C-5s to C-8s on the Cottbus assembly line before their delivery in Dec-43; plated as Fw 200 C-8s. [a very simple conversion involving only the addition of a second Rumpfwanne 540-lite fuel tank and the associated plumbing]
3. W.Nr. 0259, 1 x Fw 200 C-5/FK, third example Sole FoWu C-5/FK Umbau from a Neufertigung C-8; plated as a Fw 200 C-8.
4 W.Nr. 0260 to 0263, 4 x Fw 200 C-8, third & final FoWu Neufertigung batch, also converted by FoWu from C-5s to C-8s on the Cottbus production line before their delivery in Dec-43 & Jan-44; also plated as Fw 200 C-8s
5 W.Nr. 0264 to 0268, 5 x Fw 200 C-5.

The interventions of the other unit (von andere Verbände) supplying Fw 200 C-8s to KG 40 in parallel during the same period then need to be overlaid onto this scheme. It is a reasonable interpretation that DW F at Schwäbish Hall was the other unit referred to in the KG 40 Bewegungsmeldungen.
The detailed logic for the listing below is set out in the attachments, but an interpretation that incorporates both of the sources supplying (nominally) Fw 200 C-8s to KG 40, and which aligns with the timings reported in the Bewegungsmeldungen is the sequence below:
• An initial 12 conversions to C-5/FKs from Neufertigung C-5s performed by DW F at Schwäbish Hall - assigned to KG 40 in the period Dec-43 to Feb-44;
• Then the second batch of 8 FoWu Cottbus factory conversions of C-8s from C-5s, described by KG 40 as Neufertigung C-8s (consistently in both the 3. & the III./KG 40 Bewegungsmeldungen report series) - assigned to KG 40 in the period Dec-43 to Mar-44;
• Next, a follow-on block of the final 5 conversions to C-5/FKs from Neufertigung C-5s, once again all performed by DW F - these were likely all assigned to KG 40 in Feb-/Mar-44;
• Followed by a continuation phase in which a further 8 C-5/FK conversions were performed and delivered from DW F - in Feb- to Apr-44, again using C-5s, but now these were examples recycled from aircraft assigned earlier to KG 40.
This made a cumulative total of 25 C-5/FK conversions by 30-Apr-44, all classified by KG 40 as C-8s, delivered from DW F up to this point (12+5+8). Total C-8 assignments to KG 40 at that date, as reported in the unit’s Bewegungsmeldungen was 36, comprising these 25 + the three of the initial C-8 batch (W.Nr. 0223 to 0225) + the eight of the second C-8 batch that actually included one FoWu-built C-5/FK (W.Nr. 0256 to 0263).
• There was also a final additional batch of 18 further new conversions to C-5/FKs in Jul-44. These also could only have been recycled aircraft that had previously seen service with KG 40 as C-4, C-5 or C-8 sub-types.
It is not possible to be sure of the W.Nr. of any of the recycled aircraft converted in these two final steps of the C-8 conversion programme. However, for the earlier examples we do have a few clues.

Putting Werk-Nummern to the newly-built aircraft in these phases – where this is possible - the final picture becomes:
1 W.Nr. 0244 to 0255, 12 x Fw 200 C-8(C-5/FK), first conversion batch of C-5/FKs performed by DW F using neubau C-5s ferried directly from Cottbus to Schwäbish Hall; assigned to KG 40 starting with 8 in Dec-43, last in Feb-44.
2 W.Nr. 0256 to 0258, 3 x Fw 200 C-8, second FoWu Neufertigung batch of genuine, plated C-8s (i.e. not converted to C-5/FKs at the time of their assignment to KG 40); to KG 40 in Dec-43.
3 W.Nr. 0259, 1 x Fw 200 C-5/FK, third example converted by FoWu Sole FoWu C-5/FK Umbau from a Neufertigung C-8 (counted as a Neufertigung C-8 in the KG 40 Bewegungsmeldungen); probably to KG 40 in Mar-44.
4 W.Nr. 0260 to 0263, 4 x Fw 200 C-8, third & final FoWu Neufertigung batch of genuine, plated C-8s (i.e. not converted to C-5/FK at the time of their assignment to KG 40); starting with 2 in Dec-43 (W.Nr. 0260 & 0261), and the last (W.Nr. 0263) in Mar-44.
5 W.Nr. 0264 to 0268, 5 x Fw 200 C-5/FK, second and final conversion batch of C-5/FKs performed by DW F using neubau C-5s ferried directly from Cottbus to Schwäbish Hall.

So the strange phenomenon of Fw 200 C-8s being supplied to KG 40 during Dec-43/Mar-44 simultaneously from two different sources is explained by:
A. All of the Fw 200 C-8 assignments reported in the KG 40 Bewegungsmeldungen as inward transfers from another unit, in reality represented the delivery of recently-built C-5/FK aircraft to KG 40 from DW F at Schwäbish Hall.
B. Aside from the singleton C-8 conversion to a C-5/FK of W.Nr. 0259 by FoWu Cottbus, the other seven Fw 200 C-8s reported in the KG 40 Bewegungsmeldungen as Neufertigung C-8s during Dec-43/Mar-44 were genuine Fw 200 C-8s converted from C-5s into C-8s by FoWu Cottbus and each was received by KG 40 as a functioning Fw 200 C-8 for use in the long-range maritime recce role.
C. The C-8s and the C5/FKs were grouped together in the KG 40 Bewegungsmeldungen because both variants were conversions of recently-completed Fw 200 C-5 sharing the characteristic of a 540-litre self-sealing fuel tank fitted in both the forward and the aft bays of the Rumpfwanne.

[INM@RLM]

Part #6 of 7: THE TWIST: THE SPECIAL CASES OF THE Fw 200 C-6 (1943 Variant)
A subsidiary finding from exploring the Bewegungsmeldungen along with RAF Intelligence files on the Fw 200 was that the Fw 200 C-6 designation was used at least twice by Focke-Wulf and the RLM for entirely different purposes. [See UK TNA references AIR 40/154 & AIR 40/234 at The National Archives for the RAF material.]

The original and the final Focke-Wulf documented usage (in 'Focke Wulf Fw 200 F Fernaufklärer mit erhöhter Reichweite, 11 Mai 1943') described the Fw 200 C-6 as having the HD 151/1 turret with 1,000 rounds in the A-Stand (replacing the HD 151 with 500 rounds), and the DL15/131 rotating turret with 1,000 rounds as the B-Stand. The HD 151/1 was a new design of turret. As mentioned in an earlier part of these posts, the fitting of a HD 151/1 turret in the A-Stand meant the gunner could now change the ammo belt of the MG 151/20 during flight, so a second 500-round reserve belt was now carried. The DL15/131 rotating turret was similar to the turret fitted in the He 111 H-20. It had supposedly first been used on the Condor in the B-Stand of a singleton maritime-role Fw 200 with the designation C-5/U1. However, preceding that use this design of turret had also been fitted in both A- and B-Stände of all C-4 conversions for the Fliegerstaffel der Führer, so this was not an entirely new item. It was, however, a limited supply item.

Sometime between May- and Dec-43, after the RLM decision to end production of the Fw 200, it became clear that the C-6 as planned was never actually going to be built by Focke-Wulf. Some 'bright spark' then decided to apply the C-6 designation to a handful of Fw 200 C-5s with some small but specific special characteristic(s). We do not know for certain sure what this/these difference(s) were, but we do know from the Bewegungsmeldungen that 3./KG 40 reported these aircraft as Fw 200 C-6s, whilst in III./KG 40 they were reported as Fw 200 C-5s. Individual losses of such aircraft in both units though were reported as C-6s, so this difference in reporting represented more than a clerical error. We know of three of such C-6 losses: W.Nr. 220 for 3./KG 40 and W.Nr. 0214 and W.Nr. 0237 for III./KG 40.

The last, W.Nr. 0237, crashed in Ireland, and the wreckage was examined. Some of the findings were reported to RAF Technical Intelligence, which also appears to have been passed notes made from some of the documentation carried by the German crew. Those investigations revealed three things:
(1) from surviving documentation, confirmation that the formal designation (Muster) of the aircraft was definitely that of a Fw 200 C-6, so this truly was an official formal use of the C-6 designation;
(2) also from documentation, that the maximum fuel load of this C-6 was 9,140 litres of B4: that figure confirms that a 540-litre fuel tank was fitted in both of the Rumpfwanne (under-fuselage gondola) bays - in other words the internal fuel load was exactly the same as that of the subsequent Fw 200 C-8 sub-type;
also,
(3) although the remains of 0237 were mostly burnt to a crisp, the outer wings survived and it was possible to determine that a Goodrich-type de-icing system (thus with inflatable boots on the leading edges) was installed on the outer mainplanes.
RAF Crashed Enemy Aircraft, Report Serial No. 214 dated 23rd December, 1943, had this regarding this aircraft under:
“General Remarks
The outer section of the mainplanes and the leading-edges of the tailplane and fin were each fitted with the Goodrich type de-icing system. It would seem that both mainplane and tailplane were metal covered over approximately half the chord. The rear half, together with the control surfaces, being fabric covered.”

The Goodrich system had always been installed on the leading edges of the fin and horizontal tailplane of the Fw 200. However, the system normally used for the mainplanes of the Fw 200 had been that described in an earlier report on an Fw 200 found at Tripoli. These extracts come from H.Q. M.E. Crash Report Castel Benito 24.1.43:
"ENGINES
... The exhausts from these motors discharge into a collector ring at the rear, from which lead six pipes approx. 18” long ending in fishtails. 3 of these are fitted at each side but none at bottom or top. Round the collector ring is a jacket through which air is passed to provide hot air for wing deicing and possibly cockpit heating.
...
SPECIAL REMARKS:
The leading edges of the wings have a double skin, hot air being admitted to the space between for deicing purposes and exhausting through slits about 6” back top and bottom (similar to Ju 52). The tail and fin leading edges have rubber deicers, and the airscrews are deiced by liquid.”
[For both reports see AIR 40/154 in UK TNA]
There is no indication in this Intelligence file to indicate that the RAF recognized W.Nr. 0237 as being a particularly unusual aircraft, but that was in fact the case.

All that can be determined about the starboard leading edge of the mainplane in the main photograph reproduced at p.196 of Goss Classic is that it was finished in a light colour, presumably a wrap-around of RLM 65 from the undersurfaces onto the top of the leading edge, and that the forward ring of the cowling on at least the starboard outer engine was painted in white. Normally the uppersurface colours were applied to the leading edge of the wing and the cowling ring had the normal dividing line between the upper and lower colours. It seems then this aircraft was indeed special enough for someone on the technical staff of III./KG 40 to want to make it readily distinguishable at a distance.

It is also possible to determine one other key characteristic of this particular C-6. Photographs of the burnt out wreckage of W.Nr. 0237 show the whole fuselage back to just aft of the B-Stand (rear dorsal gun position) totally destroyed. (See again Goss Classic p.196. The calibre of the 20 mm cannon has been erroneously captioned here as 15 mm.) Fortunately one of the three photographs shows the burnt out A-Stand turret (forward dorsal gun position). In this the remnants of the sheet-metal guides feeding the ammo belt into the left side of the cannon can be seen with reasonable clarity, whilst the right side nearest the camera and the gunner is wholly free of any fittings. Accordingly the A-Stand turret actually fitted to this aircraft is the standard HD 151 turret, introduced with the C-4, and equipped with a MG 151/20 Model B cannon, belt-fed from the left-side, where the ammunition belt had to be loaded using an access hatch on the left side of the turret. With this model of turret a new belt could only loaded into the cannon when the aircraft was at rest on the ground. This definitively confirms that this aircraft was armed as a C-5, and was not an example fitted with the improved armament intended for the C-6 version described in the Fw 200 F proposal document. [In the HD 151/1 turret with the MG 151/20 Model A the belt-feed was from the right, the same side as the gunner, meaning that another 500-round belt could be loaded into the cannon during flight. (The ammunition complement for the HD 151/1 design of turret is given in the Flugzeug-Baureihen-Blatt for the Ju 290 as 500 Schuß plus 500 Res. Reproduced in Kössler+Ott: Die großen Dessauer at p.234.) That description confirms that in the HD 151/1 turret there were two separate 500-round ammunition belts.)]

There is, of course, one other confirmed C-6 identity that dates from 1943. This was W.Nr. 0230, the Bewaffnetes Führerbegleitflugzeug assigned for the use of Speer as Reichsminister für Rüstung und Kriegsproduktion. Nowarra identifies this aircraft as first being used as the C-6 Musterflugzeug and then associates it in that capacity with the C-6 sub-type configured with improved armament. Thus, Nowarra on p.111:
"Musterflugzeug für die neue Serie C-6 wurde Werknr. 0230, DP+QR, der dann vierzehn Serienmaschinen, Werknr. 0235 bis 0247, folgten. Die Fertigstelung aller Maschinen ist nicht sicher. [INM Note: "+QR" is a typo, and +OR is meant; the span is stated in the Nowarra text to be another 14 but is actually another 13 even including in the count W.Nr. 0240 which was in reality something completely different, the third C-4/U1 Bewaffnetes Führerflugzeug.]
Die Fw 200 C-6 verfügte über eine Abwehrbewaffnung von:
A-Stand HD 151/1, B-Stand DL 15/131, C-Stand KL 15 mit MG 131, D-Stand MG 131 und den Fensterständen SL 131 auf beiden Seiten."
"Pattern aircraft for the new C-6 series was Werknr. 0230, DP + QR, then followed by fourteen production machines assigned Werknr. 0235 to 0247. It is uncertain whether all of these machines were completed.
The Fw 200 C-6 had a defensive armament of:
A-Stand HD 151/1, B-Stand DL 15/131, C-Stand KL 15 with MG 131, D-Stand MG 131 and a SL 131 window position either side."

In the context of the other information we now have on the use of the C-6 designation, I suggest that Nowarra's identification of this aircraft as the Musterflugzeug for the C-6 and its association with the armament of the C-6 rebuilds that appeared in mid-1944 are both wholly erroneous. Rather, I suggest that the timing points to W.Nr. 0230 being a fifth C-6 of the 1943 variant fitted with two 540-litre fuel tanks in the Rumpfwanne, and characterized by Goodrich-type deicers on the mainplanes. Possibly trialling all of these installations on aircraft that would be in harm's way was reckoned imprudent, and one set was tested out on an example that would only see service well behind the front lines.

It would seem distinctly unlikely that, at this stage of the war, Germany was in a position to standardize a large rubberized de-icing inflation system for the mainplanes on all of the final Fw 200 production batch. However, the trialling under service conditions on orders of the gentlemen in the RLM of a new de-icing solution to be applied generally to multi-engine aircraft at some point in the future does look a credible possibility. The relatively wide spread of the Werk-Nummern of the known C-6 examples suggests that whatever special system was fitted it was applied to individual aircraft as and when each example of the system became available. In other words, supply was a thin dribble of droplets, and there was no possibility of grouping these aircraft together into a single small batch.

Fw 200 C-6 Note 1: A purist must also point out that the Bewegungsmeldungen for III./KG 40 evidence a third, earlier use of the Fw 200 C-6 designation. Four Neufertigung C-6 are assigned to the Gruppe in Jul-42; two are lost the same month (one to enemy action), and the remaining pair are transferred out to another unit the next month. The 100% losses of C-4s W.Nr. 0135 & W.Nr. 0136 on 12th and 22nd July respectively fit the facts but no trace appears to have survived regarding what might have been particularly special about these aircraft. However, for at least one Lw technical officer there was clearly also a 1942 variant of the Fw 200 C-6 designation.

Fw 200 C-6 Note 2: The likely delivery dates of the four confirmed C-6 (1943 variants) were:
W.Nr. 0214 = May-43 (which is consistent with its 100% loss on 23-Aug-43 with 9./KG 40)
W.Nr. 0220 = Jun-43 (which aligns with this aircraft being taken onto the strength of 3./KG 40 in Jul-43: 100% loss on 31-Mar-44)
W.Nr. 0230 = Aug-43 (in practice the delivery date would have been delayed by the conversion into the C-6/U2 Bewaffnetes Führerbegleitflugzeug version)
W.Nr. 0237 = Sep-43 (which aligns with the final C-5 Neufertigung assignments to III./KG 40 being made in Oct-43: subsequently 100% loss on 13-Dec-43 with 7./KG 40)
Since both of the C-6s reported with 3./KG 40 were assigned in Jul-43, there is a reasonable probability that the second example was W.Nr. 0219, an aircraft for which we currently seem to have no information.

Fw 200 C-6 Note 3: On a strict sequential assignment to units of Neufertigung C-5s & C-6s in Werk-Nummer order, C-6 W.Nr. 0220, delivered in Jun-43, would have been the first Fw 200 assigned to KG 40 in Aug-43. Yet it actually arrives with the Staffel during Jul-43. (See the detail attachments.) A discrepancy of a single W.Nr. is within a credibly acceptable margin of error. For example, perhaps 3./KG 40 was more desperate for new aircraft and were collecting their aircraft faster than III./KG 40 could free up crews to do this?

Until such time as more evidence surfaces then, my tentative conclusion is that the Fw 200 C-6 designation was also applied briefly to a handful of Condors built in 1943, probably only five in total, and that these were fitted with the Goodrich de-icing system on their outer mainplanes, as well as two 540-litre Rumpfwanne fuel tanks. These aircraft were manufactured on a very limited basis for unit service trials with both parts of KG 40, plus a singleton for trials with the Fliegerstaffel der Führer. [Could the presence of these boots be detectable in a first quality print of the photo of C-6/U2, W.Nr. 0230, which was included in Goss Osprey at p.85(tp), or in the photo of W.Nr. 0237 in Goss Classic at p.196(tp)?]

Subsequently, in 1944, when HD 151/1 and DL15/131 turrets became available in sufficient quantity to upgrade fifteen Fw 200 C-5s undergoing repair as C-6s, the C-6 designation now identified an aircraft with the improved armament described in the FoWu company document 'Focke Wulf Fw 200 F Fernaufklärer mit erhöhter Reichweite, 11 Mai 1943' at Blatt 8. (See back to the second paragraph of this part.)

When W.Nr. 0218 was lost 100% in Aug-44, it was as one of these fifteen aircraft of the second, 1944 variant of the C-6. Confusingly, all other C-6 identities as currently known, including that of the C-6/U2, belong to the first, 1943 variant of the C-6. Finally, to make one last and very obvious point, these fifteen examples of the 1944 variant of the C-6 had never at any point been converted to become C-5/FKs.

Points for future follow-up:
What records survive in the Irish Republic covering the examination of the crashed W.Nr. 0237 and the interrogation of its crew? (And for the other Condors that perished in Eire.)
Can the de-icing boots of the outer mainplanes be distinguished in original prints of photographs of the W.Nr. 0237 wreckage? (In this case we know they are present.) Are there any other close-up photos of these boots?

[INM@RLM]

Part #7 of 7: IN SUMMARY

SUMMARY #1: KEY DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS FOR THE LATER Fw 200 SUB-TYPES

Fw 200 C-5 (34 built and assigned to KG 40 as Neufertigung C-5 aircraft: of these four were actually plated and documented in the aircraft's papers as Neufertigung Muster C-6)
- Introduced the new version of the D-Stand with MG 131 (with 800 rounds) and Rumpfwanne (gondola) nose with an integral Lotfe D bombsight
- MG 131s now also standardized in the C-Stand and F-Stände positions - i.e. every single gun position in the aircraft except for the 20-mm MG 151/20 in the D-Stand was now fitted with a 13-mm MG 131 heavy machine gun
- FoWu factory-fitted with FuG 200.
Fuller details in Part #4 above.

Fw 200 C-5/U1 (1 built as W.Nr. 0221 and assigned to KG 40 as a Neufertigung C-5/U1 example, although this was reported in the Bewegungsmeldungen simply as a C-5.)
Short description in the ‘Baumuster-Übersicht Fw 200 C, Stand vom 20.II.1943’ is: Verstärkte Bewaffnung B-Stand geändert = Reinforced armament B-stand changed. So as C-5 but with a rotating DL15/131 turret with 1,000 rounds as the B-Stand.
This aircraft was photographed immediately after crash-landing in Spain from the Liberator that shot it down. A couple of those photographs clearly show a hole in the top of the rear fuselage where the B-Stand would be, but there is absolutely no sign whatsoever on this aircraft of the long He 111-type faired transparency characteristic of the B-Stand in all previous Fw 200 Cs. However, the strangest feature of W.Nr. 0221 in these photos is there is no sign either of any armament at all fitted in the B-Stand. Instead the hole seems to have been fitted with a circular cover panel which has popped out by the crash-landing and now lies on the ground by the aircraft on a line between the B-Stand and the inward end of the starboard aileron. (See especially the photo at Salgado p.90(mid), with a rather less clear view in Goss Classic at p.184(mid) & Goss Air Archive p.137. None of the captions mention this point.) It is essential to examine good prints of these photographs for corroboration but this photographic evidence seems to suggest that in reality no DL15/131 turret was fitted to W.Nr. 0221 when lost in service with KG 40. Rather than the C-5/U1 being better armed it was in fact more weakly armed being without any defensive armament in the B-Stand. Surprise!
If the loss record in Goss is accurate, the designation C-7 seems to have been associated with W.Nr. 0221 it this sans-B-Stand iteration.

Fw 200 C-5/U2 (No variant was ever built with this designation)

Roundup of ‘Genuine’ Fw 200 C-5s: Nominally, 35 Fw 200 C-5s in all were reported delivered to KG 40, but this total actually included the singleton Fw 200 C-5/U1, and four aircraft that were designated in their airframe documentation as Fw 200 C-6s. Final real total: just 30 genuine C-5s were delivered.

Fw 200 C-7 See last sentence of C-5/U1 section above.

Fw 200 C-8 (only 11 assigned to KG 40 as Neufertigung C-8 examples direct from FoWu, including one which had actually been converted by FoWu Cottbus into a C-5/FK: so just 10 genuine C-8s employable in the LR maritime recce role were delivered. These came from two well-separated batches: W.Nr. 0223 to 0225 & W.Nr. 0256 to 0263, from which W.Nr. 0259 was converted by FoWu Cottbus into a C-5/FK.)
A second 540-litre fuel tank was added to the after bomb bay of the Rumpfwanne (gondola). (See statement of Günther Ott regarding a second such tank in the C-8 in 12OCH thread 6918 post of 11th December 2006.)
In addition, there is also evidence to suggest that the necessary fuel lines and pumps to feed fuel inwards from jettisonable underwing drop tanks were also incorporated as standard in this sub-type. It was therefore now possible to carry a pair of drop tanks on the outermost wing racks. This would seem to explain the mention in a 03-Dec-43 report from Stab Fliegerführer Atlantik of a 'Maximum Range' reconnaissance variant of the Condor with a radius of action of 2,200 km using two drop tanks to supplement the internal fuel (which specifically included fuselage auxiliary tanks = i.e. the Rumpfwanne tanks).

The varied fuel loads through the evolution of the Condor is a story that deserves detailing in its own right. Suffice to say here that original German documentation evidences that a 900-litre jettisonable drop tank could be fitted to the C-5/FK for long-range missions when just one Hs 293 was carried. It is unlikely that two different sizes of drop tank would have been used by KG 40 at the same time by this point in the war, and the 900-litre tank had been in service use since at least 1941. Hence, the probability is that the Maximum Range Condor was fitted with two such standard 900-litre drop tanks. Those tanks were too big to mount on the recessed racks of the outer engine nacelles (as had been trialled with much smaller 530-litre tanks on the Fw 200 C-3/U2), so the outer wing racks were the only option. Given that by end-1943 the Ju 290 was now in limited service for long-range maritime reconnaissance over the Atlantic this Maximum Range Condor capability may have been almost theoretical i.e. available but never actually used in practice.

Fw 200 C-5/FK (apart from the three machines converted by FoWu Cottbus - W.Nr. 0226 & 0227 for initial trials from C-5s and W.Nr. 0259 subsequently from a C-8 - all conversions to C-5/FK configuration were performed by Dornier Friedrichshafen in their Kehl IV conversion centre at Schwäbish Hall. 100 of these were ordered from DW F, all to be conversions of aircraft delivered as Fw 200 C-4 and C-5 subtypes (information from Günther Ott). Günther Ott gives a total of 87 completed in all in 12OCH thread 6918 post of 12th December 2006. Adding the three conversions performed by FoWu Cottbus there would seem to have been a nice round total figure of 90 C-5/FK Umbau in all.)
[Per the Umbau section of the C-Amts-Monatsmeldung, 86 had been delivered by end-Apr-44. I've not found any figures for Umbau deliveries in May-44. By Jun-44 all Umbau programms have been terminated excepting those for the Bf 109 and Me 210.]
There are NO mentions of Fw 200 C-5/FKs in the KG 40 Bewegungsmeldungen: units appear to have tracked these aircraft under the sub-type designation recorded when the individual W.Nr. was first assigned to a Gruppe of KG 40, at least until aircraft were returned redesignated as the C-6 (1944 variant).
Distinguishing characteristics of a /FK conversion were:
- the Rumpfwanne was significantly deepened and extended further forward beneath the cockpit. The added depth and space was sufficient to allow the W.Nr. to now be painted on the front fairing lip of the gondola above the D-Stand. The extra volume was required in part to accommodate the Kehl guidance equipment, and partly also to allow the fitting of larger fuel tanks in the two Rumpfwanne bays originally used as bomb bays. (Estimated capacity of these C-5/FK tanks in the deepened gondola is 700 litres each, compared to the standard-sized 540-litre gondola tanks fitted to the C-4/-5/-6/-8. My reasoning for that figure is NOT documented in this series of posts.)
- if necessary, the D-Stand was changed to the MG 131 version introduced with the Fw 200 C-5, but the bombsight fairing was much reduced for self-evident reasons
- there were major changes in the arrangement of the windows on the starboard side of the D-Stand and gondola nose, with a faired bulge being added just behind the D-Stand and another just below on this side. (Not often photographed these bulges can be clearly seen in the colour Foto 31 of Lw im Focus Edition 7/2005, at p.22 (tp); it also seems to be the same F8+CT aircraft at Braunschweig in the photographs at Scutts pp.189(tp+btm) & 191(tp), plus there is a starboard view of W.Nr. 0247 at Goss Classic p.221(tp).)
- the port side windows in the D-Stand remained as before the conversion but now an additional pair of rectangular windows was added behind, showing precisely how much further forward the D-Stand had been extended
- the outer underwing racks were deleted
- rear nacelles of the outer engines (Nos 1 & 4) were built out and the racks to carry a Hs 293s horizontally under each wing were fitted beneath these much-deepened nacelles
- one of these nacelles was also fitted with the fuel lines and pumps necessary to feed fuel inboard from a 900-litre jettisonable drop tank when fitted to that rack
- arrangements were added to feed heated air to the Hs 293s whilst attached to the launch aircraft
- a data sheet for the Fw 200 with the Hs 293 confirms MG 131’s were fitted in all gun positions including the F-Stände, apart from the A-Stand.
A C-4 converted to a C-5/FK retained the retractable tailwheel (see the photo at Goss Classic p.217(tp) & the bigger reproduction at Goss Air War Archive p.156 – erroneously captioned as a C-6 in both places)
What is uncertain then is whether the Fensterstände armour was retained in conversions from a C-5 or C-8. (Why would one need all that weight near the tail in a strike aircraft?)

Fw 200 C-6 - 1942 variant: first 'hard-metal' use of this designation (applied to 4 FoWu Neufertigung examples only: two possibilities identified by Werk-Nummer)
No other data available. This variant is the only one to be EXcluded from the full reconstruction for the Fw 200 tabled in SUMMARY #2 below.

Fw 200 C-6 - 1943 variant: second 'hard-metal' use of this designation (applied to FoWu Neufertigung examples only: 4 identified by Werk-Nummer and one other definitely know: probably no others)
Precursor of the Fw 200 C-8: definitely fitted with two 540-litre fuel tanks in the Rumpfwanne (gondola), and with at least one other special characteristic yet to be definitively determined. As set out above, absent further evidence on this point, my working hypothesis is that this other distinction was the trial fitting of Goodrich-type deicing boots on the outer mainplanes.

Fw 200 C-6 - 1944 variant: third 'hard-metal' use of this designation (by application of the 'original' 1943 planned C-6 specification but only utilized much later for rebuilt aircraft) (15 for certain: 14 of these were conversions of aircraft under repair, and the last, transferred from another unit to III./KG 40 in Jul-44, was without a doubt also the conversion of an aircraft that had first been delivered as a different sub-type.)
As C-5/U1 specification but with HD 151/1 turret in the A-Stand instead of the HD 151: gunner could now change the ammo belt of the MG 151/20 during flight, a second 500-round reserve belt being carried.
[In the first half of 1943, Fw 200 C-6 had merely been the designation of a 'paper plane' proposal. It took over a year to turn this into something real. Why the delay? Well, the HD 151/1 turret was a new and special piece of equipment that was not readily available. Indeed, in the document 'Focke Wulf Fw 200 F Fernaufklärer mit erhöhter Reichweite, 11 Mai 1943' it is described on Blatt 8 as "serienmäßig nicht vorhanden (= "not available off-the-shelf"). I suggest the delay of a year in fitting this turret to the Condor was because the first batch of HD 151/1 turrets had been diverted for priority use in the Ju 290 A-2 (3 examples completed, each with two HD 151/1 turrets) and Ju 290 A-3 (five completed, each with one HD 151/1 & one HD 151/2 turret = total requirement, eleven HD 151/1 turrets.]
Both of the last two C-6 variants had the same upgraded armour arrangements as those introduced with the Fw 200 C-5. (Well, that's the statement in the FoWu constructed Ladeplan for the C-6, but it seems the HD 151/1 was actually classed as an armoured turret whilst the HD 151 was unarmoured. So the C-6 1944 variant would in practice have carried slightly more armouring than the C-5.)
AFAIK there are no surviving photographs of the Fw 200 C-6 configured as a 1944 variant. I would like to be proved wrong on this.

Another point for future follow-up:
What records survive in Spain regarding the study of C-5/U1 during disassembly and storage in the air depot at León? What armament was found to be fitted?

SUMMARY #2: INM RECONSTRUCTION OF FULL FW 200 SEQUENCE from W.Nr. 0001 to W.Nr. 0268, INCLUDING THE FULL IMPACT OF THE 'TWIST'.
1 W.Nr. 0001, 1 x Fw 200 Versuchsmaschine, Fw 200 V10 "Rowehl" (Bildaufklärer)
2 W.Nr. 0002, 1 x Fw 200 Versuchsmaschine, Fw 200 V11 C-1 Musterflugzeug (but never counted as a C-1)
3 W.Nr. 0003 to 0008, 6 x Fw 200 C-1, first batch.
4 W.Nr. 0009 to 0010, 2 x Fw 200 D-1, sole batch (ex-KB-1)
5 W.Nr. 0011 to 0014, 4 x Fw 200 C-1, second & final batch.
6 W.Nr. 0015, 1 x Fw 200 Versuchsmaschine, Fw 200 V12 C-2 Musterflugzeug (counted as a C-2)
7 W.Nr. 0016 to 0018, 3 x Fw 200 C-2, first batch.
8 W.Nr. 0019 to 0021, 3 x Fw 200 D-2, sole batch (ex-KC-1)
9 W.Nr. 0022 to 0024, 3 x Fw 200 C-2, second & final batch.
10 W.Nr. 0025, 1 x Fw 200 Versuchsmaschine, Fw 200 V13 C-3 Musterflugzeug (counted as a C-3)
11 W.Nr. 0026 to 0054, 29 x Fw 200 C-3, first batch.
12 W.Nr. 0055, 1 x Fw 200 C-3/U2, singleton example. Langstrecken-Aufklärer
13 W.Nr. 0056 to 0063, 29 x Fw 200 C-3, second batch.
14 W.Nr. 0064, 1 x Fw 200 C-3/U3, singleton example.
15 W.Nr. 0065 to 0069, 5 x Fw 200 C-3, third & final batch.
16 W.Nr. 0070 to 0094, 25 x Fw 200 C-3/U4, sole batch.
17 W.Nr. 0095, 1 x Fw 200 C-3/U5, singleton example. C-4 Musterflugzeug (but NOT counted as a C-4)
18 W.Nr. 0096 to 0098, 3 x Fw 200 C-4, first batch.
19 W.Nr. 0099, 1 x Fw 200 C-3/U9, singleton example. Bewaffnetes Führerflugzeug (Bewaffnetes Reiseflugzeug für Regierung)
20 W.Nr. 0100 to 0129, 30 x Fw 200 C-4, second batch.
21 W.Nr. 0130, 1 x Fw 200 C-4/U3, first example. Einbau FuG "Rostock" ASV search radar.
22 W.Nr. 0131 to 0136, 6 x Fw 200 C-4, third batch.
23 W.Nr. 0137, 1 x Fw 200 C-4/U1, first example. Bewaffnetes Führerflugzeug (Bewaffnetes Reiseflugzeug für Regierung is FoWu description)
24 W.Nr. 0138, 1 x Fw 200 C-4/U2, first example. Bewaffnetes Führerbegleitflugzeug (Bewaffnetes Begleiterreiseflugzeug für Regierung is FoWu description)
25 W.Nr. 0139 to 0171, 33 x Fw 200 C-4, fourth batch.
26 W.Nr. 0172, 1 x Fw 200 C-4/U3, second example. Einbau FuG "Rostock" ASV search radar.
27 W.Nr. 0173, 1 x Fw 200 C-4, singleton example. (In the event also Einbau FuG "Rostock" ASV search radar just not by FoWu.)
28 W.Nr. 0174 to 0175, 2 x Fw 200 C-4/U3, third & fourth examples. Einbau FuG "Rostock" ASV search radar.
29 W.Nr. 0176, 1 x Fw 200 C-4/U1, second example. Bewaffnetes Führerflugzeug (Bewaffnetes Reiseflugzeug für Regierung)
30 W.Nr. 0177 to 0178, 2 x Fw 200 C-4/U3, fifth & sixth examples. Einbau FuG "Rostock" ASV search radar.
31 W.Nr. 0179, 1 x Fw 200 C-4, singleton example.
32 W.Nr. 0180, 1 x Fw 200 C-4/U3, seventh and final example. Einbau FuG "Rostock" ASV search radar.
33 W.Nr. 0181, 1 x Fw 200 C-4/U2, second example. Bewaffnetes Führerbegleitflugzeug (Bewaffnetes Begleiterreiseflugzeug für Regierung)
34 W.Nr. 0182 to 0197, 16 x Fw 200 C-4, fifth batch.
35 W.Nr. 0198, 1 x Fw 200 C-4/U2, third example. Bewaffnetes Führerbegleitflugzeug (Bewaffnetes Begleiterreiseflugzeug für Regierung)
36 W.Nr. 0199 to 0200, 2 x Fw 200 C-4, sixth and final batch.
37 W.Nr. 0201 to 0213, 13 x Fw 200 C-5, first batch. INM RECONSTRUCTION
38 W.Nr. 0214, 1 x Fw 200 C-6 (1943 variant), first known example
39 W.Nr. 0215, 1 x Fw 200 C-5, singleton. (Confirmed by Lw Loss data)
40 W.Nr. 0216, 1 x Fw 200 C-4/U2, fourth example. Bewaffnetes Führerbegleitflugzeug (Bewaffnetes Begleiterreiseflugzeug für Regierung)
41 W.Nr. 0217 to 0218, 2 x Fw 200 C-5, second batch. INM RECONSTRUCTION
42 W.Nr. 0219 to 0220, 2 x Fw 200 C-6 (1943 variant), sole batch. W.Nr. 0219 as a C-6 is an INM RECONSTRUCTION
43 W.Nr. 0221, 1 x Fw 200 C-5/U1, singleton example.
44 W.Nr. 0222, 1 x Fw 200 C-5, singleton example. (Confirmed by Lw Loss data)
45 W.Nr. 0223 to 0225, 3 x Fw 200 C-8, first FoWu Neufertigung batch. W.Nr. 0225 is an INM RECONSTRUCTION
46 W.Nr. 0226 to 0227, 2 x Fw 200 C-5/FK Trials machines FoWu Umbau from FoWu Neufertigung C-5
47 W.Nr. 0228 to 0229, 2 x Fw 200 C-5, third batch. INM RECONSTRUCTION
48 W.Nr. 0230, 1 x Fw 200 C-6/U2 (C-6 1943 variant), singleton /U2 example. Bewaffnetes Führerbegleitflugzeug (Bewaffnetes Begleiterreiseflugzeug für Regierung)
49 W.Nr. 0231 to 0236, 6 x Fw 200 C-5, fourth batch. INM RECONSTRUCTION
50 W.Nr. 0237, 1 x Fw 200 C-6 (1943 variant), fourth known example (Sub-type confirmed by RAF Intelligence study)
51 W.Nr. 0238 to 0239, 2 x Fw 200 C-5, fifth batch. INM RECONSTRUCTION
52 W.Nr. 0240, 1 x Fw 200 C-4/U1, third example. Bewaffnetes Führerflugzeug (Bewaffnetes Reiseflugzeug für Regierung)
53 W.Nr. 0241 to 0243, 3 x Fw 200 C-5, sixth and final batch. INM RECONSTRUCTION
54 W.Nr. 0244 to 0255, 12 x Fw 200 C-5 as C-8(C-5/FK). INM RECONSTRUCTION: Umbau from C-5 to C-8(C-5/FK) in first non-FoWu conversion batch (performed by DW F.)
55 W.Nr. 0256 to 0258, 3 x Fw 200 C-8, second FoWu Neufertigung batch. INM RECONSTRUCTION
56 W.Nr. 0259, 1 x Fw 200 C-5/FK, third example from FoWu. Sole FoWu C-5/FK Umbau from a FoWu Neufertigung C-8
57 W.Nr. 0260 to 0263, 4 x Fw 200 C-8, third & final FoWu Neufertigung batch. INM RECONSTRUCTION
58 W.Nr. 0264 to 0268, 5 x Fw 200 C-5 as C-8(C-5/FK). INM RECONSTRUCTION: Umbau from C-5 to C-8(C-5/FK) in second and final non-FoWu conversion batch (performed by DW F).
Clearly no simple picture will adequately explain the final sixty-eight examples of the Fw 200.

This reconstruction has to be tentative, but it does at least correct the excision by some writers of the sub-type that comprised nearly a quarter of all Fw 200 Cs built.
There may be other credible ways of interpreting the same data and this overview will need adjusting as valid additional snippets appear in the future. Until then I offer this reconstruction for peer review as the best possible picture for the present of the Fw 200 production series life story.

Note: Loss records cited in these posts are almost exclusively as extracted from Goss Classic Appendix 4.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:
I acknowledge most gratefully Michael Holm's sharing on the www.ww2.dk website of his careful extracts from the Flugzeugbestand und Bewegungsmeldungen report series data held by the Bundesarchiv. (Aircraft inventory and movement reports, referred to here for convenience simply as the Bewegungsmeldungen.) These data tables were absolutely invaluable for this study. Without them this exploration would have been infinitely harder to perform and taken far more time and money.
The specific URLs I used from Michael Holm's website are listed in one of the supporting attachments under the sub-heading 'Specific sources for the Bewegungsmeldungen data'.

[Martin Gleeson]

That is an amazing piece of research. Thank you for posting it.

Have you done anything similar for the C-1 and C-2 sub-types ?

Regards,

Martin Gleeson.

[INM@RLM]

Thank you, Martin, but there's really no mystery around the Fw 200 C-1 & C-2.

The 'Kennblatt für das Flugzeugmuster Fw 200 C1 und C-2' from 1941 can be found at Kew in the UK National Archives on file AIR 40 154 (This comprises 19 pages plus a cover page. There are two not quite complete sets on file: one is missing the cover page and page 1, and the other is complete except for page 3. So everything is in there with a bit of dotting backwards and forwards.) This document includes a Ladeplan and provides a very detailed description of the equipment and performance of both sub-types.

Not many Kennblätter seem to have survived for any types. However, if this is a typical example it is even more useful as a technical description than the Flugzeug Handbuch.

Plus, on the Luftwaffe Cockpits website at www.DeutscheLuftwaffe.de and available for download by all are:
Fw 200 C-1 und C-2 Kurzbetriebsanleitung Stand 15-Apr-1940
Fw 200 C1 und C2 Flugzeughandbuch June 1940

AFAIK the C-1 & C-2 gaps remaining are around the fates of individual aircraft with events explicitly linked to a specific W.Nr. However, my interest stops at the point that the existence of an individal aircraft is definitively confirmed. For me, anything more is merely a bonus. Hence my aim is not to reconstruct the individual history of each aircraft, only to provide as secure a foundation as is now possible, on which such a structure could be built (by someone else).

Some of those missing fates may be deduced by digging into any aircraft repair records surviving in the FoWu company papers and any as yet undiscovered Änderungsweisungen (Change Notices). One of the latter is posted at https://fw200-restaurierung-bremen.d...werknummer-00/
This is Änderungsweisung Nr. 12 of 18-Aug-41. This confirms the survival to that point of:
Fw 200 C-1 W.Nr. 0008, 0012 & 0014
Fw 200 C-2 W.Nr. 0016, 0017, 0018, 0022 & 0023.
Fw 200 D-2a W.Nr. 0019
Fw 200 D-2 W.Nr. 0021
plus a bunch of C-3s beginning with W.Nr. 0025, 0026, 0030, 0031, 0032
So finding the preceding eleven Änderungsweisungen could be most revealing as to which individual aircraft actually survived to which dates.

After that it is going to be a matter of serendipity or resorting to the ouija board - according to personal preference and degree of historical training. :-)

If you need something more please feel free to PM me.

[Rasmussen]

Regarding flight log Dietrich Kracke, test pilot in Cottbus:
C-4: 0184, 0186, 0189, 0200, 0201, 0206, 0209
C-6: 0211, 0213, 0214, 0219, 0221, 0224, 0229, 0231, 0232, 0235, 0237, 0238, 0239, 0241, 0242, 0245, 0247
C-8: 0250, 0252, 0254, 0256, 0258

There are more W.Nr.'s but the sub-type of this numbers wasn't mentioned ...

Best regards
Rasmussen