Focke-Wulf 200 Condor | When Airliners Go To War

The FW 200 Condor was never originally intended for military use, it started its career as a long-range commercial airliner, one that showed great promise. However, the outbreak of the second world war saw it used by the German Luftwaffe as a long-range reconnaissance and maritime patrol aircraft.

To its credit, it did rather well in this role, sinking enough shipping for Churchill to call it the 'Atlantic Scourge'. Originally the Heinkel He 177 was intended for this role, but its development was so far delayed that the Condor was pressed into service as a stop-gap measure.

It had its problems. It was slow, it wasn't massively well armed, and it had a habit of breaking its back upon landing due to structural problems. But it is what the Luftwaffe had at the time, and it did an alright job despite its many flaws. Eventually the Condor was retired from front-line duties and used only as a transport, in part due to the loss of airfields in Bordeaux, and also due to it being comprehensively outclassed by most allied aircraft by late 1943.

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Producing these videos is a hobby of mine. I have a passion for history, and personally own a large collection of books, journals and other texts, and endeavor to do as much research as possible. However if there are any mistakes, please don't hesitate to reach out and correct anything :)

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