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The Focke-Wulf Fw 300 was originally a design for a long range civil airliner, but it was adapted for possible use as a long range reconnaissance aircraft and guided weapons carrier.
The Fw 300 was originally designed in 1941 as a long range civil airliner and transport aircraft, and was to replace the Fw 200. In its civil form the Fw 300 was a long-winged four engined airlines, with a rounded fuselage and the crew cabin in a rounded nose. It had a standard tail unit with a large vertical fin and rudder.
In 1942 Focke-Wulf were ordered to begin work on a military version of the Fw 300. This was to be a long range reconnaissance aircraft (seen as essential for success in the Battle of the Atlantic) and an anti-shipping aircraft. The reconnaissance version would have carried eight crewmen in a single pressurised cabin and would have been armed with six remotely controlled weapons stations, each armed with two MG 151/20s. In its anti-shipping role extra waist guns would have been mounted and it would have been armed with guided bombs. Neither the civil nor the military versions of the Fw 300 reached the prototype stage.
Engine: Four Jumo 9-222 A/B or Daimler-Benz DB 9-603E
Power: 2,500hp or 1,850hp
Crew: Eight
Span: 151ft 6.5in
Length: 105ft 7in
Height: 18ft 4.5in
Loaded weight: 104,690lb
Max speed: 394mph
Armament: Six remote weapons stations each with two MG 151/20s
Aircraft of the Luftwaffe 1935-1945, Jean-Denis G.G. Lepage.
Combines a good background history of the Luftwaffe with a comprehensive examination of its aircraft, from the biplanes of the mid 1930s to the main wartime aircraft and on to the seemingly unending range of experimental designs that wasted so much effort towards the end of the war. A useful general guide that provides an impressively wide range of information on almost every element of the Luftwaffe
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