Hi Grünherz,
though the Fw 187 suffered from the change to the low-powered Jumo engines ordered by the RLM, it was a high-performance aircraft anyway.
It's closest counterpart probably was the Westland Whirlwind, a British twin-engined single-seat fighter of very similar design.
There were differences, of course: The Whirlwind was designed as cannon fighter from the start with a quadruple 20 mm nose battery. Counting engine generations from the emergence of the modern all-metal monoplane fighter, the Fw 187 unlike the Whirlwind was designed for 2nd generation engines.
The Whirlwind's Peregrines represented the peak of 1st generation performance, but were an operational failure as their performance was achieved at the expense of reliability. Ironically, the Fw 187 ended up with 1st generation engines as well due to the German procurement strategy! For the Whirlwind, the opposite change, to 2nd generation engines (Merlins!), was examined, but proven to be out of reach without a complete airframe redesign.
The Whirlwind finally saw brief service as a ground attack aircraft in what the Luftwaffe would have considered the destroyer role. The Fw 187 was inofficially tested by a Zerstörer unit in Norway, but the Luftwaffe quickly ended the unauthorized tests as soon as the pilots tried to recommend the type for combat use.
While it may be true that Göring's enthusiasm for the Me 110 had something to do with the lack of attention the Fw 187 received, there was a more pressing reason for not acquiring it for the Luftwaffe:
The German aviation industry of the late 1930s was just beginning to gear up for mass production, starting from what had been very small production runs in the decade before. The engine manufacturers were in a similar situation, experiencing had great difficulties in providing the number of engines required by the aircraft industry.
The politically imposed necessity to build a large airforce quickly meant that the Fw 187 made no sense, as it offered performance very similar to that of the single-engined Me 109, but required twice the number of engines for it. Not only would it have exceeded the engine manufacturers production capacity, it would also have been more expensive, and the German economy was so badly stressed by the war preparations that even for Hitler, money mattered.
Though neither the Fw 187 nor the Whirlwind played even a minor role in the history of WW2, one could speculate that - had they somehow overcome their problems - they today would be nothing less than legendary. In the Battle of Britain, both of the twin-engined fighters could have played an important role: The Fw 187 would have had the range that the fast Me 109 hadn't, and the performance that the long-ranged Me 110 was lacking. It could have succesfully covered the Luftwaffe bombers were the Messerschmitts failed!
The Whirlwind, on the other hand, would have been a lethal weapon against just these bombers: With good endurance, it would have been up in the sky and waiting for the Luftwaffe when the Spitfires and Hurricanes were still trying to climb for altitude. The Whirlwinds powerful armament would have been devestating against the German bombers - much more destructive than the rifle-calibre machine guns of the RAF's single-engined fighters.
Had the cutting edge of British metallurgy been a bit sharper, the Whirlwind might have made it, and had the Luftwaffe had decided to go with the Fw 187 instead of the Messerschmitt combo, the memory of the Battle of Britain today would not be one of Me 109s fighting Spitfires, but one of Fw 187s fighting Whirlwinds!
Can you tell I love alternate history? :-)
Regards,
Henning (HoHun)
