B-29's in Europe Theatre

[boomerlu]

Just for reference guys as to the distances involved...

A modern day flight from Los Angeles to London is about 10-11 hours.

By contrast, a modern day flight from Los Angeles to Beijing is about 12-13 hours.

So in other words, it takes as much time to cross the whole of the Pacific as it takes to cross the whole of the USA AND the Atlantic COMBINED.

[Chalenge]

Try Kurt Tank's bio by Wolfgang Wagner.

I ordered this one instead: http://www.amazon.com/Focke-Wulf-Fw200-Condor-J-Salgado/dp/1903223962/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258696290&sr=8-1

[Die Hard]

The max range for the Fw200 was with the long range recon C-6 > 5500km/~3400mi.

The distance from NY to the closest point in France is 3400mi. Those Germans must have VERY good eyesight to see well over 1000 miles.

Haha yes, I've always been sceptical of that claim. However, is that range the operational range or ferry range with overload fuel, reduced crew and no ord/guns/ammo?

[MiloMorai]

Haha yes, I've always been sceptical of that claim. However, is that range the operational range or ferry range with overload fuel, reduced crew and no ord/guns/ammo?

The load weight was 1000kg lighter than the C-2 and with a 1000km increase in range, so draw your own conclusion.

[Die Hard]

Ok, but did your book/source specify if it was a operational load (used for a war mission like fernaufklarung or weather reconnaissance), or was it a ferry configuration?

[Westy]

The 200 making the flight to NY was a modified, flying avgas bag.

Give it a bomb bay and a generous load of twenty 200lb bombs  (approximating 26
passengers, mail & limited freight) it had a range of 1k. So it could go 500 miles into
the Atlantic and then have to turn around.

I think I just pissed my pants trembling at how luck NY was from being bombed

lol.

[Die Hard]

You must scare easily then. The standard Fw 200C maritime bomber had a normal range of 2,200 miles with a 4,600 lbs payload. 6,600 lbs with overload payload. 2,760 miles with overload fuel. The long range reconnaissance version had no payload, reduced or no defensive armament and had extra fuel tanks fitted.

[MiloMorai]

Range

C-2 bomber - 1570km
C-2 recon - 4500km

flight time

C-2 bomber - 5.0hr
C-2 recon - 14.7hr

[Die Hard]

That's the early C-2 bomber with two different mission profiles, not the fernaufklarer version. The C-2 had BMW 132 engines, with the C-3 model they were replaced with Bramo 323R-2's which had a lower specific fuel consumption, and MW-50 for added power at low level. The fernaufklarer version added a aux. fuel tank in the gondola bomb bay and semi-recessed external fuel tanks to the engine nacelles.

[Lusche]

The greatest range number I ever saw about the FW 200 was 6400km for the long range recon variant FW 200 C-3/U2. That's ~ 4000 miles.

The great circle route from Bordeaux Merignac to St Johns (Newfoundland) is about 2500 miles.


Actually, I have never read before any claims of FW 200s getting close to the shores of America. The only plane which I know is being claimed to have done this is the Ju 390, and even that claim seems to be more than a myth than actual fact.

[MiloMorai]

So that is where the extra 3734kg of fuel in the C-2 recon was put.

[Die Hard]

The bomber version's (fernkampfbomber) endurance was 18 hours with overload fuel and a bomb load of four 250 kg bombs.

This subtitled German film is interesting:

http://www.realmilitaryflix.com/public/718.cfm?sd=55

The subtitling is rather sparse and my German rather shoddy, but very early in the movie I think I heard the narrator say that the convoys being attacked could be more than 1,500 km out in the Atlantic from Ireland. To me that sounds like a 4,000+ km round trip from France for the bombers.

[MiloMorai]

Nice propaganda movie.

[Die Hard]

Yes, isn't it.