The Focke-Wulf Fw 300 was a proposed very-long-range civil
airliner
An airliner is a type of aircraft for transporting passengers and air cargo. Such aircraft are most often operated by airlines. Although the definition of an airliner can vary from country to country, an airliner is typically defined as an ...
, transport,
reconnaissance
In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities.
Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...
aircraft and anti-ship aircraft, designed by
Focke-Wulf
Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau AG () was a German manufacturer of civil and military aircraft before and during World War II. Many of the company's successful fighter aircraft designs were slight modifications of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190. It is one of the ...
in 1941 and 1942. The design was intended to replace the
Focke-Wulf Fw 200
The Focke-Wulf Fw 200 ''Condor'', also known as ''Kurier'' to the Allies (English language, English: Courier), was a Nazi Germany, German all-metal four-engined monoplane originally developed by Focke-Wulf as a long-range airliner. A Japanese req ...
''Condor''.
Design and development
The proposed Fw 300 had an all-metal airframe, a low-wing
cantilever
A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a canti ...
configuration, and a
pressurized
{{Wiktionary
Pressurization or pressurisation is the application of pressure in a given situation or environment.
Industrial
Industrial equipment is often maintained at pressures above or below atmospheric.
Atmospheric
This is the process by ...
fuselage
The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...
, possessing a smoothly contoured forward fuselage and nose, somewhat reminiscent of the
Boeing 307 Stratoliner
The Boeing Model 307 Stratoliner (or Strato-Clipper in Pan American service, or C-75 in USAAF service) is an American stressed-skin four-engine low-wing tailwheel monoplane airliner derived from the B-17 Flying Fortress bomber, which entered com ...
airliner in shape. Space was provided for up to 50 passengers in individual compartments. The
landing gear
Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for takeoff or landing. For aircraft it is generally needed for both. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, such as the Glenn L. Martin ...
was retractable. Four wing-mounted
piston engine
A reciprocating engine, also often known as a piston engine, is typically a heat engine that uses one or more reciprocating pistons to convert high temperature and high pressure into a rotating motion. This article describes the common featu ...
s were proposed to drive the aircraft. Two engine candidates were:
*The highly experimental
Junkers Jumo 222
The Jumo 222 was a German high-power multiple-bank in-line piston aircraft engine from Junkers, designed under the management of Ferdinand Brandner of the Junkers Motorenwerke.
Such was the projected performance of the engine compared to c ...
, a 24-cylinder "multibank" inline engine (six inline banks of four cylinders each, arranged at 60° intervals around the crankcase), rated at 1,864 kW (2,500 hp), which in the event never proceeded to the production stage during the course of the
war
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
with just under 300 examples built in several different versions;
*The
Daimler-Benz DB 603
The Daimler-Benz DB 603 was a German aircraft engine used during World War II. It was a liquid-cooled 12-cylinder inverted V12 enlargement of the DB 601, which was in itself a development of the DB 600. Production of the DB 603 commenced in ...
, a 12-cylinder inverted-V engine rated at 1,342 kW (1,800 hp) and the largest displacement inverted-V12 aviation powerplant built by Germany in World War II.
Both engines were liquid-cooled.
In the proposed military configuration, the eight-man crew was to have been enclosed in one pressure cabin, and the defensive gun armament operated remotely. For anti-ship missions, it would have carried guided missiles.
Design work continued during the first years of the war, but was shelved as the need for long-range bombers or other long-range efforts diminished and other priorities emerged. Construction of a
prototype
A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototyp ...
was never started.
Specifications (proposed)
See also
References
* Herwig, Dieter and Rode, Heinz. ''Luftwaffe Secret Projects - Strategic Bombers 1935-45''. Midland Publishing Ltd., 2000. .
External links
General arrangement drawing of the Fw 300
{{RLM aircraft designations
Fw 300
Abandoned military aircraft projects of Germany
Four-engined tractor aircraft
Low-wing aircraft
Four-engined piston aircraft