Osprey Publishing

Fw 200 Condor vs. Atlantic Convoy, 1941-43

by  Robert Forczyk

Reviewed By  Marc Blackburn, IPMS# 42892

MSRP: GBP 12.99 ISBN: 9781846039171 Website: www.ospreypublishing.com The popular 'duel' series takes a look at a brief, but important phase of the battle of the Atlantic - the Focke Wulf (Fw) 200 vs. the convoy. As the war in the Atlantic heated up in 1940-41, an ad hoc Luftwaffe Kampfgeschwader was created. Flying in a converted airliner, the Fw 200, the group became the scourge of the Atlantic. Faced with mounting losses, the British responded with improved anti-aircraft guns, fighter aircraft based on merchant ships, and escort carriers. These solutions mitigated the problem and established air superiority in the convoy routes approaching Britain and the Mediterranean Sea. As with previous 'duels' the book looks at various issues related to the subject matter - from the design and development of the technology to the strategic situation that the Fw 200 and convoy was part of. Developed as an airliner, the four-engine Condor filled a gap in the Luftwaffe inventory. It was the only aircraft available to both track and attack convoys south, west, and north of the British Isles. Unfortunately, it could not shed its civilian pedigree and despite its fearsome reputation, it never lived up to its potential. Concentrating on the U-Boat menace, the British were slow to catch on to the threat from the Condors. After a slow start, by husbanding the number of Fw 200s, the Germans managed to increase their sortie rate, catching the British unprepared. Given that the theme of the series is a duel between German and British assets, the first part of the narrative concentrates on anti-aircraft defenses. Unfortunately, British anti-aircraft weapons were unable to effectively counter the Condor and the ones that could, the 20 mm Oerlikon cannon, were only available in small numbers. Despite mounting more weapons on ships and making attacks more difficult, it was a less than perfect solution. To even the odds in this duel, the only effective counter measure was a mixture of land-based aircraft from RAF coastal command and British ingenuity. Coastal Command was slow to respond and it was not until late 1942 and beyond that they could counter the Condor. In the meantime, the British responded to this threat by putting planes over convoys. With the advent of CAM (Catapult Aircraft Merchant) and escort carriers, even though they were stop gap measures, proved effective in keeping Condors away from Convoys. In the final analysis, despite sinking 93 ships and damaging 73 others, the Condor was less of a threat than U Boats and other Luftwaffe air assets. One is left thinking that despite its fearsome reputation, even after 65 years, the Condor was a brief episode in the bitter struggle that was the battle of the Atlantic. This little book does a fair job of putting the Condor it the context of the struggle between the Germans and the Allies in contesting the Atlantic. With the relatively recent release of the 1/72 Fw 200 by Revell of Germany and the 1/48 version by Trumpeter, for those interested in the larger story, this is a good place to begin. For a more in-depth look at Luftwaffe anti-ship operations, it might be helpful to take a look at the two volume Ian Allen series, Sea Eagles, Luftwaffe Anti-Shipping units. My thanks to Osprey Publishing for providing IPMS/USA for providing this issue for review. For more information, please visit their web site at www.ospreypublishing.com.