IV Gruppe Kampfgeschwader 40 - IV./KG40

Profile 00: Focke-Wulf Fw 200C3 Condor of 10./KG40 coded F8+BU based in Athens-Eleusis 1941 and was used for support of operations against Suez Canal area. Letter B is in white.

Profile 00: Focke-Wulf Fw 200C3 Condor of 10./KG40 coded F8+EU based in Athens-Eleusis 1941 and was used for support of operations against Suez Canal area. Letter E is in white.

Photo 01: Focke-Wulf Fw 200C-1 Condor piloted by Hptm. Edmund Daser, Staffelkapitan of I./KG 40 and, in February 1941, one of the most successful Condor pilots. Forty-five white vertical bars, representing the total number of missions which Daser's crew had then flown over Britain were painted on the fin together with the legend 'ENGLAND'. The rudder bears a silhouette of the ships which the crew claimed to have sunk, together with the date of the action. These ranged from 25 August 1940 to 28 February 1941. Daser was awarded the Ritterkreuz on 21 February 1941 and the following day a Wehrmacht communique announced that up to then his Staffel had sunk 145,200 BRT of shipping, of which 57,000 BRT was credited to Daser himself. On 29 June 1942, Daser, then a Major, was awarded the Deutsche Kreuz in Gold for his exploits.

Photo 02: Focke-Wulf Fw 200C-1 Condor : The V(Erganzungs) Gruppe of KG 40 was formed at Orleans-Bricy in mid-1941. This early production Fw 200C-1, F8+BW of 12./KG 40, has dark sea green (RLM 72) and dark green (RLM 73) uppersurfaces with pale blue (RLM 65) beneath. The individual aircraft letter 'B' was outlined in white.

Photos 01-03: Focke-Wulf Fw 200C-4 Condor WNr. 0141, coded F8+FW of 12.(Erg)/KG 40 probably photographed at Vaernes 21 August 1942, was diverted from its anti-shipping operations and pressed into service during airlift operations. The Condor's 'Achilles Heel' was the haste to which it had been adapted for continuous operations and the strain imposed on the airframe. Embodying virtually no structural strengthening, it soon proved inadequate in operational service. There were numerous examples of the rear spar failing with the fuselage breaking just aft of the trailing edge of the wing - as evidenced above on a hard landing. These structural problems were continually to blight the Condor during its' operational career. The Luftwaffe made enormous efforts to supply Sixth Army at Stalingrad and even the Fw-200s of 1. and 3./KG 40 were withdrawn from Bordeaux and Trondheim and brought in to assist, operating under the temporary designation KGrzbV 200. Subsequently, these aircraft were withheld in the East to supply the Kuban bridgehead, and although they performed very well, the aircraft had originally been designed as an airliner and the structure of the military version was weak. Although the Fw 200C-3 was strengthened, it continued to experience trouble with the rear spar which invariably failed when the aircraft was landing, the result being a broken back, as seen here. This machine is an Fw 200C-3, WNr. 0025, and although it retained the operational code FS+FW of an aircraft of 12. Staffel, IV Gruppe, it had at some time evidently been transferred to I. Gruppe and carried the badge of l./KG 40 on the nose.

Profile 00: Focke-Wulf Fw 200C-3 Condor W.Nr 0034 exF8+GW abandoned by KGrzbV and captured by Russian ground forces at Stalingrad, USSR 1943 was later used by NII-VVS.

Like most Luftwaffe units KG 40 had its own separate Gruppe dedicated to the training and conversion of crews, IV (Erg)/KG 40. The crew in front of this Fw 200 Condor, coded F8+BW, are in the process of converting from the He 111.

Photo's 01-02: These two pictures show various Merchant shipping being attacked by unknown Fw 200C Condor's.

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