Focke - Wulf Fw 187 The Focke - Wulf Fw 187 " Falke " ( " falcon " ) was a German aircraft developed in the late 1930s . It was created by Kurt Tank as a twin - engine , high - performance fighter , but the " Luftwaffe " never saw a need for the design , which fitted " between " the Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Bf 110 . Later prototypes were adapted as two - seat versions as a competitor to the Bf 110 in the " Zerstörer " ( heavy fighter ) role , but only nine aircraft were built in total . Design and development . In the early to mid - 1930s , developments in airframe design outstripped aircraft engines , allowing large aircraft to be built that existing engines could not power , at least not alone . This led to a period in which multi - engine designs outperformed single - engine designs in almost every way . In air racing in Europe , the Dornier Do 17 outran every single - engine fighter it competed against . In Germany , this led to the idea of the " " schnellbomber " " , fast bomber s that were expected to fly right by the defensive fighters . Although this period of twin - engine superiority was to prove short - lived , it also led to most air forces considering twin - engine fighters , leading to the Lockheed P - 38 Lightning , Westland Whirlwind , Grumman XF5F Skyrocket and the Fw 187 . In 1935 , Kurt Tank made the suggestion of creating a long - range single - seat fighter under a private venture within Focke - Wulf . The idea was not to produce a heavy fighter or bomber destroyer like the Bf 110 , but instead a long - range design that would have the performance of a single - seat design . Powered by the new 736 kW ( 1 , 000 PS ) Daimler - Benz DB 600 , it had an expected speed of 560 km / h ( 350 mph ) . The design was unveiled in 1936 at an exhibition of new weapons , prototypes and projects held at the Henschel factory at Berlin - Schönefeld , where it was viewed by a number of high - ranking Nazi officials , including Hitler . However , the Reich Air Ministry ( RLM ) rejected the design on the grounds that the single - engine Bf 109 had comparable performance but would cost roughly half as much . The need for a long - range design was not considered serious , as at the time it was believed bomber escort was simply not needed . Prototypes . Tank then took the design directly to Wolfram von Richthofen , chief of the development section of the " Technischen Amt " , the research and development arm of the RLM . Richthofen was not so convinced that bomber performance would remain superior to fighters , and gave the go - ahead for the construction of three prototypes , but on the condition that they replace the DB 600 , which was in extremely short supply , with the less - powerful 515 kW ( 700 PS ) Junkers Jumo 210 . R . Blaser was assigned to detail design . In order to improve performance compared to the Bf 110 , the fuselage was made as small as possible , so small that there was no room on the instrument panel for the complete set of engine instruments , which were instead moved to the inside faces of the engine nacelles , as would be done for the Hs 129 ground attack aircraft and some versions of the Bf 110 . The engine nacelles were relatively normal , including both the engine and the main landing gear storage , but the front - mounted radiators for the engines were retractable for high speed when less frontal area would be needed to get the same airflow . The mainwheels were fully retractable and faired and the design required no struts or supports , in order to further reduce drag . The wing ' s two spars passed under the pilot ' s seat . As was common on pre - war designs , the rear of the fuselage was raised which blocked direct viewing to the rear , but the aircraft nevertheless used a bubble - type canopy , opening rearward and upward at an angle of about 15° . Although the cockpit was located well forward , a small window panel was fitted in the underside of the nose by the pilot ' s feet to improve the view for landing . The first prototype , Fw 187 V1 ( D - AANA ) flew for the first time in late spring 1937 , with Hans Sander at its controls . In testing it demonstrated 523 km / h ( 325 mph ) despite the use of the low - powered Jumo engines . In fact , it was 80 km / h ( 50 mph ) faster than the contemporary Jumo - powered Messerschmitt Bf 109 B , despite having twice the range , more than twice the weight , and using two of the same engines . Members of the RLM complained that this was due to faulty flight instruments , but further testing ruled this out . The Fw 187 ' s climb and dive rates were also on par - if not superior - to the single - seater . Several changes were made to the design as a result of the testing , including new DVL propellers in place of the original Junkers - Hamiltons , and experimental twin - wheel bogies that were abandoned after testing . Blaser was concerned about flutter in the rudder at high speed and had fit a weight to reduce it , but in testing this proved to cause flutter and was torn away at high speed . A second prototype followed , differing in having fixed radiators in place of the retractable versions , a semi - retractable tailwheel , changes to the elevator , and a vertical stabilizer with somewhat less chord . The engine was also upgraded to the 210G version of the Jumo , which featured direct fuel injection and a fairly dramatic boost in power as a result . New ejector exhaust stacks were fitted for a small boost in speed . Fw 187 V2 started testing in the summer of 1937 , but crashed on landing when one of its landing gear legs failed , and V1 was destroyed on 14 May 1938 after a high - speed pass over the Bremen facilities , when the pilot , Paul Bauer , pulled up too sharply at the end of the pass , stalling the aircraft and spinning into the ground . Two - seater prototypes . Ernst Udet had replaced von Richthofen in 1936 , and although he was a major proponent of high - speed monoplane fighters , he also demanded maneuverability and was unconvinced that a twin - engine design could ever stand up in this regard . Nevertheless , he felt the performance of the aircraft warranted its development as a potential replacement for the Bf 110 in the bomber destroyer role . Even before V1 flew , Tank had been instructed to convert the design to a two - seater for this role , although the need for a second crewmember in this role was marginal . The first two prototypes were already well advanced in construction at this point , so they began with the third prototype , which had just begun construction . Blaser adapted the design by stretching the fuselage only slightly , but this did have the effect of moving the center of gravity , which demanded the engine nacelles be modified to return the balance to the proper point in relation to the wing . A new extended - length cockpit with two crew members covered by a " framed " canopy was added , but due to the high line of the fuselage there was nowhere to put any defensive armament , reducing the second crewmember to the role of radio operator only . The offensive armament was improved by replacing two of the 7 . 92 mm ( . 312 in ) MG 17 machine gun s with 20 mm MG FF cannon s , although these were never actually fitted . Fw 187 V3 ( D - ORHP ) flew in spring 1938 , but it suffered a starboard engine fire during one of the initial test flights , and damaged both landing gear during the forced landing that followed . It was quickly repaired and returned to service . Two additional two - seat prototypes , V4 ( D - OSNP ) and V5 ( D - OTGN ) , followed in the summer and autumn of 1938 respectively . Also powered by the Jumo 210 , they proved to have less performance than expected , and did not warrant replacing the Bf 110 . The final prototype , Fw 187 V6 ( D - CINY ) , was more heavily modified . It received the originally specified 736 kW ( 1 , 000 PS ) DB 600 engines , as well as a new surface evaporative cooling system for reduced drag . It was first flown in early 1939 , and proved to have serious cooling problems ( in common with other designs using the system , like the Heinkel He 100 ) and suffered some skin buckling and distortion . Nevertheless , during a series of carefully timed and measured runs in October 1939 , the Fw 187 V6 clocked 634 km / h ( 395 mph ) in level flight , making it the fastest fighter in Germany at the time . Production run . A small production run of three Fw 187 A - 0 followed in the summer of 1939 , based upon the V3 prototype and using the Jumo 210G engines . The " Luftwaffe " , however , stated that without defensive armament the aircraft could not fit the " Zerstörer " role , and remained uninterested in the design . The three two - seat prototypes were returned to Focke - Wulf after testing at Rechlin . There was a brief study in the winter of 1942 / 43 as a night fighter , but the lack of room in the cockpit for the radar equipment quickly eliminated it from contention . After rejecting the design , the RLM " recycled " their 8 - 187 airframe number to Junkers for their Junkers Ju 187 dive bomber prototype . Tank nevertheless directed studies on a wide variety of new versions of the basic airframe , everything from dive bomber , night fighter , fighter - bomber , high - altitude interceptor ( with greater wingspan and lengthened rear fuselage ) and others . These sported a variety of engines , including the Daimler - Benz DB 601 , DB 605 and even the BMW 801 radial . The Ta 154 " Moskito " resulted from the " Luftwaffe " requirement for a twin - engine heavy fighter like the Fw 187 , but constructed from wood instead of light alloys . Due to the different material , Kurt Tank couldn ' t make any use of the work done for the Fw 187 but had to design a completely new aircraft to meet this requirement . The surviving Fw 187s were apparently used as testbeds during this program . Operational history . An " Industrie - Schutzstaffel " = ( Industry - Defense Squadron ) comprising the three Fw 187 A - 0s was manned by Focke - Wulf test - pilots in defense of the factory in Bremen . Although there are claims that they scored several kills , it is likely that these were propaganda claims . The three A - 0s were even sent to Norway and promoted as evidence that the aircraft was entering service to replace the Bf 110 , but by this time any such plan was long dead . The pilots reportedly found the Fw 187 generally superior to the Bf 110 in almost all respects , but the RLM quickly withdrew them from service . They returned to Focke - Wulf , where they were again used for plant defense . One Fw 187 was sent to the aerial gunnery school in Værløse , Denmark in 1942 .