Focke - Wulf Fw 200 The Focke - Wulf Fw 200 " Condor " , also known as " Kurier " to the Allies was a German all - metal four - engine monoplane originally developed by Focke - Wulf as a long - range airliner . A Japanese request for a long - range maritime patrol aircraft led to military versions that saw service with the " Luftwaffe " as long - range reconnaissance and anti - shipping / maritime patrol bomber aircraft . The Luftwaffe also made extensive use of the Fw 200 as a transport . It achieved some success as a commerce raider before the advent of long - range RAF Coastal Command aircraft and CAM ship s eliminated its threat . Design and development . The Fw 200 resulted from a proposal by Kurt Tank of Focke - Wulf to Dr . Rudolf Stuessel of Deutsche Lufthansa to develop a landplane to carry passengers across the Atlantic Ocean to the USA . At that time this was unusual , as airlines used seaplanes on long over - water routes . To fly long distances economically , the Fw 200 was designed to cruise at an altitude of over 10 . 000 feet ( 3000m ) - as high as possible without a pressure cabin . Existing airliners were designed to cruise at altitudes below 5 . 000 feet . The Fw 200 was briefly the world ' s most modern airliner , until other high - altitude airliners started operating : the Boeing 307 in 1940 and the Douglas DC4 in 1942 . The designation " Condor " was chosen because , like the condor bird , the Fw 200 had a very long wingspan , to facilitate high altitude flight . Deutsche Lufthansa issued a specification in June 1936 after discussions between Tank , Dr . Stüssel and Carl August von Gablenz . The plane was designed by Ludwig Mittelhuber with Wilhelm Bansemir as project director . The first prototype , the Fw 200 V1 , made its first flight after just over one year of development on 27 July 1937 with Kurt Tank at the controls . It was an all - metal , four - engined monoplane powered by four American 875 hp Pratt & Whitney Hornet radial engines , and intended to carry 26 passengers in two cabins for up to 3 , 000 km ( 1 , 860 mi ) . Two further prototypes were powered by German 720 hp BMW 132G - 1 radials . The Japanese Navy requested a military version of the Fw 200 for search and patrol duties , so Tank designed the Fw 200 V10 with military equipment . This Fw 200 was held in Germany because war had broken out in Europe by that time . This aircraft became the basis for all later military models used by the " Luftwaffe " . To adapt it for wartime service , hardpoint s were added to the wings for bombs , the fuselage was strengthened and extended to create more space , and front , aft and dorsal gun positions were added , in addition to an extended - length version of the " Bola " ventral gondola typical of World War II German bomber aircraft ; for the Fw 200 ' s militarization this incorporated a bomb bay as well as heavily glazed forward and aft flexible defensive machine gun emplacements at either end . The extra weight introduced by its military fitments meant that a number of early Fw 200 aircraft broke up on landing , a problem that was never entirely solved . Later models were equipped with Lorenz FuG 200 " Hohentwiel " low UHF - band ASV radar in the nose . In 1943 a version entered service that could carry the Henschel 293 guided missile , mandating fitment of the associated " Funkgerät " FuG 203 " Kehl " radio guidance gear on a Condor to steer them . Operational history . The Fw 200 was operated by Deutsche Lufthansa , DDL Danish Airlines and Lufthansa ' s Brazilian subsidiary Syndicato Condor . Dai Nippon KK of Japan also ordered Fw 200 airliners . These could not be delivered to Japan , because with the British and French declarations , Germany found itself at war . They were delivered to Deutsche Lufthansa instead . On 14 April 1945 a Fw 200 flew Lufthansa ' s last scheduled service before the end of World War II , from Barcelona to Berlin . Other airlines continued to operate the Fw 200 after the end of World War II . The first prototype , the Fw 200 V1 , upgraded with extra fuel tanks and redesignated Fw 200 S - 1 , made several record flights . It was the first heavier - than - air craft to fly nonstop between Berlin and New York City , making the flight from Berlin - Staaken to Floyd Bennett Field on 10 / 11 August 1938 in 24 hours and 56 minutes . The return trip on 13 August 1938 took 19 hours and 47 minutes . These flights are commemorated with a plaque in Böttcherstraße , a street in Bremen . Beginning on 28 November 1938 it flew from Berlin to Tokyo via Basra , Karachi and Hanoi . The German Foreign Minister , Joachim von Ribbentrop , used a specially outfitted Condor " Grenzmark " , on his two flights to Moscow in 1939 , during which he negotiated and signed the Treaty of Non - Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union . Original film footage of his arrival shows aircraft marking D - ACVH . A Danish - owned Fw 200 aircraft named " Dania " was seized by the British on English soil after Denmark was invaded by German forces in 1940 . It was subsequently operated by the British Overseas Airways Corporation ( BOAC ) and was then pressed into service with the Royal Air Force . It was damaged beyond repair in 1941 . The " Luftwaffe " initially used the aircraft to support the " Kriegsmarine " , making great loops out across the North Sea and , following the fall of France , the Atlantic Ocean . The aircraft was used for maritime patrols and reconnaissance , searching for Allied convoys and warships that could be reported for targeting by U - boat s . The Fw 200 could also carry a bomb load or naval mines to use against shipping , and it was claimed that from June 1940 to February 1941 , they sank 331 , 122 tonnes ( 365 , 000 tons ) of shipping despite a rather crude bombsight . The attacks were carried out at extremely low altitude in order to " bracket " the target ship with three bombs ; this almost guaranteed a hit . Winston Churchill called the Fw 200 the " Scourge of the Atlantic " during the Battle of the Atlantic due to its contribution to the heavy Allied shipping losses . From mid - 1941 , Condor crews were instructed to stop attacking shipping and avoid all combat in order to preserve numbers . In August , the first Fw 200 was shot down by a CAM ship - launched Hawker Hurricane , and the arrival of the U . S . - built Grumman Martlet , operating from the Royal Navy ' s new escort carrier s , posed a serious threat . On 14 August 1942 , a Fw 200C - 3 was the first German aircraft to be destroyed by USAAF pilots , after it was attacked by a P - 40C and a P - 38F over Iceland . The Fw 200 was also used as a transport aircraft , notably flying supplies into Stalingrad in 1942 . After late - 1943 , the Fw 200 came to be used solely for transport . For reconnaissance , it was replaced by the Junkers Ju 290 and , as France was liberated , maritime reconnaissance became impossible . Production ended in 1944 with a total of 276 aircraft produced . Several damaged Fw 200 landed in Spain during the war . In the beginning , they were repaired and returned to their bases in France . After Operation Torch ( the Allied invasion of Africa ) , the Spanish government interned four aircraft that arrived ( although their crews were still allowed to return to Germany ) . Since the aircraft could not be used , they were sold by Germany to Spain . One of the three flyable aircraft was then operated in the Spanish Air Force and the others used for spares . Because of damage and lack of spares , and for political reasons , they were grounded and scrapped in around 1950 . Some Condors also crashed in Portugal . Their crews were allowed to return to Germany while the British authorities were allowed to inspect the aircraft and accompanying documentation . Some crew members died in these crashes and are buried in the civilian cemetery of Moura in Alentejo Province , Portugal . The aircraft that crashed in Spain and Portugal had been based in Bordeaux - Merignac , France since 1940 . Before then , the operational base of the Fw 200 squadrons had been in Denmark . Hitler personal transport . At the suggestion of his personal pilot Hans Baur , Adolf Hitler specified a modified and unarmed prototype Condor , the Fw 200 V3 , as his personal transport , in replacement for his Junkers Ju 52 . Originally configured as a 26 - passenger " Lufthansa " transport ( Works No . 3099 ) , it was reconfigured as a plush two - cabin airliner . Hitler ' s seat in the cabin was equipped with a wooden table , seat - back armour plating , and an automatic parachute with downward throws — according to Baur , it was never armed . In line with Hitler ' s aircraft preferences , it carried the markings " D - 2600 " and named " Immelmann III " in honor of World War I flying ace Max Immelmann . As the war progressed it changed designation to " WL + 2600 " and finally " 26 + 00 ; " it was destroyed at Berlin Tempelhof Airport in an Allied bombing raid on 18 July 1944 . Variants . There were three variants of the aircraft : the Fw 200A , B , and C . The Model A was a purely civilian variant used by Deutsche Lufthansa , DDL in Denmark , and " Syndicato Condor " in Brazil . The Fw 200B and Fw 200C models were used as long - range bombers , reconnaissance , troop and transport aircraft . Survivor . Only one relatively complete Fw 200 exists today . This aircraft was raised from the Trondheimsfjorden in Norway in 1999 . Despite disintegrating on recovery , the remains were transported to the German Museum of Technology in Berlin to be rebuilt there . A request from the museum for a set of separate wings to be recovered from the Kvitanosi mountain near Voss in Norway to complete the rebuild was at first denied , because the local population wanted the wings to be left " in situ " as a war memorial . A compromise was reached in 2008 where parts not needed for the restoration would be left on the mountain . During autumn of 2009 parts were moved down by helicopter and made ready for transport to the Museum of Technology .