Focke-Wulf Fw 58

Fw 58 Weihe
Role Trainer, Transport, Air Ambulance
Manufacturer Focke-Wulf
First flight 1935
Introduction 1937
Retired 1940s
Primary user Luftwaffe
Number built 1350 aircraft

The Focke-Wulf Fw 58 Weihe ("Harrier") was a German aircraft, built to fill a request by the Luftwaffe for a multi-role aircraft, to be used as an advanced trainer for pilots, gunners and radio operators.

Design and development

The Fw 58 was a low-wing monoplane with two piston engines mounted in nacelles on the wing leading edges. The crew sat under an enclosed canopy. Aft of the flight deck, the fuselage was open to form a moveable machine gun station. The tailwheel undercarriage was retractable.

Operational history

The Fw 58 was widely used for training Luftwaffe personnel. It was also used as a VIP transport, ambulance, feeder airliner, photo reconnaissance, and weather research aircraft. It was built under license in Bulgaria, Hungary and Brazil. It was also operated by several countries such as the Netherlands, Romania, Croatia and Turkey.

Variants

Fw 58 V1
First prototype.
Fw 58 V2
Second prototype.
Fw 58 V3
Third prototype.
Fw 58 V4
Fourth prototype.
Fw 58 V14

Fw 58 V14, D- OPDR, was fitted with Fowler flaps and boundary-layer suction for high-lift experiments at AVA, Göttingen. The suction system was powered by a Hirth aircraft engine in the fuselage and the air exited through two circumferential, parallel rows of slots in the rear fuselage section.[1]

Fw 58B
Fw 58B-1
Fw 58B-2
This version had a glazed nose, and was armed with a 7.92 mm (0.312 in) MG 15 machine gun.
Fw 58C
Fw 58W
Twin-floatplane version.

Operators

 Austria
 Argentina
 Brazil
 Bulgaria
 Independent State of Croatia
 Czechoslovakia
 Finland
 Nazi Germany
 Hungary
 Netherlands
 Norway
 Poland
 Romania
 Slovakia
 Spain
 Turkey
 Soviet Union

Surviving aircraft

The only Fw 58 on display is at Museu Aeroespacial in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Brazil used this airplane mainly for maritime patrols and the example on display was one of the 25 Fw 58B-2 units license-built in Brazil by Fábrica de Galeão, circa 1941.


An Fw 58 C-2 is stored in the Norwegian Aviation Museum in Bodø.[5]

An Fw 58 C crashed on 30 March 1943 in the Lac du Bourget, France, after a low-flying training pass over the lake went wrong. Two of the four airmen on board were rescued by local fishermen. The wreckage lies at a depth of over 110 meters. Due to the dark and cold water, it is still fairly well preserved, though the canvas over the tube frame light structure is gradually deteriorating. A proposal has been made to raise the wreckage, but local divers are strongly opposed because of its status as a war grave, and the risks of damaging it.

Specifications (Fw 58)

Focke Wulf Fw.58 3-view drawing from L'Aerophile February 1936

General characteristics

  • Crew: four
  • Length: 14 m (45ft 11 in)
  • Wingspan: 21 m (68 ft 10 in)
  • Height: 4.3 m (14 ft 1 in)
  • Wing area: 47 m² (506 ft²)
  • Empty weight: 1,900 kg (4,200 lb)
  • Loaded weight: 2,810 kg (6,200 lb)
  • Powerplant: 2 × Argus As 10 air-cooled inverted V8 piston engines, 180 kW (240 hp) each

Performance

Armament

See also

Related lists

References

  1. ↑ Luftfahrt international 18 (1976), pp. 2829ff
  2. ↑ FR010 Fw 58B South America
  3. ↑ THE FOCKE WULF Fw 58 IN BRAZIL
  4. ↑ Focke-Wulf Fw 58 Gulub
  5. ↑ Norsk Luftfartsmuseum Archived 2011-08-25 at the Wayback Machine.

Media related to Focke-Wulf Fw 58 at Wikimedia Commons

http://www2.fab.mil.br/musal/index.php/anvs/312-weihe

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