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You mean the Ju488?
Junkers Ju 488 Luft '46 Entry
Yep, but it was also cancelled, so it died many deaths and ended up in French hands in the end.Weren't they building that in France when it was sabotaged or bombed?
Yep, but it was also cancelled, so it died many deaths and ended up in French hands in the end.
I've often wondered why the FW200 wasn't developed into a true heavy bomber. Given it's airliner roots, it may not have been ideal, but I would think that given appropriate priority/funding, it could have been: strengthened/armored/armed, given a decent bomb sight, increased HP to account for added weight . . . . Making it roughly equivalent to the allied 4-engine bombers.
Perhaps??
The problem comes in with how much modification is needed or desired. Every increase in armor, armament, etc is an increase in weight. Every increase (or major step increase) in weight may require stronger (read heavier) landing gear, stronger (read heavier) fuselage framing, stronger (read heavier) wing construction. The FW 200 had a few structural strength issues as it was. Had the Germans viewed it as a true operational type instead of a "filler" to be built in the fewest numbers while waiting for the Vundar planes to show up perhaps more could have been done with it.
As I said though, how far do you try and take it. The FW 200 started several thousand pounds lighter than early B-17s and the B-17s piled on so much weight that some of the later versions weighed empty what the first dozen or so weighed weighed when at normal take-off weight ( about 10,000lbs more). Later versions had some structural beefing up done.
Germans also have and engine problem. Their 9 cylinder radials don't quite track the American R-1820 and R-1830 for power ( year by year in the early part of the war) and the liquid cooled engines weigh several hundred pounds more per engine installed.
It starts to get real complicated rather quickly and it depends on how close you want to get to the allied bombers.
Better than Historic Fw 200 shouldn't be that hard. Equivlent to a B-17 is very hard and equivalent to British Bombers using 1600hp Hercules engines isn't going to happen unless you can use four BMW 801s or weight until 1943/44 for the DB 603 engine.
Perhaps??
The problem comes in with how much modification is needed or desired. Every increase in armor, armament, etc is an increase in weight. Every increase (or major step increase) in weight may require stronger (read heavier) landing gear, stronger (read heavier) fuselage framing, stronger (read heavier) wing construction. The FW 200 had a few structural strength issues as it was. Had the Germans viewed it as a true operational type instead of a "filler" to be built in the fewest numbers while waiting for the Vundar planes to show up perhaps more could have been done with it.
As I said though, how far do you try and take it. The FW 200 started several thousand pounds lighter than early B-17s and the B-17s piled on so much weight that some of the later versions weighed empty what the first dozen or so weighed weighed when at normal take-off weight ( about 10,000lbs more). Later versions had some structural beefing up done.
Germans also have and engine problem. Their 9 cylinder radials don't quite track the American R-1820 and R-1830 for power ( year by year in the early part of the war) and the liquid cooled engines weigh several hundred pounds more per engine installed.
It starts to get real complicated rather quickly and it depends on how close you want to get to the allied bombers.
Better than Historic Fw 200 shouldn't be that hard. Equivlent to a B-17 is very hard and equivalent to British Bombers using 1600hp Hercules engines isn't going to happen unless you can use four BMW 801s or weight until 1943/44 for the DB 603 engine.
Considering all of the DB606/10/13's made for the He177 and there are plenty of DB601/5/3's for a He177B. Or take the Ju290's BMW 801s for a version of the He177. Basically all that is needed is for the LW to give up on the coupled engine version of the HE177 by 1940-41 to get a 1942-43 He177B with four engines, either Jumo 211s, DB601/3/5, or even BMW 801. Hell, you can even use the BMW 323s used in the FW200 for the He177B if you're really that desperate for engines, but given the number of DB's furnished for the He177 that's the best option, unless you want to convert the capacity used for the DB's into Jumo capacity. Or even keep the Ostmark facility in Jumo's hands to make more Jumo 211s or 213s instead of turning it over to Daimler and getting Jumo sabotaging the transfer and of course the need to retool for Daimler engines, which wasn't very feasible it turned out.The Germans did not have had the engine problem. The V-12s offer 1150-1200 PS for take off for take off as early as 1939, and up to 1420 PS in mid 1941. The extra weight of cooling system is in the ballpark with the extra weight of the turbo systems the German engines don't have. Something as good as Lancaster (and better than turboed B-17/24 under 20000 ft) was very much feasible in mid 1941, but Fw-200 will not fill those shoes - new design is needed? We can also note that German V-12s will get better fuel mileage than Allied V-12s.
German problem was how to produce as much engines they and their allies needed, and reverting the V-12s for 4-engined bomber production does not help with that.