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One final attempt was made to save the Fw 191 program, this time the Fw 191C was proposed as a four engined aircraft, using either the 999 kW (1,340 hp) Jumo 211F, the 969 kW (1,300 hp) DB 601E, the 1,099.9 kW (1,475.0 hp) DB 605A or the 1,099.9 kW (1,475.0 hp) DB 628 engines. Also, the cabin would be unpressurized and the guns manually operated; a rear step in the bottom of the deepened fuselage being provided for the gunner
4,200 kg (9,240 lb) of bombs (Two torpedoes could also be carried internally
Just what the German Navy needed for a maritime patrol bomber. Why didn't they fund the Fw-191C or something similiar rather then piddling around with aircraft like the Ju-290 and Do-217?
This debate isn't about building Luftwaffe bombers ILO Luftwaffe fighters.Why waste resources that should be used for more urgent things like fighters?
This debate isn't about building Luftwaffe bombers ILO Luftwaffe fighters.
This debate isn't about building Luftwaffe bombers ILO Luftwaffe fighters.
I am talking about the German Navy building a naval air arm ILO ordering so many battleships and heavy cruisers. For instance 6 H class dreadnoughts were approved during January 1939 and two were laid down before WWII began. Each H class battleship cost about as much as the Ostmark aircraft engine plant (originally intended to produce Jumo222A V24 engines). Each H class battleship cost more then the Gelsenberg hydrogenation plant which produced 400,000 tons of aviation fuel and 460,000 tons of motor fuel per year.
IMO this does not constitute a serious naval air arm. The German Navy should have funded something as good or better then the Japanese G4M (Betty) bomber.
It doesn't need to be the Fw-191C.
However I think that particular design has the right characteristics to make it effective in the long range naval attack role.
Everything I have read suggests Admiral Raeder did everything in his power to channel most of the naval construction budget into battleships and heavy cruisers. Even submarines received a low construction priority prior to about 1940. I think that's the crux of the issue. Goering wasn't going to provide naval aircraft for free during the mid to late 1930s while the German Navy spent most of their huge budget on battleships.Goering is widely reported as doing everything in his power to avoid a 'proper' Kriegsmarine air arm
Everything I have read suggests Admiral Raeder did everything in his power to channel most of the naval construction budget into battleships and heavy cruisers. Even submarines received a low construction priority prior to about 1940. I think that's the crux of the issue. Goering wasn't going to provide naval aircraft for free during the mid to late 1930s while the German Navy spent most of their huge budget on battleships.
That's when the German Navy was spending money like water for capital ship construction. If the KM are to fund a serious aviation program it will need to start about 1935.