Top speed 256 km/h Length 14 m First flight 1935 | Wingspan 21 m Introduced 1937 Manufacturer Focke-Wulf | |
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The Focke-Wulf Fw 58 Weihe ("Harrier") was a German aircraft, built to fill a request of the Luftwaffe for a multi-role aircraft to be used as advanced trainer for pilots, gunners and radio operators.
Contents
- Design and development
- Operational history
- Variants
- Operators
- Surviving aircraft
- Specifications Fw 58
- References
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 in 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 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
The 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.
Operators
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.
A Fw 58 C-2 is currently under restoration at the Norwegian Aviation Museum in Bodø.
A 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 the its status as a war grave, and the risks of damaging it.
Specifications (Fw 58)
General characteristics
Performance
Armament