Focke-Wulf Fw 56

Focke-Wulf Fw 56

Focke-Wulf Fw 56
Role	Advanced Trainer
Manufacturer	Focke-Wulf
First flight	November 1933
Primary user	III German Reich
Number built	~1000

Focke-Wulf Fw 56 of the Spanish Republican Air Force training facility at El Carmolí. 1937.

The Focke Wulf Fw 56 Stösser (German : goshawk) was a single-engine, high-wing monoplane advanced trainer, built in the 1930s in Germany.

Design

It was developed, in accordance with a request by the Reich Air Ministry for an advanced fighter trainer, by Kurt Tank, chief engineer with Focke-Wulf. It was also considered for possible use as a home defence fighter.

The first prototype flew for the first time in November 1933. A second prototype had some modifications made to the fuselage, and metal rather than wooden wings for flight testing. The third prototype, which flew in February 1934, reverted to the wooden wing and satisfied the technical designers.

After comparison flights in 1935 against its two competitors - the Arado Ar 76 and the Heinkel He 74 - the Air Ministry ordered production to begin. About 1,000 aircraft were built, mostly used by Germany, though numbers were used by Austria and Hungary. A few were sold for private use, for instance to Gerd Achgelis, who later founded the helicopter company Focke-Achgelis with Henrich Focke.

Ernst Udet, an advocate of the use of dive bombers, tested the second prototype - Fw 56 V2 - in this role, and on his recommendation the development of dive bombers was given greater attention.

The Fw 56 was a high-wing aircraft with a fuselage of steel tubes, clad in metal at the front, and canvas elsewhere. The wing was of wood, clad mostly in plywood, while the trailing edge was covered with fabric. The three-point undercarriage was fixed and possessed a tail skid.

Variants

Fw 56a : First prototype.
Fw 56 V2 : Second prototype.
Fw 56 V3 : Third prototype.
Fw 56A-0 : Three pre-production aircraft.
Fw 56A-1 : Single-seat advanced trainer. Main production version.

Operators

Austria

Austrian Air Force (1927-1938)

Bolivia

Bolivian Air Force

Bulgaria

Bulgarian Air Force

Germany

Luftwaffe

Hungary

Royal Hungarian Air Force

Netherlands

Royal Netherlands Air Force

Romania

Royal Romanian Air Force

Spanish Republic

Spanish Republican Air Force, one of the few German-made planes in the loyalist air force.^[1]

Spain

Spanish Air Force

Specifications (Fw 56A-1)

Data from Die Deutsche Luftrüstung 1933-1945^[2]

General characteristics

Crew: 1
Length: 7.6 m (24 ft 11 in)
Wingspan: 10.5 m (34 ft 5 in)
Height: 2.6 m (8 ft 6 in)
Wing area: 14 m² (150 sq ft)
Empty weight: 755 kg (1,664 lb)
Gross weight: 985 kg (2,172 lb)
Powerplant: 1 × Argus As 10C inverted V-8 air-cooled piston engine, 176.5 kW (236.7 hp) (converted from PS)

Performance

Maximum speed: 278 km/h (173 mph; 150 kn) at sea level
Cruising speed: 255 km/h (158 mph; 138 kn)
Landing speed: 90 km/h (56 mph)
Range: 385 km (239 mi; 208 nmi)
Service ceiling: 6,200 m (20,341 ft)
Rate of climb: 8.42 m/s (1,657 ft/min)
Time to altitude: 1,000 m (3,281 ft) in 2.2 minutes

Armament

Guns: 2 × 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 17 machine guns

References

↑ "Spanish Civil War Aircraft". Retrieved 2011-06-14.
↑ Nowarra, Heinz J. (1993). Die Deutsche Luftrüstung 1933-1945 : Band 2 Flugzeugtypen Erla-Heinkel 2 (1st ed.). Switzerland: Bernard & Graefe Verlag. pp. 57–59 & 264–265. ISBN 3 7637 5466 0.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Focke-Wulf Fw 56.

Focke-Wulf aircraft

Company designations, pre-1933	A 3 A 4 A 5 A 6 A 7 A 16 A 17 GL 18 F 19 A 20 A 21 GL 22 K 23 S 24 A 26 A 28 A 29 A 32 A 33 A 36 A 38 S 39 A 43 A 47 S 48 S 1 S 2 W 4 W 7 C.20 (cierva under licence) C.30 (Cierva under licence)

RLM designations, 1933-1945	Fw 40 Fw 42 Fw 43 Fw 44 Fw 47 Fw 55 Fw 56 Fw 57 Fw 58 Fw 61 Fw 62 Ta 152 Ta 154 Fw 159 Ta 183 Fw 186 Fw 187 Fw 189 Fw 190 Fw 191 Fw 200 Fw 206 Fw 238 Fw 249 Fw 250 Fw 281 Ta 254 Fw 261 Ta 283 Fw 300 Ta 400

Company designations, post-1945	Fw 260 Fw 300

Projects	Project I Project II Project III Project IV Project V Project VI Project VII "Flitzer" Project VIII 1000x1000x1000 Rochen Super Lorin Super TL Triebflügel Volksjäger

Aircraft designed by Kurt Tank

Early years	Rohrbach Ro VIII

For Focke-Wulf	Fw 44 Fw 56 Ta 152 Ta 154 Ta 183 Fw 187 Fw 189 Fw 190 Fw 200 Ta 254 Ta 283 Ta 400 Project I Project II Project III Project IV Project V Project VI Project VII Project VIII

Post-Second World War	FMA I.Ae. 33 Pulqui II FMA I.Ae. 35 Huanquero FMA I.Ae. 36 Cóndor HAL HF-24 Marut

Reich Air Ministry aircraft designations

1 to 100	B 9 Gö 9 Do 10 Do 11 Wn 11 Do 12 Do 13 Do 14 Do 15 Wn 15 Do 16 Wn 16 Do 17 Do 18 Do 19 Do 20 Do 22 Do 23 Do 24 Kl 25 Do 26 Kl 26 M 27 Do 29 Kl 31 Kl 32 W 33 L 33 W 34 Kl 35 Kl 36 HD 37 HD 38 G 38 DFS 39 BV 40 DFS 40 A 40 Fw 42 He 42 Fw 43 HD 43 Fw 44 He 45 He 46 Ju 46 Fw 47 Ju 47 K 47 A 48 He 49 Ju 49 He 50 A 50 He 51 K 51 Ju 52 K 53 NR 54 Fw 55 NR 55 Fw 56 Fw 57 Fw 58 He 58 He 59 He 60 Ju 60 Fw 61 He 61 Fw 62 He 62 He 63 Ar 64 He 64 Ar 65 He 65 Ar 66 He 66 Ar 67 Ar 68 Ar 69 He 70 He 71 He 72 He 74 Ar 76 Ar 77 Ar 79 Ar 80 Ar 81 Ju 85 Ju 86 Ju 87 Ju 88 Ju 89 Ju 90 Ar 95 Ar 96 Fi 97 Fi 98 Fi 99 He 100

101 to 200	Al 101 Al 102 Al 103 Fi 103 Fh 104 Kl 105 Kl 106 Kl 107 Bf 108 Bf 109 Bf 110 He 111 He 112 He 113 He 114 He 115 He 116 Hs 117 He 118 He 119 He 120 Hs 121 Hs 122 Hs 123 Hs 124 Hs 125 Hs 126 Hs 127 Hs 128 Hs 129 Hs 130 Bü 131 Hs 132 Bü 133 Bü 134 Ha 135 Ha 136 Hü 136 Ha 137 BV 138 Ha 139 Ha 140 BV 141 BV 142 BV 143 BV 144 Go 145 Go 146 Go 147 Ju 147 Go 149 Go 150 Kl 151 Ta 152 Kl 152 Ta 153 Ta 154 BV 155 Fi 156 Fi 157 Fi 158 Fw 159 Ju 160 Bf 161 He 162 Bf 162 Bf 163 Me 163 Me 164 Fi 166 FK 166 Fi 167 Fi 168 He 170 He 172 He 176 He 177 He 178 Bü 180 Bü 181 Bü 182 Ta 183 Fl 184 Fl 185 Fw 186 Ju 186 Fw 187 Ju 187 Ju 188 Fw 189 Fw 190 Fw 191 Ao 192 DFS 193 DFS 194 Ar 195 Ar 196 Ar 197 Ar 198 Ar 199 Fw 200

201 to 300	Si 201 Si 202 DFS 203 Si 204 Fw 206 Me 208 Me 209 Me 209 (1943) Me 210 Hü 211 Do 212 Do 214 Do 215 Do 216 Do 217 Hs 217 He 219 He 220 BV 222 Fa 223 Fa 224 Ao 225 Fa 225 BV 226 Ho 226 FGP 227 DFS 228 Ho 229 DFS 230 Ar 231 Ar 232 Ar 233 Ar 234 Do 235 BV 237 BV 238 Fw 238 Ar 239 Ar 240 Go 241 Go 242 Go 244 BV 246 Ju 248 BV 250 Fw 250 Ho 250 Ho 251 Ho 252 Ju 252 Fi 253 Ho 253 Ta 254 Ho 254 Fi 256 Sk 257 Fw 261 Me 261 Me 262 Me 263 Me 264 Fl 265 Me 265 Fa 266 Ho 267 Ju 268 Fa 269 He 270 We 271 Fw 272 He 274 He 275 He 277 He 278 He 280 Fl 282 Fa 283 Ta 283 Fa 284 Fl 285 Ju 286 Ju 287 Ju 288 Ju 290 Me 290 As 292 Hs 293 Hs 294 Hs 295 Ar 296 Hs 296 Hs 297 Hs 298 Fw 300

301-	Me 309 Me 310 Do 317 Do 318 He 319 Me 321 Ju 322 Me 323 Me 328 Me 329 Fa 330 DFS 331 DFS 332 Fi 333 Me 334 Do 335 Fa 336 Fl 339 E.340 WNF 342 He 343 Rk 344 So 344 Go 345 DFS 346 Rk 347 Ba 349 Ju 352 Me 362 Me 364 Ju 388 Ju 390 Fw 391 Ar 396 Ta 400 Me 409 Me 410 Do 417 He 419 ZMe 423 Ar 430 Ka 430 Ar 432 Do 435 Ar 440 Ju 452 Me 462 Ju 488 Fw 491 Me 509 Me 510 He 519 ZSO 523 Ar 532 Do 535 E.555 Me 609 Ar 632 Do 635

Authority control	GND: 7856378-1

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, January 13, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.