New Teeth for the "Scourge of the Atlantic" by steelrazer
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Description
Churchill called the FW 200 Condor the "Scourge of the Atlantic". There was certainly a duel between British shipping and these maritime patrol bomber/recon planes. Both sides constantly changed and developed tactics to outwit the other in this deadly duel in the Atlantic.
The Condor was initially proposed and used as a passenger plane. It became the highest flying passenger plane at the time at 10,000 ft (a brief distinction). Then the Japanese requested a long range bomber/recon version and it was developed as such, but never delivered to the Japanese. Instead over two hundred were built and a significant number used as a transport and maritime patrol bomber against shipping and for long range reconnaissance.
August 25, 1943 dawned to a new wrinkle in the Condor's skin, the first rocket powered, radio controlled "cruise" missile, the Henschel Hs293. The Condor could carry two. As with many of these deadly weapons, the German high command deployed them too late and and gave them too little priority...an oversight that benefited the Allied forces immensely. Developed and used primarily as an anti-ship missile, it had one major drawback. In order to guide the missile effectively, the launching aircraft had to keep a level glide path behind the missile to the target. A tactic which made the Condor highly vulnerable to attack during its run. Varying course meant losing contact with the missile which had five colored flares attached to the rear of the weapon so that the operator could keep an eye on it (and at night "tail" lights). The Condor/Hs293 combo had some creditable success in damaged/sunk shipping, but again, too little too late. As a counter measure, the British put considerable effort into developing jamming devices to counter this highly explosive gnat.
I was really looking forward to using the Condor in a render. Objectively as an aircraft, it really does have "elegant lines" in Pedro C's words. As for the HS293...for years I kept running across BVR's free model in my inventory wondering how to use it when ...presto!
FW200 Condor: Excellent model by Pedro Capparos, free on sharecg...if you haven't checked it out already, it's a pip!
Hs293-1 anti-ship missile: Johnny on the spot and free by BVR on sharecg. Very nicely done too.
Condor Crew: the usual Epici figure and retex.
Cargo ship Kev: Free on sketchup warehouse by mattia (retextured)
Cinema C4dXLCE+. poser7,Vue6Infinite, PS Cs3
Comments (17)
London224 Online Now!
Great looking plane Bill..nice render too!
fly028
Superb image and story!
UVDan
Great scene and I love the history lesson!
Renderholic
Very well done scene. I also enjoy the bits of history that you share.
ollienorthie
Great image. Nice history. The plane is beautiful.
neiwil
Brilliant render, and timely, as Battle of the Atlantic, 70th Anniversary is in full swing over here...Great looking model, I'll definitely be checking it out...
Maxidyne
Bravo Bill. You've managed to get it looking a lot crisper than I did. I have to agree mate, this really is a lovely looking aircraft :)
pcaparrosc
Bravo! I really like the render and the history lesson. Thank you very much for the mention. Note only freaks of history: The Hs-293 missile was used only by the latest version of the Condor, the Fw-200 C8, with a ventral gondola elongated to accommodate the bomber and missile guidance equipment, and a forest of radar antennas on the nose the plane (to me I've always found a chicken rotisserie poorly designed). The plane I modeled is the Fw-200 C4, one earliest version, but you do not get strict.
steelrazer
Thanks, Pedro. I knew that the later model carried the Hs, but I did know about the antennae on the nose. I'll have to check it out, I don't remember seeing any of those pics, but I can imagine it. Thanks for the added info.
texboy
outstanding, bubba! and thanks for the links....
Tryphon
Another great render Bill, great composition & lighting as usual.
AliceFromLake
Bill, you had the same idea for a picture with Pedros FW 200 like me... LOL... OK then I do not that picture, I try an other one... :-) Great work.
aeilkema
Love the scene :-)
sike
Nice scene!!
debbielove
Pedro knows his stuff, he is correct.. lol The main users were Ju88s and He111's.. But as he says we are not being strioct here.. THIS is a stunning looking Render! Full marks! Rob
Briney
Your render looks awesome, brings the "airliner that became a bomber" to life. I guess that following the missile down was soon written out of the specifications for "guided" missiles... Wow.
franco7
incredible work ...I really like the storm in the distance ....Amazing work