Before I begin, I must thank Marine's Nose dearly for making this plane look exceptional. I'd give ya a highfive if possible Marine.
hmm... Marine's nose...?
Hallo there people not playing SR2!
Well, this is a first for me, teasing a plane, then uploading it the next day!
I feel entitled to a gold star now
Anyways, this is the Focke Wulf Fw 324 C-2/b, a heavy maritime bomber carrying 30 SC250 bombs, as well as having 6 rear-facing 30mm Mk 103 autocannons in a dorsal, tail, and ventral turret (Ventral and tail turrets are moveable).
The Focke Wulf Fw 200, an impressive plane in it's own right, was decidedly outdated by the RLM come mid-1945. The advent of the Ar 234, and specialized variants of the Me 262 had outperformed the aged Fw 200 significantly.
With varying attempts to modify the above mentioned aircraft into maritime patrol bombers, it was obvious a new aircraft would have to be designed.
Early 1946 was when the RLM gave the competition for a new maritime bomber to Messerschmitt, Heinkel, and finally Focke Wulf.
The design was headed by Kurt Tank, whom decided that a propellor-driven aircraft would be best suited for this designation than jet engines. Although, this decision did raise some criticisms with the RLM and the Focke Wulf company.
Kurt Tank set out to follow the specifications laid out; 25 meter span, 25 meter lenght, and 5.5 meter height, all to be powered by a minimum of two engines that can propel the craft over 525 kilometers per hour and fly for upwards of 12 hours.
With the decision to use propellors over the newer jet engines and using proven fuselage designs proved efficient with designing time, as by late 1947, Focke Wulf unveiled their design months ahead of Messerschmitt and Heinkel.
The design, designated the Fw 324, spanned almost 25 meters nose to tail, 25 meters wing tip to wing tip, and almost 5 meters from landing gear to vertical stabilizer tip.
This was powered by six Daimler-Benz DB 631 engines, all in nacelles buried near the wing root. While during designing, these engines were determined to be somewhat underwhelming for the heavy frame and load of the bomber, but Tank was determined to use the relatively new engine in the bomber.
To act as a defense against any attacking aircraft, three turrets were mounted behind the cockpit, a dorsal turret, tail turret, and ventral turret. All three of the turrets have Rheinmetall-Borsig's Mk 103 30mm autocannons in zwilling mounts, with the ventral turret being remote controlled from the dorsal gunner compartment.
To effectively crew this bomber, 8 men were needed as pilot, copilot, bombadier, radio operator, gunners for each turret, and an flight engineer.
Initially, the RLM brushed Focke Wulf's entry aside, hoping that Messerschmitt or Heinkel's designs would be more cutting edge and contain powerful turbojet engines, but this hope was quickly dashed after the two companies had to delay their designs for complexity hampering flight time and fuel efficiency.
By mid 1948, with Messerschmitt and Heinkel's designs only being marginally better than the Fw 324 at the cost of fuel efficiency, the RLM finally decided to accept Focke Wulf's design as the new addition to the Luftwaffe.
The first aircraft was produced early 1949, after many delays with acquiring enough engines, and was shipped to Mandal Airfield in Norway for flight testing. The plane was flown by one Fahnenjunker Joseph Müller, and was joined by Kurt Tank himself as copilot.
With the two flying the bomber over the frozen northern Atlantic, filled with a mock-up bomb load, the Fw 324 managed to stay aflight for 11 hours, 21 minutes, and 42 seconds before Kurt and Joseph landed back at Mandal Airfield.
Their test showed, that while the bomber flew a below average 397 kilometers per hour, it was an excellently easy aircraft to fly comparative to it's size.
Joseph Müller claimed "[he] and Kurt Tank was able to sit back and read a book, letting the plane fly itself".
120 planes were requested by the Luftwaffe by the end of 1950, and while only 83 were built, the number increased to 127 by late 1951.
The initial variants, A and B, had bombloads of 20 SC250 bombs (A-1 to A-3 and B-1 to B-5), but the C variant had increased that to 30 SC250 bombs, as well as providing alternative mounts in the bombbay for two LT I B4 F5b Pfau torpedoes (C-2/a).
Aside from adding a lager payload and alternative palyloads, the radio was improved from the FuG 18 to FuG 29, as well as a Peilgerät 6 homing device (alternative FuG 124 Komet was introduced for the few C-3a variants)
While the Fw 324 isn't widespread enough across the Luftwafte to make a significant impact, with Fw 200s still being a somewhat common sight as maritime patrol bombers, the few in use have been shown to be exceptional at their objectives.
(Tad bit more is gonna be added)
Flight and Nonsense
Much like a bomber of similar size (a B-24 shall be used), you din't want to take any sharp, speed-costly maneuvers. There's a pretty high chance you'll put this slow and lumbering slab of metal into a flat spin into the ocean like I have a few times.
i.e. it's not worth 8 lives to try and dogfight in this
While it flies at around 240mph when level, I don't reccomend going under 210mph during flight.
There are no special AGs on this plane, but VTOL moves the tail and ventral turret side-to-side.
I'd highly reccomend using trim when loaded with bombs, but after all 30 bombs are dropped, you can reset trim and fly normally.
Landing
Landing... well, you can practically throw this plane at the runway when you have no bombs, and walk away with 4 of the 6 props (and still barely fly).
I'd say take it carefully when loaded with bombs, and line up way before you touch down.
Specifications
General Characteristics
- Created On Android
- Wingspan 82.0ft (25.0m)
- Length 80.9ft (24.7m)
- Height 16.1ft (4.9m)
- Empty Weight 38,601lbs (17,509kg)
- Loaded Weight 65,158lbs (29,555kg)
Performance
- Horse Power/Weight Ratio 0.736
- Wing Loading 79.0lbs/ft2 (385.7kg/m2)
- Wing Area 824.8ft2 (76.6m2)
- Drag Points 20782
Parts
- Number of Parts 485
- Control Surfaces 5
- Performance Cost 1,994
@MrVaultech you should censored that symbol!!!
Thanks!
Yea, I'd like to actually see this come Sunday, without those "spoilers" and the such.
Make sure to tag me in the comments when it comes out.
@DemXu
@MrVaultech
np!
Thanks!
@SakuraSaku
nice design!
Hah, thanks!
@Jim1the1Squid
Wow. This. bomber. Looks. AWESOME!!!
Danke, yeah I have a tendency to vanish from stuff.
@LegnaK
It's been a while since I've seen you, nice aircraft friend :)
@MrVaultech indeed
Danke danke!
@Roswell
Amazing!
Danke!
@LancasterAce
ihr willkommen@MrVaultech
Danke
@CptJacobson
Very nice lad @MrVaultech
Danke!
@ACEPILOT109
This is so cool!
Cool and np! @MrVaultech
Danke! The fuselage shape took inspiration from the Do 17/217, as well as the Ju 288 (mainly the 288).
@Strikefighter04
Interesting design! I like how it’s circular, then more of a square shape.
Danke!
@CRJ900Pilot
Cool!
@ThePrototype I'm not using my computer today so yeah I'm not online
@ThePrototype it's the same as my simple planes account