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.

Design and development

The Fw 58 is 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 is open to form a moveable machine gun station. The tailwheel undercarriage is 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 and Brazil. It was also operated by several countries such as the Netherlands, Hungary, Romania, Croatia and Turkey.

Variants

Fw 58 V1

First prototype.

Fw 58 V2

Second protoype.

Fw 58 V3

Third prototype.

Fw 58 V4

Fourth prototype.

Fw 58B

Fw 58B-1

Fw 58B-2

This version had a glazed nose, and was armed with a 7.92 mm (0.312 in) MG 15 machine gun.

Fw 58C

Fw 58W

Twin-floatplane version.

Operators

• Austrian Air Force

• Argentine Air Force

• Brazilian Air Force

• Bulgarian Air Force

Croatia

• Croatian Air Force

• Czechoslovakian Air Force

• Finnish Air Force

• Luftwaffe

• Hungarian Air Force

• Royal Netherlands Air Force

• Polish Air Force

• Romanian Air Force

• Turkish Air Force

• Soviet Air Force

Specifications (Fw 58)

See also

References