Focke Wulf FLITZER

[coronado]

Hello everybody,

Just for fun before attacking a new serie of british birds, the FW FLITZER from REVELL, 1/72 nd scale : a great kit for lazy modellers, easy to build ( 3 days !), great fit and a super decal sheet for 2 "what if" planes, an original and eye-catching subject !

A few pictures now :

a view from the underside, I replaced the antennae by something scratch built, the only effort in this kit :

Top side :

Side view :

Not a lot of someting challenging in this kit, but I had fun building it . I wish some kit manufacturer would think about making a Whitley like this...

Cheers

Pierre

[Doctor Strop]

Nice looking plane you have built. What's the story behind it?

[dogsbody]

Cool.

[AnonymousDFB1]

Now that's different, nice build

[coronado]

Nice looking plane you have built. What's the story behind it?

Hi,

The story behind it was that the Luftwaffe wanted a small fighter plane built around the jet engines already existing . The story says also that De Havilland was inspired by the twin tail design to create the Vampire and its followers . I have no idea if any mock up display or a prototype were built before the end of the war .

Pierre

[Doctor Strop]

Hi,

The story behind it was that the Luftwaffe wanted a small fighter plane built around the jet engines already existing . The story says also that De Havilland was inspired by the twin tail design to create the Vampire and its followers . I have no idea if any mock up display or a prototype were built before the end of the war .

Pierre

Found this http://www.luft46.com/fw/fwflitz.html

[coronado]

A very interesting website, indeed ! I did not know that in fact, a wooden mock-up had been made . Thank you for the info .

Cheers

Pierre

[penfold]

Hi,

The story behind it was that the Luftwaffe wanted a small fighter plane built around the jet engines already existing . The story says also that De Havilland was inspired by the twin tail design to create the Vampire and its followers .

Pierre

Well, the De Havilland Vampire prototype first flew in September 1943, so unless the FW security was truly appalling......also, De Havilland had twin-boom tails with a pushing engine in 1915 ......... the DH2.

[Fifer54]

Hi,

The story behind it was that the Luftwaffe wanted a small fighter plane built around the jet engines already existing . The story says also that De Havilland was inspired by the twin tail design to create the Vampire and its followers. I have no idea if any mock up display or a prototype were built before the end of the war .

Pierre

When this kit first appeared I read that on the promo material, and I remember thinking at the time that it was nonsense. De Havilland obviously started work on the Vampire before Focke Wulf started on the Flitzer, the Luft46 website states that FW "initiated design work" on the Flitzer in March 1943. Even allowing for the internet data pinch of salt, there's no way that DH could have "been inspired" by the finished design of the Flitzer to design an aircraft in time to fly on 20th September 1943.

I think it's Revell Germany trying to "big up" German engineering while simultaneously diminishing the reputation of British designers. The sad thing is that because

it's published in the historical notes in the Flitzer instructions, many modellers will believe this Propaganda!

Well, the De Havilland Vampire prototype first flew in September 1943, so unless the FW security was truly appalling......also, De Havilland had twin-boom tails with a pushing engine in 1915 ......... the DH2.

I hadn't thought of the DH2 angle!

[Spitfire31]

The story says also that De Havilland was inspired by the twin tail design to create the Vampire and its followers .

That is complete nonsense; a myth perpetuated here and there because of the apparent similarity in configuration.

The design study at FW was initiated in March of 1943. Design work on the dH 100 prototype, alias the Vampire, started in mid 1942, but the general de Havilland configuration was established already in November 1941. 'Nuff said.

Best,

Joachim

[coronado]

Hi everybody and especially the guys who wrote the comments : it is true that the Vampire flew before the Flitzer which never existed, I found my informations in some french magazines and I apologize if the contents of my comments about the story of the plane were absolutely wrong !

Cheers,

Pierre

[Nigel Heath]

The pictures don't appear for me which is a shame as I've just about finished this model as well and would like to compare efforts. Any chance of reattaching them?

Nigel

[Mike]

I think Pierre may have deleted them from his account by now - that was back in 2010