THE LUFTWAFFE'S CARRIER PLANE

摘要

As the only carrier airplane of original design produced by Germany, the Fieseler Fi-167 was unique among World War II combat aircraft. Its intended stablemates, the Messerschmitt Me-109T and Junkers Ju-87C, were adaptations of existing land-based aircraft. Although only 14 were built, the Fi-167 can be legitimately said to have achieved limited production. The story of this unlikely airplane began in 1936 when construction commenced on the German navy's first and only aircraft carrier, Graf Zeppelin. Since no German aircraft existed that could be operated from the ship, in 1937 the Air Ministry issued a specification for a new carrier-based torpedo bomber/reconnaissance plane, somewhat in the same category as Britain's Fairey Albacore. The Fieseler and Arado companies offered competing designs, of which Fieseler's was selected.