Last Surviving WWII Focke Wulf FW 200 Restored
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A Labor of Love
Fritz Schneider was a German engineer studying to build aircraft when he was called into service in 1939. When he returned home, he eventually became a locomotive mechanic.
In a twist of fate, Schneider got to fulfill this dream again by rebuilding the last surviving Focke-Wulf FW 200 “Condor”.
“When the plane was completed,” Fritz said, “Thanks to this project, my dream of working in aircraft building has finally come true.”
Found at the bottom of the sea off the coast of Norway, the Condor was put back together and rebuilt by Fritz and 150 others.
They called themselves the “Condorians,” a group made up of mostly retired former employees who built the original plane.
The Condor was a four-engine German monoplane that was widely known to WWII Allies as the courier of the German army, and even Hitler’s personal plane of choice.
Between 1937 and 1944, a total of 276 Focke-Wulf FW 200s were manufactured. When production ended, the current one became the last surviving example.
