02/08/2026. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "One of the most important crew trainers and general purpose aircraft produced for the Luftwaffe was the Fw 58 Weihe (Kite). A type roughly comparable with the RAF's Avro Anson, the Weihe was designed by Dipl. Ing. Kurt Tank and was the first Focke-Wulf aircraft to have a retractable undercarriage. It was the Fw 58 that finally solved the financial problems of the company, orders for the aircraft being received from the Luftwaffe, Lufthansa and several foreign countries.

The prototype Fw 58 V1 (D-ABEM c/n 451) made its first flight during the summer of 1935. It was designed to the same requirement as the generally similar but more angular Arado Ar 77, and proved much more successful. The Weihe was a cantilever low-wing monoplane powered by two 240 Argus As 10C eight-cylinder air-cooled engines. The smoothly rounded fuselage was built of steel tube with a mixture of light metal, wood and fabric covering. Provision was made for a crew of two and six passengers, access to the cabin being gained via a door in the port side of the fuselage aft of the wing.

The wing was built in three sections, comprising a rectangular center section braced to the fuselage by single struts and two outer panels with tapered leading edges. The wing, the outer panels of which had considerable dihedral, was constructed of metal with duralumin covering forward of the main spar and fabric aft. The main-wheels retracted into the underslung engine nacelles, and the machine had a fixed tailwheel. The braced tailplane was forward of the fin and fabric covered rudder.

A feature of the Weihe was the provision for rapid interchange of the nose sections for different roles. The Fw 58 V1 had a smoothly streamlined nose, but the second aircraft, the Fw 58 V2, was a military version with provision for a 0.311 in (7.9 mm) MG 15 machine-gun in an open nose position and a similar weapon in a dorsal opening. The first three aircraft were forerunners of the proposed Fw 58 A production model, but this was abandoned in favor of the Fw 58 B.

The Fw 58 V4 (possibly D-APAN) was prototype for the Fw 58 B, an aerodynamically refined variant which had a glazed nose with provision for a single MG 15 gun. A second weapon could be carried in an open dorsal position. Two production variants were built, the first being the Fw 58 B-1 with a conventional nose intended for use by the Luftwaffe in the communications, training and air ambulance roles. The Fw 58 B-2 had the nose of the Fw 58 V4 and was intended for gunnery training. A seaplane version of the Weihe was also built with twin floats under the designation Fw 58 BW.

In 1938, Focke-Wulf introduced the improved Fw 58 C production model intended for both military and civilian use. Unlike the previous models, the Fw 58 C was designed to be powered by two 240 hp Argus As 10C eight-cylinder engines or two 260 Hirth HM 508D units of similar configuration. Prototype for the Fw 58 C-series Weihe was the Fw 58 V11 (c/n 1198) powered by As 10C engines.

Eight aircraft were delivered to Lufthansa during 1938/39. Four of these, the Fw 58 V13 Rhein (c/n 3100), the V14 D-OHLM Donau (c/n 3101) and two Fw 58 Cs D-OKDN (c/n 3103) and D-OXVF Elbe (c/n 3104) were powered by HM 508D engines. The other machines, the Fw 58 V15 D-ONBR (c/n 2697), the V16 D-OAFD (c/n 2698), the V17 D-OORK (c/n 2699) and the V18 D-OBJH (c/n 2700) were all powered by As 10C units.

The Fw 58 V11 C-series prototype was transferred to Kurt Tank as D-ALEX for the designer's personal use. On one occasion Tank managed to land 'Alex', as the machine was affectionately known, without lowering the undercarriage, attributing his mistake to "a fault in the pilot's brain". Just before and during the first half of the war, Tank flew his personal Weihe to Moscow and North Africa. During the late spring of 1942 he journeyed to Paris, returning to Bremen via Holland. It was during this trip that he was attacked by two Spitfires. Although the aircraft was struck by 57 bullets, Tank managed to land it safely at Hilversum. After this exploit, Tank was forbidden to fly in the Fw 58, although a trip was made later to Tronheim in Norway. D-ALEX was finally destroyed on the ground by an Allied bombing attack on Paris.

As has been described, considerable use was made of the Fw 58 within the Luftwaffe. The machine served with several of the FFS A/B (Flugzeugführerschulen A/B) pilot training schools and was delivered to the staff flights of many operational Geschwader. The Weihe was also widely used for casualty evacuation, the type becoming affectionately known as the Leukoplastbomber by German troops. Leukoplast was the branch name for a type of self-adhesive bandage widely used in Germany.

Apart from serving widely in Germany, the Fw 58 was also delivered to Argentina, Bulgaria, China, The Netherlands, Hungary, Rumania and Sweden. Twenty-five Fw 58 B-2s were built under license by the Fabrica do Galleao company of Brazil, and one machine, OY-DYS (c/n 3105) was used for a short period by the Danish airline DDL on their Copenhagen-Rønne service.

One Fw 58 C (D-OXLR c/n 2207) became the Fw 58 V18, when it was experimentally fitted with a fixed nosewheel undercarriage for in-flight refueling trials in connection with a Junkers Ju 90 tanker. Several advanced versions of the Weihe were proposed, powered by the Argus As 10K, As 410 and As 417 engines, but none were built."