Fieseler Fi 167: the carrier bomber with no carrier
Posted by Flucloxacillin25pc@reddit | WeirdWings | View on Reddit | 34 comments
Intended as a torpedo/dive bomber for the unfinished Graf Zeppelin series aircraft carriers, the Fi 167 easily exceeded the required payload and displayed very good handling characteristics, with exceptional short landing characteristics. After the abandonment of the carriers, Germany used the aircraft for testing but a dozen were also sold to Croatia and Tito’s People’s Army employed 3 captured examples later in the war.
DaniTheGunsmith@reddit
The biplane Stuka isn't real, it can't hurt you
The biplane Stuka...
ctesibius@reddit
Bear in mind that Swordfish torpedo bombers took out a large chunk of the Italian navy at Taranto, so a biplane shouldn’t be underestimated in the role.
Flucloxacillin25pc@reddit (OP)
My Latin teacher flew at Taranto. He was a very interesting guy to speak to. It took me a couple of years to persuade him to talk about it. Very modest and very brave.
CosmicPenguin@reddit
Being slow isn't such a weakness when you have to slow down anyway to drop a torpedo.
turned_up_to_11@reddit
More so it allowed them to loiter, especially useful for anti-submarine operations in the Arctic. Basically doing, what helicopters would do in the future.
Jessica_T@reddit
They also helped sink the Bismarck by jamming the rudder.
WotTheFook@reddit
Technically, there was a carrier being built (the Graf Zeppelin), but it was never completed and didn't enter service. It was sunk in 1946 during weapons tests
Flucloxacillin25pc@reddit (OP)
Technically, I agree. However, they made no attempt to finish it.
LeatherRole2297@reddit
This aircraft would’ve created so many English and Soviet aces, our paintbrushes would’ve caught fire.
VirginiaDare1587@reddit
Odd, FAA Swordfish & Albacore didn’t create many German or Italian aces.
Shaun_Jones@reddit
Well, Swordfish almost never operated close enough to shore to be intercepted, and the one time they did encounter fighter cover they were slaughtered.
VirginiaDare1587@reddit
Can you please refresh our recollections about Swordfish losses at Taranto? And at Mers-el-Kébir? By definition, Operations Judgement and Catapult were ‘close enough to shore to be intercepted’.
Shaun_Jones@reddit
Yes, they could have been intercepted, but were they?
LeatherRole2297@reddit
Trying to remember if the KM or Italian Navy had much of a fighter force…
VirginiaDare1587@reddit
Both Swordfish and Fi 167 would have faced similar environments.
Like the U.K., Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica tried to control all aircraft. Whilst they had specialised units, I don’t think Kreigmarine & Regia Marina had many fighters. So what? Neither had an operating carrier.
LeatherRole2297@reddit
So… it’s… it’s almost… like I had a point. 🧐
Reddsoldier@reddit
Skill issue
Busy_Outlandishness5@reddit
By 1944, what had started out as a bunch of partisans hiding out in the mountains had become a conventional army with warplanes,, artillery and armored vehicles. The partisans in Greece, Italy and France could only look on in envy.
GlockAF@reddit
The tippy-toe landing gear with spats is certainly a unique look
cloudubious@reddit
Somehow looks like a beefy Storch undercarriage.
GlockAF@reddit
With ballerina spats!
Poagie_Mahoney@reddit
The vertical equivalent of forward swept wings.
warshipnerd@reddit
If Graf Zeppelin had entered service, the Fi 167 would have served along side navalized Stukas.
HATECELL@reddit
And also some Bf-109Ts
Crag_r@reddit
So when people bullshit about how the Bismarck never had fire control systems to shoot at biplanes: point at this.
jar1967@reddit
That shows German incompetence.
ziper1221@reddit
it manages to look like a turboprop conversion without even having a turbine engine
No-Analysis2089@reddit
Is no one gonna mention this thing shot down a Mustang?!
Seriously though, this is one of my favorite Luftwaffe planes. Old school as all hell, but looks cool as all hell!
cpteric@reddit
it looked already cool until last pic...
"They fold now?!" 10/10 would sink a flagship, having the turn radius of a two-pence.
Capri280@reddit
Did they just add an extra pair of wings to the storch?
TheManWhoClicks@reddit
Nice boots
Toasted-Strudel2@reddit
New boot goofin.
KerPop42@reddit
New boots?
rockdoc01@reddit
Definitely some Stuka genetics there...