Focke-Wulf Fw 56 Stösser

what is it?

The Focke-Wulf Fw 56 Stösser (German : goshawk) was a single-engine parasol wing monoplane advanced trainer designed and built by the German aircraft manufacturer Focke-Wulf. It was the company's first aircraft to be designed from the onset by the aeronautical engineer Kurt Tank, who also named the type. The Fw 56 was a parasol-wing monoplane aircraft with a fuselage of steel tube construction, which was clad in metal towards the front and canvas elsewhere.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 10.5 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 278 km/htop speed
• range 385 kmwithout refuelling
• size 985 kgmax take-off weight
• built 1,000made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 93 years ago, in 1933.
• 🏎️Top speed is 2.1× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 10.5 m: about 2 cars parked nose to tail.

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1933-11

number built

1,000

role

advanced trainer

makers

Focke-Wulf

engines

1× Argus As 10C

length

7.6 m

wingspan

10.5 m

height

2.6 m

max take-off weight

985 kg

top speed

278 km/h

cruise speed

255 km/h

range

385 km

ceiling

6,200 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.