Heller 80238 Focke-Wulf Fw 56A-1 Stößer — 1/72 Scale Plastic model kit

Manufacturer: Heller

Kit number: 80238

EAN: 3279510802382

Aircraft: Focke-Wulf Fw 56A-1 Stößer

Scale: 1/72

Type: Injection-moulded plastic aircraft kit

Parts: 34

Kit dimensions: approximately 106 × 146 mm
The manufacturer — Heller

Heller is one of France's best-known historic plastic-model manufacturers. The company developed an extensive catalogue covering aircraft, ships, vehicles and other subjects, with a particularly strong representation of European aircraft that were sometimes overlooked by Japanese and American manufacturers.

The Fw 56 is a good example of Heller's interest in less glamorous but historically significant aircraft. Rather than modelling only the famous Bf 109 and Fw 190, Heller also produced the trainer and pre-war aircraft that formed the foundation of German military aviation.

The current 80238 kit is a relatively inexpensive small-scale model. Contemporary retailer listings put the new kit around €9–€10, with one UK eBay listing at £21.07, illustrating the difference between normal shop pricing and individual marketplace asking prices.
Kit contents

The current Heller 80238 contains 34 parts. Gaugemaster describes it as a detailed 1/72 plastic kit with a decal sheet and instructions, while the listed assembled dimensions are approximately 106 mm × 146 mm.

It is a relatively simple kit, appropriate to the compact size and straightforward construction of the real aircraft.

The model requires:

assembly with plastic cement;

painting;

application of the supplied decals.

Heller does not include glue or paint.

The subject is especially attractive to collectors of 1930s German aviation, because the Fw 56 occupies the transitional period between the traditional biplane trainer and the modern all-metal monoplanes that would soon dominate the Luftwaffe.
The real aircraft — Focke-Wulf Fw 56 Stößer

The Focke-Wulf Fw 56 Stößer was a German single-seat advanced trainer developed during the early 1930s.

Its name Stößer is generally translated as "Goshawk" or associated with a hawk-type bird.

The aircraft was designed at Focke-Wulf under the direction of Kurt Tank, with Rudolf Blaser playing an important role in the actual design work. The project originated from a German Air Ministry requirement for an advanced fighter trainer, while the aircraft was also considered for possible use as a lightweight home-defence fighter.

It was Tank's early work at Focke-Wulf, long before the famous Fw 190 fighter.
Development

The first prototype, Fw 56 V1, flew on 7 November 1933. Two additional prototypes followed.

The second prototype incorporated significant changes, including revised landing gear and an experimental metal wing. The third prototype returned to a wooden wing after the designers concluded that this arrangement was satisfactory.

The aircraft was a distinctive parasol-wing monoplane. Its wing was mounted above the fuselage on a central arrangement of struts, giving the aircraft a configuration that was already becoming unusual as fully cantilevered low-wing monoplanes began to take over.

The fuselage used a steel-tube framework, with metal covering toward the front and fabric covering elsewhere. The wing was predominantly wooden, with plywood covering over much of its surface and fabric around the trailing-edge sections.

This mixture of materials was typical of the transition period in which aircraft designers were moving from traditional wood-and-fabric construction toward all-metal stressed-skin aircraft.
The 1935 competition

The Fw 56 competed against several rival designs for the German Air Ministry requirement.

Its principal competitors included:

Arado Ar 76

Heinkel He 74

The Fw 56 performed successfully in the comparative trials held in 1935, and the German Air Ministry selected it for production.

The production aircraft was designated Fw 56A-1, and it became an important advanced trainer for the developing Luftwaffe.

This was an important role: pilots who had completed basic flying training needed to learn the handling characteristics and techniques required for faster, more demanding fighter aircraft.

The Fw 56 provided a bridge between basic trainers and operational fighters.
Engine and performance

The production aircraft was powered by the Argus As 10C, an air-cooled inverted V-8 engine producing approximately 240 hp according to several historical references.

Representative performance figures include:

Maximum speed: approximately 278 km/h / 173 mph

Range: approximately 385–400 km

Service ceiling: approximately 6,200 m

Crew: 1

Engine: Argus As 10C

Configuration: fixed undercarriage, parasol wing

The aircraft was not fast by the standards of later wartime fighters, but speed was not its principal purpose. Its relatively simple handling and robust construction made it well suited to advanced training.
Armament and the Stuka connection

One of the more interesting episodes in the Fw 56's development concerned its potential as a dive-bomber.

The early aircraft could be equipped with machine guns and small practice bombs. Ernst Udet, a prominent German military aviator and strong advocate of dive bombing, personally experimented with the Fw 56 V2 in a dive-bombing role.

The aircraft's ability to perform steep dives contributed to the wider German interest in dedicated dive-bomber development.

This makes the Stößer historically interesting beyond its role as a trainer: its testing formed part of the experimentation that helped establish the German emphasis on Sturzkampf dive-bombing during the pre-war period.
Production and service

There is some disagreement among historical references about the total production figure.

One detailed German historical source gives 514 aircraft, consisting of 445 aircraft produced for the Luftwaffe between May 1935 and December 1936, plus 45 export aircraft, with additional aircraft accounting for the overall total.

Other references give figures closer to 900–1,000 aircraft.

For cataloguing purposes, I would record the production figure as approximately 500–1,000 aircraft, with 514 being the figure supported by the more detailed production breakdown, rather than presenting the higher figure as definitive.

The aircraft was primarily used as an advanced trainer, but examples also served in other roles, including communications, experimental work and towing.
International users

The Fw 56 was not exclusively a German aircraft.

Documented exports included:

Austria — 9

Hungary — 28

Bulgaria — 6

Bolivia — 2

The aircraft was also flown by private owners; one notable example was purchased by Gerd Achgelis, who later worked with Henrich Focke on helicopter development.

The Austrian examples are particularly interesting to modellers because the Fw 56 served with Austrian military aviation before the country's incorporation into Nazi Germany.
Wartime service

Although the Fw 56 was already becoming obsolete as a combat aircraft when the Second World War began, it continued to serve as a trainer.

Its rugged construction and simple configuration gave it a surprisingly long career.

Historical records indicate that significant numbers were still present in Luftwaffe inventories well into the war. By February 1944, approximately 129 Stössers were still recorded, although that number fell substantially during 1944.

By the final stages of the war, some surviving aircraft were pressed into improvised combat roles, including night harassment and light bombing missions. These were very different circumstances from the aircraft's original role as an advanced trainer.
Surviving aircraft

The Fw 56 is now a very rare aircraft.

A German aviation-history source records one surviving example, which has been undergoing restoration toward airworthiness.