The other part of the equation lay in the delivery method. As the suicide aircraft stood it was too small to carry much internal fuel for a long journey and too basic to serve over long endurance runs over enemy terrain. Focke-Wulf designers enacted a plan to provide the suicide fighter with its own "kamikaze carrier", a mothership of sorts fast enough to avoid enemy interceptors yet powerful enough to haul one or several suicide aircraft. This was a departure from earlier German work on a manned fighter piggy-backing over an explosives-laden airframe, the explosive component being jettisoned against a target while the manned fighter component returning home on its own (this became the intriguing "Mistel" program). Another related concept under consideration in Germany was the "parasite fighter" scheme in which a mothership would carry its own defending escorts, these fighters being released the moment enemy interceptors were identified.
The aircraft devised by Focke-Wulf utilized a high-mounted, gull-wing mainplane of considerable span (177 feet) and limited sweepback set over a largely tubular fuselage containing a glazed-over cockpit nose. A twin-boom tail configuration was added which produced two tail rudders and a central, high-mounted plane joining the two fins. Ahead of each boom would be an engine installation protruding from the wing's leading edge. Outboard of these installations would be a pair of coupled engines in a "pull-push" configuration, presenting a long nacelle structure breaking the lines of both the leading and trailing wing edges. The undercarriage would support many landing wheels situated inline while its supporting struts would be housed under an aerodynamically-refined fairing. The aircraft would require just a two-man crew commitment which benefitted operational logistics.
The six engines in play would be Daimler-Benz DB 603N types, 12-cylinder developments outputting at 1,900 horsepower each. This engine was already shared across various other German warplanes of the conflict including Focke-Wulf's own Ta 152 high-altitude fighter so it came as a proven commodity. Performance estimates of the Fw Kamikaze Carrier included a maximum sped of 348 miles per hour - certainly not fast enough to avoid interception but this was offset some when the strategy morphed to include the carrier rendezvousing with jet-powered aircraft (Ar 234B) from two miles out of the target area. With the now-released kamikaze fighters committed to follow their jet escorts, the carrier was now free for a return trip home to resupply.
As it stood, this large aircraft would not only be used in supporting kamikaze strikes, it could just as easily double as a heavy-lift transport when serving frontline elements. Its high-wing design would also promote short field landings and its undercarriage could survive landings on rough surfaces. Hauling capability would be a key quality of the series.
As can be surmised, the German kamikaze initiative fell to naught by war's end. The project was certainly a reach with all of its intended design goals and the war situation in Germany only served to ruin many-an-aircraft development heading into the final weeks. The concept was never wholly sound nor proven and no work beyond that undertaken at drawing boards was realized before the end. The idea of German pilots even surviving the bailout process was a recurring concern and materials required to make this costly project a success were few and far between. This left the Focke-Wulf "Kamikaze Carrier" as nothing more than one of the many German wartime "paper airplane" projects simply not meant to be.
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