| Type |
Werk.Nr |
Registration |
History |
| A-07, S7 |
2996 |
D-AXFO, PP-CBI |
Former "Pommern". . 29.6.1939 to Condor."Abaitará" .Collided 8.3.1947, scrapped |
| A-06, S6 |
2995 |
D-ASBK, PP-CBJ |
Former "Holstein"- 29.07.39 to Condor. "Arumani". Scrapped 1947 |


The Brazilian connections with the German Focke-Wulf preceded the signing of this contract. As early as 1935, contacts had begun for the installation of an aircraft factory at the expense and risk of the Brazilian government, but which would have the support and transfer of technology and know-how to the national technicians who would accompany the assembly of German aircraft in the country. Immediately, the "Galeão Workshops", which occupied the existing military installations on Ilha do Governador, in Rio de Janeiro, began to assemble the Stieglitz, for training, and the Weihe, an aircraft for general use and bombing, while the templates and specialized tooling that would allow the assembly under license in Brazil of six four-engine Fw 200s were transferred. The so-called Project Condor would be aborted with the Second World War, with the British and Americans preventing imports of this type from landing in the country at the same time that it was no longer in Germany's own interest to give up such valuable material for its war effort.
On June 29, 1939, the first of the Fw 200A-0 acquired by the Condor Union arrived in Rio de Janeiro, in record time for the time: less than 35 hours after taking off from Berlin! Originating from Lufthansa and billed for RM 540,622.50, it bore the original registration D-AXFO, baptized Pommern (c/n. 2996). Once in Brazil, it received the registration PP-CBI and became known as Abaitará, an indigenous name that was painted on the fuselage, below the cockpit. In the document that records its first inspection carried out in Rio de Janeiro, there was the observation "there are no seat belts for passengers".
On July 29, the company received the second Fw 200A-0, ex-D-ASBK Holstein (c/n 2995) and which became the PP-CBJ Arumani. This flight, which had not carried passengers, was under the responsibility of pilots Rudolf Cramer von Clausbruch, from the Condor Union, and Guetering, from Lufthansa, accompanied by radiotelegraphists and mechanics Nuelle, Stein, Rosinski and Salz.
Once the second plane was received, after the removal of the additional fuel tanks installed inside the passenger cabin to increase the flight autonomy and after all legal formalities were met, both were put into operation on the Rio de Janeiro/Buenos Aires route, with stopovers in São Paulo and Porto Alegre, certainly the best line that Brazil had at the time and where they quickly gained a lot of popularity. On some occasions they could also be seen in Curitiba or on the line that reached Recife. Some time later the BMW engines would be replaced by the original Pratt & Whitney 132
The incorporation of these aircraft into the Condor Union's fleet coincided with what would be the most critical and troubled period in the company's history, with negative effects on the performance of both in the years that followed. As a subsidiary of Lufthansa, Condor operated in conditions of total dependence on German interests in the country. To survive, it received from the headquarters in Germany the spare parts it needed to keep the planes in flight, training, technical support and financial aid. The pilots in command positions were also German, although some were already naturalized and Brazilians constituted a slight majority in the flight group. With the outbreak of World War II in Europe and especially after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the entire operational structure of the company installed in the country was transformed overnight into a potential risk factor for the political and commercial interests of the United States on the continent. Those hitherto labeled as pioneers of the interiors of Maranhão, Ceará, Piauí or Pará through the arduous and persistent work of implementing lines known to be deficient, but of national interest, found themselves transformed into feared and persecuted spies. Radio communication equipment assembled at high costs in almost inaccessible points in order to support, albeit precariously, the safety of the flight, were now evidence that the company used them only to relay precious information to the enemy in Europe. The Condor Syndicate had fallen from grace.
The pressure of the Americans on the Brazilian government was brutal. Pilots and flight mechanics such as Hans Haumann, Otto Rosinski and Gustav Salz, brought to Brazil as instructors to accompany the Brazilian crews during the flights to adapt to the Fw 200 equipment, had their stay permits revoked just one month later.
Without being able to count on its main source of technical supplies, the Condor Union would face its first major crisis, which determined the adoption of unprecedented measures to contain expenses, such as reducing the salary of all employees by 25%. It was about saving the company at any cost.
At the end of 1941, after overcoming part of the initial difficulties, the company was prevented from flying due to lack of fuel, which arrived in Brazil through American suppliers. Abaitará was held in Argentina for almost three months until a conciliatory solution was found.
The Brazilian government admitted that, even though it had German origins, the company operated effectively in Brazil and the country needed its services. The plan presented by the U.S. government, in which it was suggested the pure and simple closure of the company and the immediate transfer of its national lines to Panair do Brasil, a company then controlled by the North American group of Pan American, was not well seen by the Brazilians, who opted for the transfer to the Condor Union of part of the fuel destined for the planes of the Brazilian Air Force. allowing its planes to fly again.
At the end of that year, the company adopted, as an extreme solution to have its name removed from the "black list", the summary removal of all its directors, technicians, crew members and other employees of German nationality, precariously replacing them with Brazilian colleagues, unfortunately not always properly trained and with the necessary experience to perform the new functions. To direct it, Dr. José Bento Ribeiro Dantas, previously legal advisor of the company, took over the board of directors by five Air Force officers. A few months earlier, the name of the company had already been changed to Condor Air Services, since the name "union" had become exclusive for the designation of class associations
On January 16, 1943, the last of the measures found seeking to nationalize the company once and for all was to replace its name to Serviços Aéreos Cruzeiro do Sul. The stylized condor logo gave way to a white seagull in flight over the constellation of the Southern Cross. It was public knowledge that the Americans continued to press for the German planes to be definitively taken off the flight and, if possible, destroyed. Already having several Douglas DC-3 and C-47 in their fleet, in 1946 the new leaders were convinced to accelerate the process of decommissioning the old Ju 52/3m, negotiating some of them in Argentina, at the same time that they received two Douglas DC-4 Skymasters for 44 passengers taken from the factory, to inaugurate the Rio/New York line that had been granted to Cruzeiro do Sul.
Both Focke-Wulf 200s, however, remained in operation without any type of mechanical failure, not least because, compared to the current patterns of use of commercial aircraft, they flew very little. The original 26 large seats had been replaced by 30 of the DC-3, increasing its capacity at the expense of comfort. That was until March 7, 1947, when the Abaitará, standing near the head of the runway at Santos Dumont Airport awaiting permission to take off, was accidentally rammed by a DC-3 that was coming for landing. Newly arrived in Brazil, this aircraft was destined for Panair do Brasil, where it would receive the registration PP-PCK. The damage could have been repaired, but the management of Cruzeiro do Sul saw fit to accept the total loss of the aircraft, which recorded only 5,303 hours and 50 minutes of flight. In the same year, the Arumani would also be removed, because, now as the only example available, it would be difficult to keep it on course for longer.
In the company, career accesses were strictly followed, obeying the criterion of seniority, and the oldest commanders now flew the DC-4s. Aldo Pereira and Lucídio Llano Valls were the last captains of Cruzeiro do Sul called to fly the Fw 200, but for only a short time.
In its last inspection, carried out in October of that year, the Arumani had 5,533 hours and 53 minutes of flight. Commander Aldo Pereira, in a statement, recalls that the mechanics of the Caju workshop could not hold back their tears when they saw the large metal cutting scissors of the junkyard men destroy that beautiful plane. There are also those who say that when their owners decided to scrap the aircraft, people outside the company made sure that all their tooling was thrown into the sea...
Aside from its nostalgic end, the Arumani ended up being the last of the Fw 200s in operation in the world, decommissioned exactly ten years after the model's maiden flight in Germany. If the circumstances were different, this unique example could be found today in the collection of some aeronautical museum in the country.



