In March 1941 the Reichsluftfahrtministerium, the ministry that during the Nazi period was responsible for the whole aviation of Germany, expressed the need to acquire a new long-range bombardment aircraft capable of carrying a war load of 5,000 kg of bombs with a range of 15,000 km. Focke-Wulf and Junkers responded to the request by starting a project for a large tactical bomber suitable to meet the specifications issued. Focke-Wulf planned the development of an all-encompassing four-engine aircraft in a trailing configuration that could be equipped with the best engines currently being developed, the BMW 803 of 3 900 PS combined with four-bladed propellers counter-rotating or Junkers Jumo 222. The long fuselage integrated the cockpitpressurized for the five crew members on the front, the ventral bomb compartment and an empennage bi drift chosen to improve the shooting range of the two barbette hydraulically driven backbones equipped with a pair of cannoncini automaticMG 151/20gauge20 mm. To these were two other identical barbette and, optional for the antinave configuration, a gondola equipped with 4 cannons MK 108 caliber 30 mm. The landing gear chosen re-proposes a classic configuration, with the two front axle springs cushioned and equipped with twin wheel integrated by a third rotated element placed near the tail. In addition to the three planned versions, the first two equipped with the four supermotors and a third, the Fw 238 C, which had to make up for the impossibility of being equipped with the BMW 803 and Jumo 222 still too fragile with six more traditional and reliable 12 inverted V cylinders chosen from Daimler-Benz DB 603 or Junkers Jumo 213, there was one development for a small four-engine version, equipped with radial BMW 801 D, with a length of 30.6 m by 5.8 m height with a 50 m opening wing and a surface area of 240 m². In reality none of the versions passed the phase design and their development, which according to some estimates could have been realized at least in a prototype able to fly by the end of 1944, was definitively interrupted for an order dated 14 February 1943 in which the RLM required companies to devote themselves as a priority to the development of models to be used in the air defense of the German territory.
