In my job as a field reviewer for Air Action Weekly, I've had the opportunity to fly with some of the best pilots in North America...and to take the stick of some of the most innovative and experimental aircraft the continent has to offer.

Today, I get a glimpse of what the rest of the world has to offer.

The Plane
The Focke-Wulf Hollehund (we call it the "Hellhound") is a German bird, built to fill the Luftwaffe's need for an aircraft to take on the rising tide of Central European air piracy. The Hellhound rolled off the Focke-Wulf assembly lines in 1933 and was immediately adopted into service as a multi-role fighter.

The Hellhound is certainly not the hardest-hitting combat plane in the skies; the Treaty of Versailles restricted how much firepower could be built into fighter aircraft. As a result, the Hellhound sports the equivalent of a .30-caliber turret, a quartet of .30-caliber cannons, and a trio of .40-cal machine guns. (These measurements are North American rough equivalents; German munitions are measured in Metric.)

Despite the somewhat light armaments, the design of the craft and the skill of Luftwaffe pilots has made the Hellhound a mainstay of anti-pirate forces overseas.

The Test
My test craft—on loan to the I.S.A. militias by Focke-Wulf—is a stock version of the Hellhound. Though the I.S.A. plans on producing the Hellhound (under license, of course), the weaponry has not been upgraded to North American standards.

Escorted by Lt. Gabe "Angel" Anderson—an officer in the I.S.A. militia—my test is to thread a treacherous course through the busy Chicago airlanes...a task normally reserved for autogyros, not combat planes!

Evaluation
The Hellhounds dual Junkers Jumo 190B engines are powerhouses (delivering a whopping 1,192 horsepower). Take-off was quick, smooth and steady. The unusual forward-swept wings were a little disconcerting, but in general handling was acceptable.

The large wings (the Hellhound has a wingspan of 41 feet, 4 inches!) and heavy armor make the Hellhound a little sluggish on the stick, though not dangerously so. My bird maneuvered through the busy Chicago airlanes-dodging blimps, aerotaxis, and small commercial airplanes—with relative ease, though I wouldn't relish taking a Hellhound into such close quarters during a dogfight.

During weapons tests on a closed militia range on the outskirts of the city, the Hellhound scored consistent hits on five strafing passes. The nose-mounted cannons made lining up accurate shots a snap...but the mix of .30- and .40-caliber ammo lacks some punch. The wing-mounted cannons were also slightly less accurate, though that may be due to faulty alignment, rather than an inherent flaw.

Overall, the combination of toughness, reliability and precision engineering makes the Hellhound a winner; no wonder the I.S.A. militia and several private security firms (notably, the newly founded Sacred Trust, Inc.) have adopted the Hellhound!