|
Select your desired text size:
Professionally recreated, this is a real blueprint - made directly from a
vellum master - Measuring a generous 42"x 30".
History of the Focke Wulf fw190 Fighter:
The Fw-190 was one of the greatest fighters of WWII.
In the autumn of 1937 the German Air Ministry decided it needed another fighter
aircraft to supplement the Messerschmitt Bf109. The design team was headed by
Kurt Tank, the technical director of Focke Wulf Flugzeugbau. The FW190 flew for
the first time on 1st June, 1939,
 ← Acknowledgements and Bibliography
|
|
Continued from above... 1st June, 1939, but technical problems meant that it did not
become fully operational until July, 1941.
The Focke Wulf 190 had a maximum speed of 389 mph (626 km) and had a range of
497 miles (800 km). It was 29 ft 9 in (8.84 m) long with a wingspan of 34 ft 5
in (10.50 m). The aircraft was armed with 4 machine-guns and two 20 mm cannons.
The Focke-Wulf Fw190 Ranks with the Spitfire, Vought F4U Corsair and
North American P-51 Mustang as one of the best fighters of World War II.
The Focke-Wulf 190 was the work of a team of German designers headed by
the famous Kurt Tank. It was evolved basically as a successor to the
Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter, although the official view was that it
would never be capable of matching the operational prowess of the Bf
109. How wrong this proved!
|
 |
| The FW190 was superior to the Messerschmitt Bf109 and
for the rest of the Second World War was the best fighter plane in the
Luftwaffe. A total of 13,367 were built during the war. Even RAF pilots
accepted that because of its speed and ease of handling it outperformed
all of the first generation Supermarine Spitfires. |
Douglas Bader wrote about the Focke-Wulf 190 in his
autobiography, Fight for the Sky:
The Focke-Wulf 190 certainly gave the British a shock. 1941 had
ended with the Me 109 with the Spitfire (two cannons and four
machine-guns fighting it out on fairly even terms. Then, without
warning from British intelligence sources, this startling aeroplane
appeared in March 1942. A radial-engineered fighter, it out-climbed
and out-dived the Spitfire. Now for the first time the Germans were
out-flying our pilots. Instantly Rolls and Supermarine retaliated
with the Spitfire IXa which equalled the 190, followed at the spring
of 1942 with the IXa which equalled the 190, followed at the end of
1942 with the IXb which outflew it in all respects. The Spitfire was
unchallenged for the rest of the war, except in the last few months
by the Messerschmitt 262 jet which arrived too late to make a
significant contribution.
|
| Chief company designer Kurt Tank's Wurger (Butcher Bird)
was Germanys most potent piston-powered World War II fighter When the
Fw-190A entered combat in the summer of 1941. It immediately outclassed
the Spitfire V, which appeared sluggish and outdated by comparison. From
that time on, in spite of some heating problems with the BMW 801 engine,
the 190 kept even or ahead of Allied fighters through successive
versions. |
Winston Churchill, directive to his military commanders, 6th
March, 1941:
We must take the offensive against the U-boat and the Focke-Wulf
wherever we can and whenever we can. The U-boat at sea must be
hunted, the U-boat in the building yard or in the dock must be
bombed. The Focke-Wulf and other bombers employed against our
shipping must be attacked in the air and in their nests. Hear
Winston Churchill's famous speech: "This was their finest hour".
(Historic Archive • Vault / Historical leaders)
|
|
The Focke-Wulf was not only faster but its superior handling and faster
roll rate gave it an edge in the hands of even less experienced pilots.
Such sparkling performance combined with the 190's superior armament
presented Allied pilots with a real challenge until German pilot
training began to drop in quality. The standard Fw-190A was quickly
modified to perform a number of roles, particularly that of
fighter-bomber in the F and G versions. These deleted the outer 20 mm
cannon in favor of various combinations of bomb racks or cannon pods for
the MK 103 30 mm cannon. Later versions of the FW 190A featured up to
six 20 mm cannon (FW 190A6R1); the A-6/R-6 had two 210 mm (8.27 in)
unguided rockets with which to attack US heavy bombers. |
After the war the British fighter pilot Johnnie Johnson wrote
about the merits of the Focke-Wulf 190:
The Focke-Wulf 190 was undoubtedly, the best German fighter. We were
puzzled by the unfamiliar silhouette, for these new German fighters
seemed to have squarer wingtips and more tapering fuselages than the
Messerschmitts we usually encountered. We saw that the new aircraft
had radial engines and a mixed armament of cannons and machine-guns,
all firing from wing positions.
Whatever these strange fighters were, they gave us a hard time of
it. They seemed to be faster in a zoom climb than the Me 109, and
far more stable in a vertical dive. They also turned better. The
first time we saw them we all had our work cut out to shake them
off, and we lost several pilots.
Back at our fighter base and encouraged by our enthusiastic
Intelligence Officers, we drew sketches and side views of this
strange new aeroplane. We were all agreed that it was superior to
the Me 109f and completely outclassed our Spitfire Vs. Our sketches
disappeared into mysterious Intelligence channels and we heard no
more of the matter,. But from then on, fighter pilots continually
reported increasing numbers of these outstanding fighters over
northern France.
|
Meanwhile, the Fw190 was also proving a good fighter-bomber, carrying a
reasonable bomb load or, in some cases, rocket projectiles. The new war
started by Hitler on the Eastern Front resulted in most of the new
production Fw-190s being thrown into the fighting against the Russians.
Others were needed equally urgently by Rommel in North Africa, to combat
the Western Desert Air Force and Allied ground forces who, by the latter
part of 1942, were pressing hard at Alamein.
The wide track landing gear assured ease of handling on takeoff and
landing, unlike the twitchy Messerschmitt 109. The FW190 was also one of
the first fighters to feature a clear rear canopy, allowing pilots to
keep an excellent lookout for enemy fighters. |
Summary:
The Fw-190, one of Germany's best fighter airplanes
of WW II, made its first flight on June 1, 1939. It appeared in action
over northwestern France in September 1941 and rapidly proved its
superiority over the Mark V Spitfire, Britain's best fighter of the
period.
Most Fw-190s were the "A" series, powered by a BMW radial engine. Late
in 1943, however, the "D" series appeared in action against U.S.
bombers, powered by the Jumo 213 inline, liquid-cooled engine. With its
more powerful engine, the "D" had better performance than the "A" but
because of the lengthened nose, a 20-inch section had to be added to the
fuselage just forward of the tail. During its lifetime, more than 20,000
Fw190s of all types were built. |
|
