Focke-Wulf Fw 190

In autumn 1937, the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM) (“Reich Air Ministry”) asked various designers for a new fighter to fight alongside the Messerschmitt Bf 109, Germany’s front-line fighter. Although the Bf 109 was at that point an extremely competitive fighter, the RLM was worried that future foreign designs might outclass it and wanted to have new aircraft under development to meet these possible challenges.

Kurt Tank responded with a number of designs, most incorporating liquid-cooled inline engines. However, it was not until a design was presented using the air-cooled, 14-cylinder BMW 139 radial engine that the RLM’s interest was aroused. It was believed that because the Fw 190 used a radial engine it would not affect production of the Bf 109, furthering the RLM’s interest in the Fw 190.[5] At the time, the use of radial engines on land-based fighters was relatively rare in Europe, as it was believed that their large frontal area would cause too much drag on a design as small as a fighter.

Tank was not convinced of this, having witnessed the success of radial engines as used by the US Navy, and felt a properly streamlined installation would eliminate this problem. Tank’s solution was to tightly cowl the engine in its entirety. Normally, radial engines would be left open at the front, in order to allow in sufficient air to cool the engine. Instead, Tank’s cowl completely enclosed the engine.

Cooling air was instead admitted through a hole in the front of an oversized propeller spinner. A cone in the middle of the hole was intended to compress the air, allowing the small opening to create sufficient airflow. In theory, the use of the tight-fitting cowling also provided some thrust due to the compression of air at speed through the cowling. Another revolutionary aspect of the new design was the extensive use of electrically-powered equipment replacing the hydraulic systems used by most aircraft manufacturers of the time.

On the first two prototypes (described below) the main undercarriage was hydraulic. Starting with the third prototype, the undercarriage was operated by push-buttons in the cockpit controlling electric motors in the wings, and was kept in position by electric up- and down-locks.

Similarly, the electrically operated landing flaps were controlled by buttons in the cockpit as was the variable incidence tailplane, which could be used to flight-trim the aircraft. The fixed armament was also charged and fired electrically. Tank believed that service use would prove the electrically-powered systems would be more reliable and more rugged than hydraulics, as well as being much easier to service when needed and the absence of flammable hydraulic fluids and vulnerable piping, which was usually prone to leakage, would reduce the risk of fire.

Tank also designed an extremely clean cockpit layout, aided by the use of the electrical equipment. The cockpit had most of the main controls laid out in a logical pattern and incorporated into consoles on either side of the pilot, rather than being placed on the fuselage skinning.

The Fw 190 A-8 entered production in February 1944, it was either powered by the standard BMW 801 D-2 or the 801Q (also known as 801TU). The 801Q/TU was a standard 801D with improved, thicker armour on the front annular cowling, which also incorporated the oil tank, upgraded from 6 mm (.24 in) on earlier models to 10 mm (.39 in). Changes introduced with the Fw 190 A-8 also included the C3-injection Erhöhte Notleistung emergency boost system to the fighter variant of the Fw 190 A (a similar system with less power had been fitted to some earlier Jabo variants of the 190 A) raising power to 1,980 PS (1,953 hp, 1,456 kW) for a short time.

The Erhöhte Notleistung system operated by spraying additional fuel into the fuel/air mix, cooling it and allowing higher boost pressures to be run, but at the cost of much higher fuel consumption. From the A-8 on Fw 190s could be fitted with a new paddle-bladed wooden propeller, easily identified by its wide blades with curved tips. A new bubble canopy design, with greatly improved vision sideways and forward had been developed for the F-2 ground attack model, but was often seen fitted at random on A-8s, F-8s and G-8s. The new canopy included a larger piece of head armour which was supported by reinforced bracing and a large fairing.

A new internal fuel tank with a capacity of 115 L (30 US gal) was fitted behind the cockpit, which meant that the radio equipment had to be moved forward to just behind the pilot. Externally, a large round hatch was incorporated into the lower fuselage to enable the new tank to be installed and the pilot’s oxygen bottles were moved aft and positioned around this hatch. A fuel filler was added to the port side, below the rear canopy and a rectangular radio access hatch was added to starboard. Other changes included an ETC 501 under-fuselage rack which was mounted on a lengthened carrier and moved 200 mm (8 in) further forward to help restore the centre of gravity of the aircraft.

This fuselage would form the basis for all later variants of the Fw 190 and the Ta 152 series. The Morane “whip” aerial for Y-Verfahren was fitted as standard under the port wing, just aft of the wheel-well. Nearly a dozen Rüstsätze kits were made available for the A-8, including the famous A-8/R2 and A-8/R8 Sturmbockmodels.

The A-8/R2 replaced the outer wing 20 mm cannon with a 30 mm (1.18 in) MK 108 cannon, the A-8/R8 was similar but fitted with heavy armour including 30 mm (1.18 in) canopy and windscreen armour and 5 mm ( in) cockpit armour.

The A-8 was the most numerous of the Fw 190 A’s, with over 6,550 A-8 airframes produced from March 1944 to May 1945. A-8’s were produced by at least eight factories during its lifetime.

For the first few months of the FW 190’s combat career, the Allies, were entirely unaware of the new fighter. As allied fighter losses rose, it became obvious that this new German aircraft outperformed the Spitfire Mk V then in service. Fortunately in June 1942 a German pilot landed on a British airfield by mistake, which allowed the RAF to study the aircraft for any novel design elements. Finding that in terms of firepower, rate of roll and straight line speed at low altitude, the FW 190 was considerably better than the then top-of-the-line Spitfire Mk V, the hasty development of the upgraded / up-engined Spitfire Mk IX model began.

The FW190 was well liked by its pilots, and compared to the Bf 109, the FW 190 was a “workhorse” proving itself suitable for a variety of roles, including ground attack, long-range bomber escort, night-fighter and high-altitude interceptor. At least 28 FW 190s exist in museums, collections and in storage worldwide with 15 displayed in the United States.

Starting in 1997, a small German company, Flug Werk GmbH, began work on a new FW 190A-8. These are new builds from the ground up, using many original dies, plans and other information from the war. Werk numbers continued from where the German war machine left off with the new Fw190A-8 labelled FW 190A-8/N (N for Nachbau which translated to English means “reproduction, replica or clone”). Some of these new FW 190s are known to be fitted with the original tail and wheel units from the Second World War.