Focke-Wulf Fw 190

However, the weight increase was substantial, 635 kg (1,400 lb), leading to higher [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and a deterioration in handling.

As a result, following a collision with a ground vehicle in August 1940 that sent the V5 back to the factory for major repairs, it was rebuilt with a new wing which was less tapered in plan than the original design; it had a larger area,
18.30 m² (197 ft²), and now spanned 10.506 m (34 ft 5 in); the aircraft was now called the V5g for große Fläche (large wing).

This new wing platform was to be used for all major production versions of the Fw 190.

Even with the new engine and the cooling fan, the 801 suffered from very high rear row cylinder head temperatures, which in at least one case resulted in the detonation of the fuselage mounted MG 17 ammunition.

One other shortcoming of the cockpit location was a poor over-the-nose view which lead to handling problems on the
ground.

More than one ground crash resulted from the lack of familiarity with the new aircraft.

Fw 190 A-0 were the pre-production series ordered in November 1940.

A total of 28 of these were built; because they were built before the new wing design was fully tested and approved, the first nine of the Fw 190 A-0 had small wings. All were armed with two fuselage-mounted 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG
17 machine guns, two wing-root mounted 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 17s and two outboard wing-mounted 7.92 mm
(.312 in) MG 17s.

In detail, they were different from later A-series Fw 190s: they had shorter spinners, the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] cowling ring was a different shape, with a scalloped hinge on the upper, forward edge of the upper engine cowling, and the bulges covering the interior air-intakes on the engine cowlings were symmetrical "teardrops".

Also, the panels aft of the exhaust pipes had no cooling slots. Several of these aircraft were later modified for testing
engines and special equipment.

La MG ( Maschine Gewär ) 17

[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir cette image]

Engine problems plagued the 190 for much of its early development, and the entire project was threatened several times with a complete shutdown.

If not for the input of Oberleutnants Karl Borris and Otto Behrens, both of whom had enlisted in the Luftwaffe as mechanics, the Fw 190 program might very well have died before reaching the front lines.

Borris and Behrens could see past the limitations of the Fw 190 and the 801 and see a formidable fighter.

During several RLM commissions that wished to terminate the program, both men indicated that the Fw 190's
outstanding qualities outweighed its deficiencies.

The first unit to be equipped with the A-0 was Eprobungsstaffel 190, formed in March 1941 to help iron out any technical problems and approve the new fighter before it would be accepted for full operational service in mainstream Luftwaffe Jagdgeschwader.

At first this unit, commanded by Oblt. Behrens, was based at [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], but it was soon moved to [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

Some 50 modifications were required before the RLM approved the Fw 190 for deployment to Luftwaffe units.

Engine reliability problems, particularly overheating, continued to plague the Fw 190 until spring 1942, and the availability of the BMW 801 C-2 engine in the Fw 190 A-2.

In fact, the problem was relatively easy to solve by rerouting part of the exhaust system, a method discovered by III./JG 26's Technical Officer ("T.O.") Rolf Schrödeter.

To quickly implement the fix, it was found the rerouting could be done easily in Gruppe workshops.

Fw 190 A

Fw 190 A-1


This version first rolled off the assembly lines in June 1941. The first few models were shipped to the Erprobungsstaffel
(formerly from II./JG 26 Schlageter) for further testing.

Following this testing the Fw 190 A-1s entered service with II./JG 26 stationed outside of Paris, France.

The A-1 was equipped with the BMW 801 C-1 engine, rated at 1,560 PS (1,539 hp, 1,147 kW).

Armament consisted of two fuselage-mounted 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 17s, two wingroot-mounted 7.92 mm (.312 in)
MG 17s and two outboard wing-mounted 20 mm [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]. The new longer propeller spinner and the cowling bulges, which became asymmetrical "teardrops" in shape, remained the same for the rest of the A-series.

The panel immediately behind the exhaust outlets was unslotted, although some A-1s were retro-fitted with cooling slots.

A new hood jettisoning system, operated by an MG FF cartridge, was introduced.

The pilot's head armour changed in shape and was supported by two thin metal struts in a "V" shape attached to the canopy sides.

There were 102 Fw 190 A-1s built between June and late October 1941.

The A-1 models still suffered from the overheating that prototype Fw 190s had suffered from during testing.

After only 30–40 hours of use (sometimes less), many of these early engines had to be replaced.

Fw 190 A-2


The first of these appeared in October 1941 and were equipped with the improved BMW 801 C-2 which was still
rated at 1,560 PS (1,539 hp, 1,147 kW).

The new re-routed exhaust system devised by Oblt. Schrödeter of II./JG 26 finally resolved most of the overheating problems.

The addition of new ventilation slots on the side of the fuselage further aided cooling.

The A-2 wing weaponry was updated, with the two wingroot-mounted 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 17s being replaced by 20 mm [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] cannons.

With the introduction of the new cannons, the Revi C12/C gun sight was upgraded to the new C12/D model.

The introduction of the A-2 marked a shift in air supremacy from the British, with their Spitfire Mk. V, to the Germans.

German production records make no real distinction between A-2s and A-3s, which were very similar aircraft: the
total combined A-2 and A-3 production was 910 airframes built between October 1941 and August 1942 .^{[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]}

Fw 190 A-3


Production began in the spring of 1942. The A-3 model was equipped with the BMW 801 D-2 engine, which increased power to up to 1,700 PS (1,677 hp, 1,250 kW) at take-off by improving the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and raising the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

Because of these changes, the A-3 model required a higher-[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]—100 (C3) versus 87 (B4).

The A-3 retained the same weaponry as the A-2. The A-3 also introduced the Umrüst-Bausätze factory conversion sets.

The U3 was the first of the Jabo ([Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]), adding an ETC-501 centre-line bomb rack able to carry up to 500 kg (1,100 lb) of bombs or, with horizontal stabilising bars, one 300 L (80 US gal) drop tank.

All Fw 190s which carried the centre-line racks had their inner wheel-bay doors removed and replaced by fixed fairings which were, in effect, a cut-away door.

These fixed fairings incorporated a raised deflector to prevent hot exhaust gases from the lower exhausts spilling over onto the tyres.

When these fairings were used an additional small plate was fixed to the undercarriage leg doors.

The U3 retained the fuselage-mounted 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 17s and the wing-mounted 20 mm MG 151 cannons.

The U4 was a [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] version with two RB 12.5 cameras in the rear fuselage and a EK 16 gun camera or a [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] miniature camera in the leading edge of the port wingroot.

Armament was similar to the U3, however the ETC 501 was usually fitted with a 300 L (80 US gal) drop tank.

The U1 and U2 designations were given to single experimental Fw 190s: U1 W.Nr130270 was the first 190 to have the engine mount extended by 15 cm (6 in).

The U2 W.Nr 130386 was an aircraft which had RZ 65 73 mm (2.87 in) rocket launcher racks under the wings with three rockets per wing.

There were also a small number of U7 aircraft tested as high-altitude fighters armed with only two 20 mm MG 151 cannons, but with reduced overall weight. See A-2 for production numbers.

Fw 190 A-3a

In Autumn 1942, a political decision diverted 72 new aircraft off the production lines for delivery to Turkey in an effort to keep this country friendly with the Axis powers.

These were designated Fw 190 A-3a (a=ausländisch (foreign), designation for export models) and these were delivered between October 1942 and March 1943.

The Turkish aircraft had the same armament as the A-1: four 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 17 machine guns and two 20 mm
MG FF cannon.
There was no FuG 25 IFF device in the radio equipment.

Fw 190 A-4


Introduced in July 1942, the A-4 was equipped with the same engine and basic armament as the A-3.

Updated radio gear, the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], was installed replacing the earlier FuG VIIa.

A new vertical aerial mount was fitted to the top of the tailfin, a configuration which was kept through the rest of the production Fw 190s.

In some instances pilot-controllable engine cooling vents were fitted to the fuselage sides in place of the plain slots.

Some A-4s were outfitted with underwing WGr 21 rocket mortars and were designated Fw 190 A-4/R6.

However the A-4's main improvement was the number of Umrüst-Bausätze versions.

The U1 was outfitted with an ETC 501 rack under the fuselage all armament with the exception of the MG 151 cannons was removed.

The U3 was very similar to the U1 and later served as the Fw 190 F-1 assault fighter.

Some U3s used for night operations had a landing light, mounted in the leading edge of the left wingroot.

The U4 was a reconnaissance fighter, with two RB 12.4 cameras in the rear fuselage and a EK 16 or Robot II gun camera.
The U4 was equipped with fuselage-mounted 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 17s and 20 mm MG 151 cannons.

The U7 was a high-altitude fighter, easily identified by the compressor air-intakes on either side of the cowling. [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] himself flew a U7 in the spring of 1943.

The A-4/U8 was the Jabo-Rei (Jagdbomber Reichweite, long-rang fighter-bomber), adding a 300 L (80 US gal) drop tank under each wing, on VTr-Ju 87 racks with duralumin fairings produced by Weserflug, and a centre-line bomb rack.

The outer-wing-mounted 20 mm MG FF/M cannons and the cowling-mounted 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 17 were removed to save weight.

The A-4/U8 served as the model for the Fw 190 G-1. A new series of easier to install Rüstsatz field kits began to be produced in 1943.

The first of these, the A-4/R1 was fitted with a FuG 16ZY radio set with a Morane whip-aerial fitted under the port wing.

These aircraft were called Leitjäger or Fighter Formation Leaders that could be tracked and directed from the ground
via special R/T equipment called Y-Verfahren.

More frequent use of this equipment was made from the A-5 onwards.

A total of 976 A-4s were built between June 1942 and March 1943.

Fw 190 A-5


The A-5 was developed after it was determined that the Fw 190 could easily carry more ordnance.

The engine was moved forward by 15 cm (6 in), and the aircraft was equipped with the BMW 801 D-2 engine, rated at
1,700 PS (1,677 hp, 1,250 kW).

Some A-5s were tested with the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] installation: this was a mix of 50% [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and 50% water which could be injected into the engine to produce a short-term power boost to 2,000 PS (1,973 hp, 1,471 kW), but this system was not adopted for serial production.

New radio gear, including [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and an electric [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] found their way into the A-5.

The A-5 retained the same basic armament as the A-4.

The A-5 too, saw several Umrüst-Bausätze kits.

The U2 was designed as a night Jabo-Rei and featured anti-reflective fittings and exhaust flame dampeners.

A centre-line ETC 501 rack typically held a 250 kg (550 lb) bomb, and wing-mounted racks mounted 300 L drop tanks.

A EK16 gun camera, as well as landing lights, were fitted to the wing leading edge.

The U2 was armed with only two 20 mm MG 151 cannons.

The U3 was a Jabo fighter fitted with ETC 501s for drop-tanks and bombs; it too featured only two MG 151s for armament.

The U4 was a "recon" fighter with two RB 12.5 cameras and all armament of the base A-5 with the exception of the MG FF cannons.

The A-5/U8 was another Jabo-Rei outfitted with SC-250 centre-line mounted bombs, underwing 300-litre drop tanks
and only two MG 151s; it later became the Fw 190 G-2.

A special U12 was created to fight American and British bombers, outfitted with the standard 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 17 and 20 mm MG 151 but replacing the outer-wing 20 mm MG-FF cannons by two underwing gun pods containing two 20 mm MG 151/20 each, for a total of two machine guns and six cannons.

The A-5/U12 was the prototype installation of what was known as the R1 package from the A-6 onwards.

The A-5/R11 was a night-fighter conversion fitted with FuG 217 Neptun (Neptune) radar equipment with arrays of three antennae vertically mounted fore and aft of the cockpit and above and below the wings.

Flame dampening boxes were fitted over the exhaust exits.

There were 1,752 A-5s built from November 1942 to June 1943.

Fw 190 A-6


The Fw 190 A-6 was developed to fix the shortcomings found in previous "A" models when fighting U.S. heavy bombers.

Modifications of the type to date had caused the weight of the aircraft to creep up.

To combat this and to allow better weapons to be installed in the wings, a structurally redesigned and lighter wing was introduced with the A-6.

The normal armament was increased to two MG 17 fuselage machine guns and four 20 mm MG 151/20E wing-root and outer wing cannon with larger ammunition boxes.

New electrical sockets and reinforced weapon-mounts were fitted internally in the wings to allow the installation of either 20 mm or 30 mm (1.18 in) ammunition boxes and for under-wing armament.

Because the outer wing MG 151s were mounted lower than the MG/FFs new larger hatches, incorporating bulges and
cartridge discharge chutes, were incorporated into the wing lower surfaces.

It is believed the MG 17s were kept because their tracer rounds served as a targeting aid for the pilots.

A new FuG 16 ZE [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] system was fitted in conjunction with a FuG 10 ZY. A loop aerial for radio-navigation, mounted on a small "teardrop" base was fitted under the rear fuselage, offset slightly to port, with an additional short "whip" aerial aft of this.

These aerials were fitted on all later Fw 190 variants. In late 1943, the Erla[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] factory designed a new, much more simple rack/drop tank fitting, which was much more streamlined than the bulky ETC 501 and could be quickly fitted or removed prior to take-off.

Several A-6s, A-7s and A-8s of [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] were fitted with these racks (one aircraft so fitted was A-8 W.Nr.170346 Black 13 flown by [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] during the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] on 6 June 1944.)

The A-6 was outfitted in numerous ways with various sets, [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] (field modification kits):

more flexible than the factory upgrade kits for previous versions, these field upgrade kits allowed the A-6 to be refitted in the field as missions demanded.

At least 963 A-6s were built between July 1943 ending in April 1944 according to RLM acceptance reports and Focke-Wulf production books .

Fw 190 A-7


The Fw 190 A-7 was based on the Fw 190 A-5/U9 prototype, and entered production in November 1943.


The A-7 was equipped with the BMW 801 D-2 engine, again producing 1,700 PS (1,677 hp, 1,250 kW).

Designed to combat the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]'s heavy bombers the basic armament was upgraded to include two fuselage-mounted 13 mm (.51 in) MG 131s, replacing the MG 17s. Because the bulkier MG 131s had to be mounted further apart the upper gun cowling, just in front of the cockpit, was modified with faired bulges and a new upper engine cowling, with the gun blast troughs further apart, was manufactured.

This left insufficient room for the three cowling toggle-latches which were moved to the cowling side panels.

The rest of the armament fit stayed at two wingroot-mounted 20 mm MG 151s and two outer wing-mounted 20 mm MG 151s.

The Revi gun sight was updated to the new 16B model.

The additional weight of the new weapon systems required the updating of the wheels, adding a reinforced rim to better deal with typical combat airfield conditions.

The A-7 was usually outfitted with the centre-line mounted ETC 501 rack.

There were several major Rüstsätze for the A-7 many including Werfer-Granate WGr 21 rockets.

A total of 701 A-7s were produced from November 1943 to April 1944 according to RLM acceptance reports and Focke-Wulf production books. ^{[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]}

Fw 190 A-8


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 [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] 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 [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] 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) [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], 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.

Fw 190 A-9


The Fw 190 A-9 was the last A-model produced, and was first built in September 1944.

The A-9 was fitted with the new BMW 801S, called the 801 TS or 801 TH when shipped as a Kraftei, or "power-egg", engine (an aircraft engine installation format embraced by the Luftwaffe for a number of engine types on operational
aircraft, in part for easy field replacement) rated at 2,000 PS (1,973 hp, 1,471 kW); the more powerful 2,400 PS (2,367 hp, 1,765 kW) [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]F-1 was not available.

The armour on the front annular cowling, which also incorporated the oil tank, was upgraded from the 6 mm (.24 in) on earlier models to 10 mm (.39 in).

The 12-blade cooling fan was initially changed to a 14-blade fan, but it consumed more power to operate and did not really improve cooling; thus BMW reverted back to the 12-blade fan.

The cowling of the A-9 was also slightly longer than that of the previous Anton's due to the use of a larger, more efficient annular radiator for the oil system.

The bubble canopy design with the larger head armour was fitted as standard.

Three types of propeller were authorised for use on the A-9: the VDM 9-112176A wooden propeller, 3.5 m (11 ft 6 in) in diameter, was the preferred option however many A-9s were fitted with the standard VDM 9-12067A metal propeller and some had a VDM 9-12153A metal propeller with external, bolt on balance weights.

The A-9 was also designed originally as an assault aircraft, so the wing leading edges were to have been armoured;
however this did not make it past the design stage in order to save weight.

The A-9 was very similar to the A-8 in regards to the armament and Rüstsätze kits.

A total of 910 A-9s were built between April 1944 and May 1945, mostly in Focke Wulf's Cottbus factory.

In total about 13,291 Fw 190 As were produced in all variants.

However it is important to note that this number may include rebuilt or modified airframes from earlier aircraft.

The Luftwaffe frequently changed between models on the production line. It was not uncommon to see a A5 be
converted into an A7 or A8 aircraft.

This is especially true of battle damaged aircraft that were repaired and upgraded to the latest version the factory was currently manufacturing.

High-altitude developments


Even before the Fw 190 A was introduced into service it was obvious that the high-altitude performance of the aircraft left much to be desired.

The BMW 139 (and the 801 that followed) had originally been designed as a high-power replacement for engines like the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] that were used primarily on low-altitude cargo aircraft and bombers, so the designers had not invested much effort in producing high-performance [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] for it.

In contrast, the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] engines used on the Bf 109 featured an advanced fluid coupled, single stage, single speed supercharger that provided excellent boost across a wide range of altitudes.

As a result, the 190 could not compete with the 109 at altitudes above 20,000 ft (6,100 m), which is one of the reasons the 109 remained in production until the end of the war.

An attempt was made with the Fw 190 A-10, which was to have begun arriving in pilots' hands by March 1945 and was to be fitted with larger wings for better maneuverability at higher altitudes which, due to internal space, could have allowed additional 30 mm (1.18 in) MK 103 cannons to be fitted.

The A-10 was to be powered by the 801 F engine. However, due to the priority given to the Doras and the new Ta 152, the A-10 never made it past the prototype stage.

Tank started looking at ways to address this problem early in the program.

In 1941 he proposed a number of versions featuring new powerplants, and to best the performance of even the 109, he suggested using [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in place of superchargers.

Three such installations were outlined; the Fw 190 B with a turbocharged BMW 801, the Fw 190 C with a turbocharged [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], and the Fw 190 D with a supercharged [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

The aircraft would also include pressurized cockpit and other features making them more suitable for high-altitude work.

Prototypes for all three models were ordered.