JG 54 Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Captured by Soviets

The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Würger ("shrike"), often called Butcher-bird, was a single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft of Germany's Luftwaffe, and one of the best fighters of its generation. Used extensively during the Second World War, over 20,000 were manufactured, including around 6,000 fighter-bomber models. Production ran from 1941 to the end of hostilities, during which time the aircraft was continually updated. Its final incarnations retained qualitative parity with Allied fighter planes, although Fw 190s lagged far behind in production numbers.The Fw 190 was well liked by its pilots, and widely regarded as superior to the front line Supermarine Spitfire Mk. V on its combat debut in 1941.Compared to the Bf 109, the Fw 190 was a "workhorse," employed in and proved suitable for a wide variety of roles, including ground attack, long-range bomber escort, night-fighter and (especially in the "D" version) high-altitude interceptor.For the first few months of the Fw 190's combat career, the Allies, being entirely unaware of the new fighter, attributed pilots' reports of a new "radial-engined fighter" to Curtiss P-36 Mohawks captured from the French. The new fighter outperformed the Spitfire Mk. V then in service with the RAF in all aspects except turning radius. As Allied fighter losses rose and local air superiority over the Channel front passed to the Luftwaffe, Allied plans were tentatively made to launch a Commando raid on a Luftwaffe airfield to snatch a Fw 190 for evaluation. However, the British acquired an intact Fw 190 A-3 in late June 1942, when Jagdgeschwader 2 pilot Oblt. Armin Faber landed on a British airfield by mistake.Taking advantage of this, the RAF was quick to study the aircraft for any novel design elements.In particular, the cooling system and installation of Fw 190's radial engine was a direct influence on Hawker Siddeley's Tempest II. The British confirmed that the Fw 190 could outperform, in most aspects, the then top-of-the-line Spitfire Mk V. In terms of firepower, rate of roll and straight line speed at low altitude, the Fw 190 was considerably better, a discovery which prompted the rush development of the Spitfire Mark IX with the new two-stage supercharged Merlin 61 engine.At least 28 Fw 190s exist in museums, collections and in storage worldwide, with 15 displayed in the United States. Two of these survivors are Fw 190 Ds located in the United States, including one at the Museum of Flight in Seattle (formerly of the Champlin Fighter Museum) and a second example at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB, OH. (on loan from the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) of the Smithsonian since 1975). The NASM also stores a rare Ta 152 H-0/R-11 at the Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration and Storage Facility in Suitland, Maryland. Other surviving Fw 190s include four in the United Kingdom (Imperial War Museum, RAF Museum with a rare two-seat S-8), three in Germany (Sinsheim Auto & Technik Museum) and two in Norway; individual examples exist in France, Serbia (Museum of Aviation in Belgrade) Macedonia (FYR), Russia, South Africa and Brazil. * Crew: One * Length: 9.00 m (29 ft 0 in) * Wingspan: 10.51 m (34 ft 5 in) * Height: 3.95 m (12 ft 12 in) * Wing area: 18,30 m² (196.99 ft²) * Empty weight: 3,200 kg (7,060 lb) * Loaded weight: 4,417 kg (9,735 lb) * Max takeoff weight: 4,900 kg (10,800 lb) * Powerplant: 1× BMW 801D-2 radial engine,1,272 kW(1,730 hp)1,471 kW (2,000 hp)with boost # Maximum speed: 656 km/h at 4,800 m, 685 km/h with boost, up to 750 km/h # Range: 800 km (500 miles) # Service ceiling: 11,410 m (37,430 ft) # Rate of climb: 13 m/s (2560 feet/min) # Wing loading: 241 kg/m² (49.4 lb/ft²) # Power/mass: 0.29 - 0.33 kW/kg (0.18 - 0.21 hp/lb)

Channel: Science & Technology
Uploaded: November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am
Author: zeoul001

Length: 09:59
Rating: 5.00
Views: 22532

Tags: aircraft  airplane  aviation  bomber  fighter  german  historical  iraq  luftwaffe  mechanics  russia  sky  soviet  space  war  world  

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