Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Fw 190 A-3

The A-3 introduced the BMW 801 D-2 engine, which raised take-off power to 1,700 PS (1,300 kW) and would become the standard powerplant of almost the whole radial-engined family. It retained the armament of the A-2, with two MG 17 in the fuselage, two MG 151/20E in the wing roots and two MG FF/M in the outer wing.

It was on this version that the factory conversion kits, the Umrüst-Bausatz, were first tried out, and they would multiply the fighter's roles. The A-3/U1 introduced the engine mount extended by fifteen centimetres that would later be standardised on the A-5; the A-3/U2 received 73 mm RZ 65 rocket launcher racks under the wings, with three rockets per wing; the A-3/U3 was the first Jagdbomber, with an ETC 501 centreline rack for up to 500 kg of bombs or a 300-litre drop tank; and the A-3/U4 served as the reconnaissance version, with two RB 12.5 cameras in the rear fuselage and a gun camera in the leading edge of the port wing root.

The A-3 was also the first exported version: in the autumn of 1942 seventy-two new aircraft were delivered to Turkey, designated A-3a, in an effort to keep that country friendly to the Axis; deliveries were staggered between October 1942 and March 1943. And it was an A-3 that revealed the type's secrets to the British: in June 1942 Oberleutnant Armin Faber of JG 2 landed his aircraft by mistake at a British airfield, allowing the RAF to evaluate it and to test the new Spitfire Mk IX against it.