Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-3

The Fw 190 A-3 was the production sub-series that followed the A-2 on Focke-Wulf's fighter lines, and the one that finally settled on the BMW 801 D-2 radial engine. Earlier batches had flown with BMW 801 C engines, whose overheating was the aircraft's main problem during its first year in service. According to History of War, the A-3 adopted the 801 D-2 as standard, curing those overheating problems and bringing visible changes: cooling louvres behind the exhaust outlets and exhaust pipes redirected away from the engine. Wikipedia, citing Page, gives the 801 D-2 a take-off rating of 1,700 PS (about 1,250 kW); other sources publish different figures —Military Factory gives 1,677 hp and, in its variant list, 1,754 hp; History of War quotes 1,800 hp in its text and 1,700 hp in its data table— so the exact figure depends on the rating and the source.

Armament was unchanged from the A-2, which had already replaced the wing-root machine guns with MG 151/20 cannon. The A-3 carried two 7.92 mm MG 17 machine guns above the engine, two 20 mm MG 151/20 cannon in the wing roots with 200 to 250 rounds per gun, and two 20 mm MG FF cannon in the outer wing panels with 55 rounds, which were often removed to save weight. The tactical novelty lay elsewhere: the A-3 was the first version able to carry external stores under the fuselage on the ETC 501 rack, with a 500 kg or 250 kg bomb or a 300-litre drop tank. It marked the start of the Fw 190's conversion into a fighter-bomber.

History of War summarises its data as follows: span of 34 ft 5 in (about 10.5 m), length of 28 ft 10 in (about 8.8 m), empty weight of 2,899.8 kg, maximum take-off weight of 3,987 kg, top speed of 418 mph (about 673 km/h) at 21,000 ft (about 6.4 km), 12 minutes to climb to 26,240 ft, a service ceiling of 34,775 ft and a range of 497 miles (about 800 km).

The A-3 entered service in the spring of 1942. History of War places its arrival with II./JG 26 in March 1942, soon after Operation Cerberus, and the unit strength returns collected by WWII Aircraft Performance show A-3s with II./JG 2 from April 1942 and with II./JG 1 and III./JG 1 from June. JG 1 and IV./JG 5 also flew it in home defence. More than 500 were built during 1942, with production overlapping that of the A-2, at the Focke-Wulf, Fieseler, Arado and AGO plants; the almost identical A-4 then replaced it. The same source estimates that around 1,900 A-3s and A-4s together reached the Luftwaffe during 1942, a figure that does not split the two sub-series.

Many Umrüst-Bausätze were trialled on the A-3; they are not separate variants. The A-3/U1, W.Nr. 130270, was the first Fw 190 with the engine mount lengthened by 15 cm, a change later standardised on the A-5. The A-3/U2, W.Nr. 130386, tested RZ 65 rocket launchers under the wings, which were not adopted. The A-3/U3 was the first Jabo (Jagdbomber): it kept the MG 17s and MG 151s, lost the outer MG FFs and carried the ETC 501; History of War says probably a dozen test aircraft were built from May 1942. The A-3/U4 was a reconnaissance fighter with two RB 12.5 cameras in the rear fuselage. The U5 and U6 high-altitude versions remained proposals, and the U7, a lightened high-altitude fighter with only the two MG 151s, first flew on 16 August 1942 with little improvement in performance.

From the end of June 1942, A-3/U3s equipped 10.(Jabo)/JG 2 and 10.(Jabo)/JG 26, which attacked shipping and ports along the south-east coast of England at low level; these hit-and-run raids came in below radar cover and forced the RAF to tie down large numbers of fighters.

The A-3 is also the sub-series of the first Fw 190 to fall intact into British hands. On 23 June 1942 Oberleutnant Armin Faber, adjutant of III./JG 2 based at Morlaix, flew a sortie with 7. Staffel against an escort of Czechoslovak-manned Spitfires. Disoriented after the combat, he mistook the Bristol Channel for the English Channel, performed a victory roll and landed at RAF Pembrey in South Wales. His aircraft was W.Nr. 313. Dismantled and taken by road to Farnborough, it received the serial MP499 and testing began on 3 July 1942 at the Royal Aircraft Establishment. It then went to the Air Fighting Development Unit at Duxford, where it flew mock combats against the new Spitfire Mk IX, and to No. 1426 (Enemy Aircraft) Flight. It flew 29 times between 3 July 1942 and 29 January 1943, was later used for engine tests and was struck off charge on 18 September 1943 and scrapped. Those trials hastened the Spitfire Mk IX, and its engine installation influenced the Hawker Tempest II. The Shoreham Aircraft Museum preserves its armoured windscreen and part of its instrument panel.

The export batch for Turkey belongs to the A-3a sub-series, which has its own page.