Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Fw 190 A-8

The A-8 entered production in February 1944 and became the most numerous version of the radial-engined Fw 190. It could carry either the standard BMW 801 D-2 or the 801Q, also known as the 801TU, where the "T" stood for a Triebwerksanlage unitised powerplant installation: it was a standard 801D with thicker armour on the BMW-designed front annular cowling, upgraded from six to ten millimetres, which still incorporated the BMW-designed oil cooler.

The most significant novelty was extending to the fighter version the Erhöhte Notleistung emergency power system using C3 fuel injection, until then reserved for some Jabo variants with a smaller gain. The system raised power to 1,980 PS (1,460 kW) for ten minutes, and the manual allowed it to be used up to three times per mission provided there were ten minutes of cooldown at combat power between each use.

It was on the A-8 that the Rüstsatz kits defining the Fw 190's role as a bomber destroyer were fitted. The A-8/R2 replaced the outer 20 mm wing cannon with 30 mm MK 108 cannon; the A-8/R4 added GM 1 nitrous oxide boost, which gave extra power for short periods — up to ten minutes at a time, with a twenty-minute supply usually carried; and the A-8/R8 repeated the R2 scheme but with heavy armour, thirty millimetres on canopy and windscreen and five millimetres in the cockpit. Together with the A-6 and A-7, the A-8 was the aircraft modified for Sturmbock operations, the assault formations that attacked American heavy-bomber boxes head-on and from above, opening fire with the 13 mm machine guns and 20 mm cannon to knock out the rear gunner before closing to little more than a hundred metres to use the MK 108.