FOCKE WULF FW 190

Video from the channel nechronomicon1 about Focke-Wulf Fw 190, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 48:26. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

The documentary traces the history of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 through an example held at the Champlin Fighter Museum, near Phoenix, Arizona. It presents the aircraft as one of the great fighters of the Second World War, born as a backup insurance against the Messerschmitt Bf 109, and centres the story on its designer, Kurt Tank. Before the 190, Tank had already designed the Fw 200 Condor and the Fw 189 for Focke-Wulf.

In the late 1930s, Daimler-Benz inline engines were committed to Messerschmitt. For that reason the Fw 190 was accepted as a secondary fighter, powered by a BMW radial engine with less demand on it. The V1 prototype flew on 1 June 1939 from Bremen. It showed good manoeuvrability, but its aerodynamic cowling cooled the engine poorly and transmitted a lot of heat to the cockpit. The more powerful and heavier BMW 801 engine forced the pilot's position to be moved back, and production aircraft returned to a conventional cowling. In 1941, Adolf Galland's JG 26 brought it into service. The documentary then follows its use on the Eastern Front and in the defence of the Reich against American B-17 bombers.

The Fw 190 was designed from the outset for dispersed manufacturing: it ended up coming from 24 production sites and subcontracted workshops that were hard to bomb. More than 20,000 units were built. With a full tank it weighed almost 10,000 lb, compared with about 8,000 lb for the Bf 109. Notable features included its electric controls, one-piece wing, good cockpit visibility and wide landing gear. The D series swapped the radial for the Jumo 213 inline engine for high-altitude combat, and the Ta 152 carried Tank's initial in its designation. The F series adapted it for ground attack. Besides interviews with Luftwaffe pilots and accounts from the postwar American evaluation, the documentary shows an example at the Texas Air Museum and a 3/4-scale replica built by David Jones.