O Caça mais letal da Luftwaffe alemã: Focke-Wulf Fw 190 "Würger" (Pássaro Açougueiro)
Video from the channel Forças Mundiais Militares e Seus Fatos about Focke-Wulf Fw 190, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 9:23. Language: Portuguese. Video type: Documentary.
What it's about
A piece narrated in Portuguese that traces the history of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, presented as the Luftwaffe's second great fighter alongside the Messerschmitt Bf 109, and its use on the various fronts until the end of the war.
Historical context
Its origin lies in the German Air Ministry's interest, in 1937, in complementing the Bf 109. Kurt Tank, of Focke-Wulf, championed an aerodynamic fighter with a radial engine, simpler to build and maintain than a liquid-cooled one, and which would not compete with Messerschmitt for Daimler-Benz DB 601 engines. The first flight took place on 1 June 1939, and it entered service in August 1941. In February 1942 it covered the withdrawal of several German warships and shot down the British torpedo bombers attacking them; in August of that year it acted against the Allied landing. It later received more cannons, rockets and bomb racks for ground attack, while Allied bombing and pilot attrition reduced its numbers.
Key facts
More than 20,000 units were built, a few hundred fewer than the Spitfire and several thousand more than the P-51 Mustang. It served as a fighter, fighter-bomber, interceptor, ground-attack aircraft and torpedo bomber. Its evolution forced the British to develop the Spitfire IX. Turkey received some during the war and kept them in service until 1949. The Allies obtained an intact example when a German pilot mistakenly landed at an English airfield.