In the summer of 1941, the the Second World War had settled into a new phase. Germany was fully engaged in the Eastern front. Rommel was commanding the Afrika Corps in the sands of Tunisia, and approaching Egypt. On the home front, The Spitfire Mk V, superior to the Messerschmitt BF 109E had become the mainstay of the British fighter force, and roving patrols by the RAF were underway over the French coast.
Then the Focke-Wulf FW190 Würger (Shrike) turned the air war upside down, to the dismay of Allied pilots.
Designed by the legendary Kurt Tank. The FW190, was born out of the recognition of German High Command, that a replacement for the ME109 might well be needed due to advances made by other countries in aircraft performance.
A number of designs were proposed, including several by Focke-Wulfe. The FW190 design utilising a 14 cylinder radial engine had many advantages. The inline liquid cooled DB605 powerplant was in short supply due to it's use in several frontline aircraft. Radial engines were however not popular, as it was perceived that the large frontal area would have a detrimental effect on drag. Cooling of these engines generally required exposing the cylinder heads to the air outside of the fuselage. The initial prototypes had a large cowl with a central opening to allow air to enter and cool the engine in order to address these issues. In testing it was found that the oversized fairing produced little benefit and was discarded. Instead a 10 bladed fan was installed geared to run at just over 3 times the engine RPM.
Designed from the outset to be a combat aircraft, it was a deliberately rugged construction. The wide undercarriage allowed for excellent ground handling, operating from poor landing strips, unlike the ME109. The airframe as also capable of absorbing a considerable amount of battle damage and still return to base. During testing the original engine was replaced by the BMW801, this longer, heavier unit required some further redesign work but resulted in a significant performance gain. Along with the BMW powerplant came the Kommandogerät, This simple electro-mechanical computer managed the engine, controlling the pitch of the constant speed propeller and other engine functions, reducing the workload of the pilot.
As the FW 190 moved through testing, the cooling fan was changed to a 12 bladed version although the 3.12/1 ratio of fan to engine speed was not changed. The redesign allowed for installation of nose mounted MG131 machine guns. Engine heat problems however on one occasion caused the ammunition for these guns to explode!
When the FW 190-A1 entered service it was a rude awakening for Allied pilots. Accustomed to the superiority of the Spitfire MK V, the FW 190 was superior in all aspects other than turn rate over the Spitfire at low and medium altitudes. At high altitude parity as maintained against the RAF's frontline fighter.
The Focke-Wulf FW 190 maintained it's advantage until the summer of 1942 when the Spitfire MK IX entered service, directly to counter the FW 190. The Focke-Wulf had a long and distinguished service history. Latter variants of the A series included the FW 190-A8 R8 Rammjaeger, this was fitted with additional armour around the cockpit and wing roots. When all the ammunition had been expended the pilot would deliberately "Ram" an allied bomber to bring it down. This was however a Kamakaze style attack, the pilot was expected to bail out before the collision.
The long-nosed D series exchanged the radial engine for a liquid cooled power unit in order to boost high altitude performance. This design was a stop-gap prior to the introduction of the TA-152 high altitude interceptor. It utilised a stretched version of the FW 190-A8 airframe.
The Aircraft pictured is a FW 190-A8 exhibited at Cosford Air Museum, in Shropshire. It was surrendered in May 1945, as part of a Mistel (Mistletoe) combination where it was joined with a Junkers JU 88 packed with explosives. One of a series of last-ditch ideas this combination took off controlled by the fighter attached to the top. It then flew to the target where the pilot aimed the combination and separated the fighter from the bomber which plunged to it's doom. The aircraft spent a considerable amount of time hung from the ceiling at the Imperial War Museum (South Lambeth) following periods at Biggin Hill and Cranwell.
It is a testament to the design that it remained in service after the end of the war with a number of airforces around the world.