The Butcher Bird - History of the Focke-Wulf FW 190 Fighter [ WWII DOCUMENTARY ]

This plane was one of the highest performing  World War II fighter aircraft and when it appeared in the Western Front in 1941  it outperformed every allied fighter for at least a year! This was the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 or the "Butcher Bird" as they called it! So let's see the history and development of  these planes and how they performed in the war! In the mid 1930s the German Luftwaffe  has started a modernization program as similarly to many other countries around  the globe they still used bipl

anes for many roles. So the Reich Air Ministry - RLM in short - set out specifications for new fighter planes. In the first competition  Messerschmitt entered with the BF 109, Arado with the AR 80, Heinkel with the  HE112 and Focke-Wulf entered their FW 159 aircraft. In this competition the Arado and Focke-Wulf  designs were quickly dropped out and the BF 109 was the final winner ahead of the Heinkel HE112. If you want to know more about the history of the BF 109 I have already made a video on

that so  I recommend you watch it! See the link in the description or at the end of this video! Though the  competition was won by the BF 109 this was not the end of the modernization of the German air force  as even though the HE112 came in second it didn't spark interest in the ministry or the Luftwaffe so it didn't go into large scale production. The Germans however wanted another fighter plane to be  available alongside the BF 109 so a new tender was announced in 1937. This time Focke-Wulf

entered  a more modern design and that was the plane that became the FW 190. As the 190 design used a  radial engine it didn't compete for the inline engines with the BF 109 on the other hand radial  engines were not widely used in fighters in Europe at that time as the general thinking was the large  engines will cause a lot of drag. The problem with the air cooled radial engines were that in the past most of  the engine had to be left exposed so the airflow can cool it but this caused a huge

amount of drag  or if the engine was covered with more aerodynamic cowlings they were prone to overheat. But the team  at Focke-Wulf with the lead of Kurt Tank worked around this problem. Tank had already seen how in the US  they use big radial engines for fighter planes and worked out solutions against the overheating  of the engine. Initially the design used the BMW 139 radial engine and the large engine in the  relatively small aircraft caused the cockpit to heat up to as high as 55° C. To pr

event overheating  but still cover the engine in a streamlined body a large cooling fan was used behind the propeller.  The first prototype used a huge spinner and very tight cowlings to cool the engine but this didn't  bring the results the design team hoped for so it was soon changed to a more conventional design. The  original BMW 139 engine however was not used for long as if even before the first flight of the  V1 prototype BMW was testing their new engine the 801. This engine was much more

powerful than  the 139 and similar in diameter but it was much heavier and longer so it required the airframe  to be redesigned. The Air Ministry convinced Focke-Wulf to switch to the new engine and because of this  several earlier prototypes were abandoned and the V5 became the first one featuring the new bigger  engine. The modified airframe had to be longer to accommodate the bigger engine resulting in  the cockpit moved more back which on top of balancing out the bigger engine solved the co

ckpit  overheating problem and also provided space to install armament in the nose. The new engine's  oil coolers were also moved to the front of the nose around the cooling fan and were placed in an  armored ring. The FW 190 design used several modern features of the time it had a very wide track  landing gear which was praised by the pilots as it was much sturdier and stable than the narrow track  landing gear gear of the BF 109s. Also contrary to most aircrafts of the time the 190 didn't use 

cables for the controls which tend to stretch over time, it used push rots and bearings which made  the feel of the controls more consistent. The plane also featured electric motors for the landing  gears instead of hydraulics and on the engine used a complex automated control system the so-called  Kommandogerat or command device which automatically set the mixture, propeller pitch, boost and timing  essentially allowing the pilot to just move the throttle lever and leave the rest to the contro

l  device. As advanced as it was of course this type of automatic control was not perfect and sometimes  surprised the pilots. The test flights of the V5 prototype with the new engine went fairly smoothly  and the aircraft proved to be very fast and maneuverable. In August 1940 the prototype collided  with a vehicle on the ground and while in the factory for repairs it received new wings as well  with larger surface area. Though these bigger wings reduced the top speed by about 10 km/h they gave

the aircraft more manoeuvrability and a better climb rate. By November 1940 an order  was placed for 30 pre-production aircraft these featured six 7.92 mm machine guns and they entered  service in March 1941 to be tested on the field. Their continuous engine problems though led to  an investigation to the program and the RLM only approved their full deployment after some 50  modifications. The FW 190 had more than 30 different variants for different specifications so we will  not look at each o

f them in detail just the main versions. In general the A version was the most  produced and used in greatest numbers the variants ranging from A1 to A9. These models during their  service were continuously developed receiving stronger engines and their armament was upgraded  as well going from the initial 7.92 mm machine guns to 13 mm ones then 20 and 30 mm cannons. Some models even  carried grenade launchers and bombs. The 190 was a very fast and maneuverable fighter at low and  medium altitud

es but its performance dropped significantly above 20,000 ft. This was not a big  concern in the early service life of the aircraft but later in the war as the air battles were fought  at higher altitudes high altitude improvements were needed for the FW 190 there were several  options considered by Focke-Wulf and the RLM: the FW 190B version featuring turbocharger on the BMW  801 engine, the FW 190C version using a turbocharged Daimler DB 603 engine and the FW 190D version with  a turbocharged

Jumo 213 engines. Since the B models would use the same engine as the A version the  airframe didn't need any big modifications but it received a pressurized cockpit with heated  canopy. Several A model aircraft were modified to test the viability of this version but soon the  attention turned towards the C variant instead. These variants featuring The Daimler DB 603 engine  needed more modifications. One of them was the lengthening of the tail as the engine shifted  the center of gravity forwar

d. They featured a turbo charger below the aircraft together with the  airing intake. As the 190 was not a huge aircraft the supercharger and its piping couldn't fit  in the fuselage. In the end these variants were found unreliable and the added weight negated the  performance upgrades. The D models featuring the Jumo 213 engines were even more extensively modified.  To maintain the balance of the aircraft both the nose and the tail were made longer but to try to  keep the modifications to the m

inimum the D models used a ring radiator in front of the engine making  the aircraft look like it still used the radial engine. Though this fighter kept the  original wingspan with the added weight it was overall less maneuverable but was  faster and became a very effective medium multitude interceptor though above 20,000 ft the  performance still fell short to the allied fighters. The final high altitude  version developed from the FW 190 was the TA 152 but we will take a  look at those planes

in a later video. The F variants were developed to be  used in the ground attack role these featured additional armor at the bottom of the  fuselage, around the cockpit, the fuel tanks and the armament. They were equipped with bomb racks under the fuselage and later under the wings as well. The G version was built as a long range  variant these featured additional oil tanks for the engine and could carry external fuel  tanks under the wings. The armament was reduced to save weight and make space

for the oil tanks.  These variants were very versatile as they could carry either fuel tanks or bombs or gun pods  under the wings or basically any variations of those. Some did feature the additional  armor introduced on the F versions some didn't. The Focke-Wulf 190 was not a big plane with a  length of 9meters and a wingspan of 10.5 meters It used the BMW 801D engine producing  1,700 horsepower. With this engine the fighter's maximum speed was 652 km/h  and it had a maximum range of around 1

,000 km. The service ceiling was 10,300meters. The plane's armament consisted  of 2 X 13 mm machine guns and 4 X 20 mm cannons. Additionally it  could carry a bomb under the fuselage. The Focke-Wulf 190 first appeared  in August 1941 and at that time proved to be the best fighter on the  Western Front. At medium and low altitudes it outperformed all allied fighter planes. The Spitfire Mark Vs had better turning radius but in every  other aspect they were inferior to the 190 The allies actually w

ere totally unaware  of the new German fighter and when the first reports arrived about the new radial engine  fighter they put it down as P-36 fighters which the Germans captured from the French  Air Force. Later it became clear the Germans deployed a new and powerful fighter plane and  slowly allied aircraft losses started to raise as no allied fighter plane could catch the FW 190  at low altitudes. The Focke-Wulf 190 gave the Germans air superiority over Western Europe for about  a year. The

allies became so desperate to study the new aircraft they planned a raid on a German  airfield to steal one. They were hard pressed to come up with something against the 190 as the  Germans also started using the fighter bomber versions over Southern England and these attacks  were very hard to counter. Unlike the normal German bombing grates which were picked up by the radar  and the ground observers these low altitude high speed attacks came with no warnings. The British  pressed the Hawker Ty

phoon into service in late 1941 as at that time that was the only aircraft  fast enough at low altitudes to catch the new German plane. If you want to know more about the  Hawker Typhoon and its history I have a video on that plane too! See the link in the description  or at the end of this video! In June 1942 luck played in the alies hand they managed to capture  an intact 190 when its pilot mistook the Bristol Channel for the English Channel and landed at a  British Airfield by mistake. After

studying the aircraft they pressed the Spitfire Mark IX into  service which after summer 1942 again leveled the playfield. Later the Focke-Wulf 190s were  heavily used during the Normandy campaign after the allied landings both in ground  attack role and against allied aircraft. Though against the overwhelming allied  air superiority they suffered very heavy losses. As the allied bombing raids became  more frequent over Germany the 190s were modified for anti- bomber operations as  their heavy a

rmor and capability to carry heavy armament seemed perfect for the role. Many  of them had their 20 mm cannons swapped for the MK 108 30 mm ones and some variant  carried rockets as well. But all these modifications made the aircraft even heavier  and less maneuverable and they actually needed lighter escort fighters themselves usually BF 109s  to keep keep the allied fighter escort away from them. Though these formations not  always worked as intended when they did the heavily armed 190s caused

heavy losses on  the bombers this resulted in the increase in allied operations against German airfields  to take out as many aircrafts on the ground as possible. The Focke-Wulf 190 appeared on the Eastern  Front later in late 1942 on this front as most of the fighting was conducted at medium  and low altitude the 190s were very effective. Many of their pilots collecting above 50 kills some  of them well over 100. They were also more suited to the muddy airfields on the Eastern Front than  the

BF 109 with its narrow track landing gear. And they could take more damage and still return  from combat. Due to the low altitude nature of the fighting on the Eastern Front the aircraft were  constantly exposed to the anti-aircraft fire so the armor plating on the 190s and the more robust  air cooled engine was very much appreciated by the pilots. Thanks to their performance they could  usually gain control of the air against Soviet planes but as the Wehrmacht was pushed  back by the Red Army o

n the ground and the Stuka dive bombers became increasingly  less effective the 190s were pushed into ground attack role more and more often. Over  time as the red Air Force was built back and more advanced Soviet aircrafts appeared their  advantage started to melt away they were still effective but their numbers started to diminish  and the lack of fuel caused problems as well. The Focke-Wulf 190s saw combat in North Africa as well  although they arrived quite late at the theater flying their f

irst combat mission in November  1942. As in other theaters the 190 again proved itself as a capable fighter and effective against  ground targets as well, attacking allied airfields, harbors and other ground installations. They  couldn't prevent the allied victory in North Africa though and after the German withdrawal  they flew missions from Sicily and Italy. Hope you guys enjoyed this video! please  leave a like subscribe to my channel and in the comments let me know if there's any  interesti

ng events or vehicles you'd like to see!