5 Things You Never Knew About the Focke-Wulf 190 

From what I have read, Georg-Peter Eder was credited with 78 kills, 68 on the Western front. I also read that 36 of those kills were 4 engine bombers. He also flew the Me 262 and was credited with 12 kills in that aircraft. He was awarded the Knights Cross with Oakleaves. He survived the war and died in March 1986.

What struck me about the FW-190, is the video of a British Spitfire pilot that test flew the first captured FW-190 and his remarks about it: “where the spitfire purred, the Focke-wulf snarled”.

I still think this plane has one of the baddest nicknames in the war, the butcher bird. The name just suits it so damn well. Truly a great design and an iconic warbird

One rather interesting story from WW2. In an American 8th Air Force mess hall in England a poster had been put up showing a waist gunner aiming his machinegun towards the viewer with the caption "Whose afraid of the big bad Wulf?". In large letters beneath the poster someone wrote, "WE ARE!"

The landing gear of the BF-109 was intentionally designed that way to allow for easier field repair, as you could easily replace wings in the field, not to mention tow them behind trucks. Yes the narrow undercarriage took skill to land, but the design was brilliant if you look at what it's role was.

Kurt Tank was in fact anything but set on using a radial engine for the Fw-190. The one and only reason why the Fw-190 has a radial engine is that the DB 601 (and then the DB-605) engine used in the Bf-109 wasn't available in sufficient numbers. The only German engine powerful enough and available in large enough quantities suitable for a second mass produced fighter was the radial BMW-801 engine used in bombers. Kurt Tank simply had make do with what was available, and he came up with a pretty brilliant little fighter.

Fun Fact about Fokker Wulf - Australia ended up with a large Airforce during WW2 to fight the Japanese. Our Chief Aeronautical Engineer was Fred David. Guys that worked with him said he was a Genius that could both design or repair anything. Without him turning around repairs on our P40's and sending them back to Papua New Guinea, we probably would have lost it, extending the War a couple of years. Only Fred David was born Fredrich Davide, a German Jew who worked for Fokker Wulf before escaping to Australia in the 30's. So Fokker Wulf kind of set the Japanese back too... He actually designed a plane in Australia that looked a hell of a lot like the 190.

An interesting fact about both the 190 and 109 was that they had a hatch so that a member of ground crew could be carried when the squadron had to move locations. The downside of this was that if the aircraft got into any trouble, the pilot could bail out but his passenger could not.

WW2 German tec. fascinates me! it is amazing how smart and resourceful these people were.

In many ways the FW-190 was WWII's F-16. A multi-role tactical fighter.

The engine choice was in a big part a desire to not use the DB600 series engines as they were needed in other planes. Kurt Tank was originally an electrical engineer so he knew using electric controls where ever possible would save weight and make repairs easier. The radial engine also permited the whole power unit, engine, exhaust, supercharger and carburetor all one unit, called the power egg, that could quickly be replaced in the field. (that is why you see some pictures of FW190s with different color cowlings than the rest of the plane. Another innovation is they made an analog (without the digtal part) FADEC (full authority digital engine control) engine control system to make operating the engine much easier. Normally there is a air intake control, fuel mixture, turbo control, prop speed control and cowl flap control that all are managed separately and often at the same time. A FADEC system, just one lever.

Very good video, but something of great interest was missed. The engine control of the FW-190 was ahead of its time. Unlike most aircraft of the era, which had multiple levers for mixture, throttle, etc, the radial on the -190 had all of it tied together into one lever for the pilot to worry about. Took time for the ground crews to get it adjusted correctly after an engine change, but it certainly simplified things for the pilot in combat.

My favorite Luftwaffe aircraft due its beautiful design and perfect roll rate I love flying this plane in war thunder

One export customer for the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 was Turkey; a neutral nation during WWII. This meant that Fw 190s of the Turkish Air Force served alongside planes that would have otherwise been their wartime enemies; including Spitfires, Hurricanes, and P-40 Warhawks.

the FW-190 is the most beautiful plane ever!

I was lucky enough to see the recovered FW190 fly when I visited the museum in Everitt Washington a few years back. Not many of these left a d to see it fly was a real treat.

Specifically, the Curtis Seahawk, TJ but really any reconnaissance aircraft of WW II that saw a ton of action! These planes were absolutely the unsung heroes of the war and I feel none more so than their great service covering the vastness of the Pacific Ocean! Jim C.

The landing gear configuration of the Bf 109 was a requirement of the Reich Aviation Ministry during the tender to allow the aircraft to be transported by road. The decision to use a radial engine in the FW 190 came from Ernst Udet. Since the production capacity for the DB601 was exhausted, an engine had to be used which still had sufficient production capacity. This was the BMW 139.

Kurt Tank was a truly brilliant designer.....................

The "Butcher Bird" was a hell of a plane, the D-9 especially.

Even in '43 I'm definitely sure Peter Eater regretted his name. Outstanding presentation. You deserve millions of subscribers. Earned mine

The Fw 190 actually came into combat use in august 1941, not in late 1942.

Kurt Tank, the designer of FW190 while in the employment of Mustachio Adolf, went after the war to design jet powered fighters for Macho Peron in Argentina.

When the british pilots first saw the Focke Wulf, they thought that its some kind of american plane captured by the germans when they defeated france. It was so powerfull against their Spitfires and they had no idea that germany had invented and build it.

It had enough space for a passenger. Photographers would occasionally ride inside the fuselage of a Fw 190 by climbing in through the radio access hatch and then take air-to-air photographs from it. The feature was also used to transport crew and civilians right after the Normandy invasion.

P47 Thunderbolt was equally rugged due to its air-cooled engine.

It was also designed to be able take on more weight as development progressed, something that the 109 was not the best at.

My Father was a teenaged apprentice at a metal treatment and grinding shop in Denmark during the war. The shop was forced to do the hardening and grinding work on camshafts for for V12 aircraft engines for the german Reich. They did several parts and then Germans who had their own inspection teams and even a heavy to make sure their orders were followed. My father found out, after a while that the Danes had put water into the oil bath that hardened the camshafts. The water would lay in the bottom of the oil bath and make the last bering journal on the cam shaft glass hard instead of tough hard. The Germans tested the hardness between the journals and lobes so as not to leave a hardness testing mark on a bering surface.After the war it was found out that this shop had accounted for many German fighter planes lost because of engine failure. The failure would happen when the engine was put under high stress. The engine would actually function quite well and run normally until it was heavily loaded then the final journal on the camshaft would fail. This sabotage was never discovered during the war.

Wonderful video! As an aviation enthusiast, I am always up for learning about planes and building my knowledge on WWII aircraft. Can you please cover the Fairchild PT-19 next? I'd enjoy seeing a video on the Ryan PT-22 and also the Stearman biplanes.

I think it's actually strange that the 190 is never, not even in this video, mentioned as being by far the best fighter in the world from august 1941 to june 1942. No other fighter during the war was that much better than any other fighters than the 190 was during that period. People though do seem to remember always how the P-51B was by far the best fighter from august 1943 to june 1944. When compare the 190 and the P-51, they were two completely different planes. The 190 was an excellent front line fighter, that excelled in harsh conditions while the P-51 excelled in that escort role when it operated from those well equipped big airfields.

I have a vid presentation suggestion, if you haven't made it already, the P-40 N. Not any P-40, but the P-40 N model. ...They made a mock up P-40C, with twin engines in 1942 that was overlooked, then history forgot. Worth a look at. Imagine that with modern turbo props and counter rotating paddle props.

another fun fact about the 109. The 20mm cannon actually sat waaay back in the cabin between the pilot's legs. I can't imagine the sound inside the cabin when that thing fired.

FW 190, "the butcher bits" looks like a muscle, bad ass warbird, great vid TJ, Thanks from Lima-Perú!!!

It makes you wonder how good this aircraft could have been had the luftwaffe had access to 150 octane fuel. That together with water-methanol injection would have been formidable. Particularly on the Dora with the Jumo 213.

Gotta be the last aircraft allied bomber crews wanted to see in early 1944. Great Video as usual from TJ!

I read an article in an aviation magazine some years ago. After the war, several Fw 190's were shipped to the U.S. The navy got their hands on several and had gun cameras installed. They were flown in simulated combat mauvers against the F6 Hellcat, the Corsair F4 and the F8 Bearcat. In the hands of equally experienced pilots, it came out even. Against the F8, the Fw 190 got smoked every time.

I remember seeing the FW 190 in the Royal Airforce Museum. They were the David vs the Goliaths of the Allies.

Excellent presentation, including historical data, engineering, combat approaches and details on flying aces. Visually, too, this work is excellent. The voice over, as well, is neutral, but clear, and with the just right intonation, when required. Brilliant.

the Fw190D is one of my favorite aircraft to fly online, the Siebel Si 204D is another aircraft that few have ever even heard of and deserves to be talked about

I was lucky years ago to be able to sit in the cockpit of a Spitfire.. a Bf 109 and a Focke-Wulf 190A4 (located in a private museum in Hannover-Laatzen Germany) Compared to the cockpit of the 109 and Spit that of FW is very modern for its time and offers little difference with those of the jets of the 50s and the layout is very comfortable for the pilot compared to the other two

I heard a former B-17 pilot, who had flown out of Britain, during the war, say, in the chow hall of his squadron, someone had written near the exit, “Who’s Afraid of the Bad Focke Wulf?”, in parody to a popular song at the time. He said every pilot in the group scribble their name below it!

Great video, I learned a lot. I’m subscribed! Another plane to cover would be the Lancaster X, built in Canada. I’ve read that the original English designer of the Lancaster, after examining the X, said “Now this, gentlemen, is how an airplane should be built!”. On the FW-190, I recall reading a Liberty magazine article on it, describing details. The text advised gunners, “Don’t go after the pilot, he’s too heavily protected. Shoot for the engine instead, that will bring it down.”

Excellent video. Great script, exciting images, realistic action. Entertaining and informative at the same time. Best use of RU-vid.

It’s always interesting to look at how seemingly huge the 190a’s looked to the 190d’s(at least to me they do in dcs and war thunder representations). Like if you look at the a-8 vs the d-9. Yet they served the same purpose really.

It's sad that the Museum in Washing state is having issues, seems they fell off the map since It's owner and founder passed. They were in the process of restoring the only flying Stuka, had all the major Airframe done, and were starting final assembly .

Why is this man so damn underrated, you deserve MILLIONS of subscribers for all the effort that you put into these ❤!!

I've always loved the lines of this plane!

Thanks. I always loved the FW 190

Thank you for your research...Note-worthy! Great information...

Otto Kittel was the best Fw 190 ace with 267 kills. Followed by Walter Novotny with 258. The Fw 190 was superior to all aircraft in WW2 barring the Spitfire. Later, Tank did some amazing work with Indian Airforce by designing the Ajeet fighter in the 60s. Germany has always been a friend of India.

By far, one of the best videos on my favorite fighter of WW2!!!! However, another heavy super fighter I’ve recently become obsessed with!! Would have to be the heavy fighter, known as the JU 88 C-6 model!!!! Also known as a ‘Tank Killer/Tank Buster’!!!

Good stuff. Clever and wise thinking from Sir Tank.

Could of mentioned Armin Faber mistakingly landing at Pembrey, South Wales, UK. His 190 was used as a comparison against the Spit 9 that was in production at the time. Armin's photo is displayed at Swansea airport,where he was apparently taken after capture?

Excellent presentation, thank you. A video describing 'through the propeller hub' cannon firing would be most appreciated.

Thanks for this documentary on the FW 190, "Butcher Bird" cool narration. Wish this chanel the best! It left me a tear at the end.

Wow, nice overview. Not too long, not too short as well. Subscribed!

Superb video, good sir. You've earned a subscription from me. I very much enjoyed this vid! I always loved WWII aircraft with a passion, from all nations.

Great video! Thank you for creating it.

Great video. Maybe feature big flying boats one day? - Sunderland, PBY, Japan's H8K & the ever graceful Dornier Do 24? Given their all-nations air-sea rescue work & very long anti-sub patrols, their coffee pots must have heard some stories : )

One thing I definitely do know about the Fw-190 thanks to various flight simulators is that you can barely see out the front of it.

Good vid. Thought you might have mentioned the PKS12 Autopilot that was fitted to the Fw190, though.

Great Clip. But u did forget to mention, that the 190 was in opposite to the most fighter planes of the time except the p-47, a „boom and zoom“ fighter plane, which it was perfectly build for and made it even more deadly and one or even the best fighter plane of ww2. Because of this it was not as liked as the bf 109 by the German pilot, who didn’t got used the the different approach to the enemies. But when used probably it was with the use of the boom and zoom speed advantage better then the most fighters in turning and speed in air combat, even against all other allied fighter planes. (Source: A German fighter pilot I knew who served in ww2 till the end and even was assigned to fly the me 262 in 1945).

Kurt Tank's designs rule!

Another little known fact about the FW 190 is that there was one unit that used a few factory modified aircraft into what was called a "Rammjager" (ram fighter)!. They had extra armour plating around the engine and wing leading edges to try to increase the aircraft's and pilots survivability. They also had a much reduced armament to account for the added armour plating. After a few intercepts, the 190's still suffered catastrophic damage, so the idea was shelved permanently.

these are such low hanging fruit things. More interesting is the fact teh "power egg", everything from the firewall forward, was a field replaceable unit. Rather than service the engine in place, they just took teh whole thing off and put a brand new engine on while they refurbished teh engine elsewhere. Or the extremely innovative cowl radiator design that others tried and failed to copy.

It is correct what you stated on the excellent video but I like to mention that the Fw 190 A-0 series from A-0 up to A-8 final variant with excellent roll rates when not loaded (perhaps one of the best among 2nd WW fighter) had some other very good advantages, first of all it was very versatile, and could carry much heavier loads then the Me 109, more battle "resistant" both with the fuselage and the radial engine that could dispense with vulnerable cooling pipes and radiators. Another important point is that the ailerons always remained relatively light even at high speed whilst the Me 109 much hardened at high speed but pilots like Eric Hartmann managed to overcome this problem. But there was issues: the BMW 801 series despite being a good engine the performance decreased at high altitudes (usually 6,000 mt and above), which reduced its effectiveness as a high-altitude interceptor. Despite all experiments it was finally to put in production the Fw 190-D9 powered the excellent Junkers Jumo 213 that will also power the Focke-Wulf Ta 152 that will represent the pinnacle of the German propeller airplanes. Those are my favourite airplanes and you did a great job as always 👍 👍👍

"*In each case armament has been added as an after thought*" The spitfire MKl having elliptical wings so it would cover the 8 M1 browning MG's: 💀💀💀

Enjoyed that mate 👍. Thanks very much!

The landing gear of the Bf109 was folding outwards into the wing because it was fixed to the fuselage. The reason was to be able to detach the wings having the fuselage still standing on the landing gear. The choice of the radial engine for the FW190 was a design requirement. It was based on the availability of engines. The DB601, 603 or 605 was in short supply whereas enough BMW801 were available. The FW190 D got the Jumo 213 for high altitude use.

Got a weird one for you:- the Aussie Boomerang. Severely underestimated little thing it was😁

Very well made and presented video with good understandable English. Many thanks.

Germans…”We built a real cavalry horse” Republic and Grumman…”Hold our beer”

The P-51 Mustang, the P-47 Thunderbolt, the P-38 Lighting was more than a match for the German airplane.

I would like to see BF110 nightfighter. Loved your work on focke wulf 190

The gunpods were unpopular due to the fact they would jam after semi-heavy maneuvers.

Worth mentioning in context is the Lufwaffre gave the green light for the FW-190 to be produced because it required a radial engine. The Bf-109 used the inline-inverted V.

Nice work! ❤

You should do a video on George Beurling, also know as "The Falcon of Malta".

Thanks for making this stuff

Awesome Video. This is very important work for future generations.

Excellent video! Thanks!

just great flying with that man wish my computer could play thease games

excellent video and informatrion narrated . bravo

The Bell P-39 Airacobra! One of my favorite warbirds!

Awesome: Super video. Taking your content with a grain of salt, not wishing to argue petty historical issues. But your graphics / videos are awesome. Wow. Better than being there. Terrific & Thanks.

A video of the HE 219 and its combat history would be great.

Only the FW190A (Anton) had the air cooled engine, manufactured by BMW. Due to lack of compression at altitudes above 6000 meters, the performance of the Anton significantly decreased. Since the allied bombers where flying above that altitude at around autumn '42, the Anton got more and more outdated. Kurt Tank and the other engineers at Focke Wulf replaced the engine - in addition to upgrades/changes to the fuselage/frame of the FW190 - with a Junkers Jumo 213 engine. This engine - unlike the BMW engine - was an inline V12 engine with a cylindrical liquid cooled system. That version was named the FW190D9 or "Dora". It produced an incredible 1900hp at 5000m and was even further increased by the methanol-water injection in a 50:50 ratio (MW-50) to a whopping 2100hp. The Dora was known as the "Longnose", due to its - well, you can guess it - long nose, which gave it a unique shape compared to the Anton. The Dora was actually the peak of the FW190 engineering and led to its (in)famous reputation, being able to compete with the P51s, P47s and Spitfires. Side note: Kurt Tank (lead engineer of FW190) saw the Dora only as an interim solution until the successor of the FW190 could be produced. The Ta-152. One of the fastest propelled driven fighter planes of WW2. Kurt Tank flew the 152 above Germany in '45 with no armament due to a test flight (yes, he was also a pilot). A famous story tolled amongst German pilots says, that he saw 4 Mustangs on his six, which wanted to chase him down. He accelerated away from them, with around 760 km/h. In a propellor plane. To give you an idea how fast that was (and still is): The first fighter jet in serial production, the ME262 "Schwalbe", was only ~100km/h faster.

I have often wondered what it was like when the bullets being fired in these altercations eventually hit the ground.

Great video, I haven't played IL2 in years. Gotta get back into it :)

The 109 will always be my favorite... but man, the 190 is beautiful! 👍🏽🇺🇸

Excelent video. I loved it.

The FW-190 was actually a superior Fighter than the BF-109 as well . All round the better Airframe . As fast , but more agile , they could outmatch the Spitfire .

May I suggest you consider examining at the Dewoitine D.520, which was a French fighter aircraft that entered service in early 1940, shortly after the beginning of the Second World War. Edward Spears, in his book Assignment to Catastrophe covering his mission as Churchill's military liaison contact with French premier Paul Reynaud, describes how the plane, which mirrored the performance of the Spitfire, was kept from combat by the head of the French air force.

Great documentary👍👍👍!

A couple of errors though, the Fw-190 used an air cooled radial engine in order to not use the same engine being put in the bf-109. The added benefit of it's resistance to damage and greater power - to - weight ratio made it an easy choice to make. Also, the contemporary P-47 had already shown that larger radial engines were capable of producing sufficient HP to more than overcome the drag they induce.

The FW-190 had many variants, some with liquid-cooled engines I believe. The engines were selected based upon availability. When the FW-190 was developed, radial engines were more available.

If I am not misstaken I saw that FW 190 being restored, right across to the FlyingTigers Museum near Kissimmee Florida.Back when that Happend I was on a bussyness trip from Germany in Florida.

The Fw-190A was an excellent low-speed turn fighter (at low speeds it decisively out-turned the Spitfire, Pierre Clostermann calling the idea that the Spitfire out-turned either German fighters at lower speeds of 200 knots "A good joke"), and the 190 could also go fast, but then could only go straight... The Spitfire maneuvered well at high speeds, and could make fast, broad circles, but they had to be broader, faster circles than the Me-109 or the FW-190A, so it had to stall itself to point nose-up at the smaller German circles, which was inefficient... The Spitfire was best used as a hit and run vertical fighter, because of its tremendous climb rate, while the FW-190A was best used as a slow going turn fighter (which was actually better than using speed, as the target was "locked" in the turn for a long time [rolling out of a turn was instant death for all types] and this stability was good for the typical 1% hit rate), while the Me-109G could do both hit and run or slow turns... The Me-109 was less tough but also less prone to catch fire than the FW-190, because it carried less fuel. The P-51 was a bit like the Spitfire, but it could downthrottle to turn better at low speeds, which the Spitfire could not, because the Spitfire had no partial flap angle. Using 10-20 degrees of flaps in turns was the whole secret of using the P-51 successfully in battle. The Allies understood (informally at front line unit level) the need to turn fight (to compensate the gun hit rate weakness), and they did so much sooner than the Germans or the Japanese Navy, who remained stuck on hit and run too long. For more on these new findings, see my channel here for a few hints on why all this is so poorly understood: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-uYnCI3XURx0.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-kvhdg9upSt0.html

I actually read some declassified documents from ww2 about the Bf 109 they said that half of the Bf 109s ever produced were lost in takeoff and landing accident's and that the designers during ww2 actually had a design philosophy for the 109 but as time went on and the war was going bad for them the designers actually just began putting new stuff where it was convenient to access for them which led to the Bf 109 cockpit going from a wonderful well thought out cockpit to a mess which led the pilot to hunt around or get crammed in controls

Really good Video! Never knew these facts about 190! Suggestions for the next video, Ki - 84 or J2M or N1K1 or Ki 61 from japan Typhoon from brits g55 or re.2005 from italy