Focke-Wulfs now infamous designer, Kurt Tank, created the Focke-Wulf 190 fighter in fact as one of a number of designs he put forward in 1937. He had to work hard BO persuade the Luftwaffe that a radial engine would be as successful as the in-line engines being required in ever increasing numbers for other types of combat aircraft The BMW 139 engine fitted to the prototype Fw 190 suffered from serious overheating problems and these continued with the first production Fw 190A-0s. The problem became so serious that the Luftwaffe considered cancelling the whole Fw 190 programme, but as we now know these early difficulties were overcome. The Fw 190 was to go on to become the mainstay of the Luftwaffe fighter force. The first Luftwaffe unit to receive the Fw 190A-1 was JG.26 in June 1941 for operational use against the RAF along the English Channel. The RAF's first loss to an Fw 190 occurred over Dunkirk on 1 September after which it soon became clear that the German aircraft clearly had performance superior to that of the Supermarine Spitfire Mark V, the best RAF fighter of the time.
No comments:
Post a Comment