FW-190

WOW!

 

I would be extremely interested in how the main spar was designed and built on this rendition because the original had a one piece aluminum forging that went from one landing gear position through the fuselage and out to the other landing gear. When the allied engineering people first looked at a captured 190 they could not believe what they saw. That was the largest forging in the world at that time and required a press that could exert 50,000 tons of pressure to forge it. We didn't have anything anywhere close to that in WW2. That airplane was a huge advance in technology in its day. It also had the first auto throttle/ nitrous/mixture control. And it could fly good.
Switches

 

Read a book many years ago written by an RAF test pilot who flew all Allied planes and after the war flew all the Axis planes as well for evaluation. He said as I recall that the round motor powered 190 was his favorite. I guess the later Jumo powered type was better at high altitude but not as nimble. I have always loved the design.


Reminds me of a wartime poster I heard of. A few of found their way to England and 8th AF crews showing a supposedly inferior German aircraft, the FW190 with the inscription "Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wulf? An entire squadron signed it and said "WE ARE" and sent it back.

 

I would have thought that an R-2800 might be too big for that cowling. But then, the BMW 801 was 2500 cid, so maybe not. Since the BMW was a 14-cylinder engine, I think that an R-2600 might have been a better match.

 

I would think with a R-2800 that thing would be a rocket. Wonder how much internal fuel it has.
Everytime I see a 190 I marvel at what a beautiful plane it is, then the second thing I think of is "look how wide those landing gear are".

 

That entire airplane is an expression of form following function, beautiful proportions, clean lines, and a simple lean concept. A far better airplane than the ME 109 but of a " next generation."

 

Gorgeous. The gear fold inward, just the opposite of the ME-109 where the stance is VERY narrow and they fold outward.

109's had many misfortunes on the ground because of that.

I (think) I read somewhere that the BMW radial had overheating problems, even with the cooling fan behind the prop. The cockpit was an oven, I read.

..and that because of that, there were a number of later FW-190's with the DB inverted V12 installed. True or not?

 

The engine did run hot and the original, FW190 V-1, had such a heat problem with the cockpit that it was moved aft by 3 or 4 feet. This gave them room for the armament in the nose. The cooling fan permitted sustained high climb angles for interception work. The inline engine was the Junkers Jumo in the FW-190 "Dora" for high altitude operations. Big supercharger and paddle bladed prop plus added span to the wing. Not a dog fighter but a dangerous adversary to the bombers.
1300+ pilots were killed in landing incidents in the ME109 alone. Sarasota airbase near my home saw a lot of guys killed in P-40 incidents during the war too. Narrow gear and low speed directional control coupled with heavy partying the night before. They fixed some of the P-40 problems but never could fix the partying thing.

 

Greg Boyington figured that one out. Put tobacco in his eyes to keep from falling asleep in the cockpit.

 

I guess the kids that were in training then didn't know about that. We saw them every night living to the fullest and saw some of them the next day wasting not only themselves but $50,000 of government equipment. We saw some spectacular crashes at the beaches, at the back country , at the airbase, and almost in our back yard. And not only in the P-40's but in the P-39's and P-51's. People don't realize the fatality rate in training during the war. There were two squadrons at Sarasota Airbase; the 98th and the 303rd. In one month one squadron lost so many airplanes that they had to shut down until they received more airplanes. In 1942 there were guys flying fighters that shouldn't have been driving cars but the need to get some fighter pilots in the air superseded the quality of cadets and the loss rate was horrendous. The survivors of the OTU there left for overseas assignments with maybe 300 hours. They were facing veterans of Germany and Japan who had been training and in action for 4 or 5 years and who had in some cases hundreds of victories. It is a wonder that we not only survived the conflict but won it.

 

They got experience fast but at a high cost. Pretty unforgiving machines for a 19 or 20 year old. We forget they were just kids. Compare that to Viet Nam where some of the pilots flew in 3 wars. People like Robin Olds.

 

You're correct, Brian. The kids came into OTU sometimes fresh out of an AT-6 with less than 200 hrs. They were given a couple of hours of cockpit schooling and turned lose in an airplane that gave no margin for error. We saw some awful take off incidents and one out-of-control landing crash- landing- ground loop- end-over- wing tip wreck that left only the cockpit intact. The wings, tail, and engine were scattered behind the guy who climbed out of what was left. We were told that he was killed a couple of days later in a landing crash somewhere else. Exciting times but tragically costly.

 

Bob,

How long did it take the "fresh meat" to train for an operational role once they'd finished the basic training portion of the program?

 

I'm not sure what the actual syllabus was or the total hours were but it wasn't much.But I know that in the early stages of the war they were going over seas with around 300 hours. Maybe more in some cases. It was primary in Stearmans or PT-19's, then Basic in BT-13's, and then Advanced in AT-6's for single engine and usually AT-9's, AT-10's and AT-7's for twin training. Near the end of the war advanced twin training was in B-25's and B-26's. We used to see them shooting landings ( sometimes IMPACTS) at Hondo in B-26 B's or C's from Del Rio.

 

Thanks for the anwser Bob but I actually meant Calender time. Are we talking 6 months? a Year? Less?
-David

 

I seem to remember that early in the war a pilot went from primary to a commission in about 9 months but I should check on that to verify it. I know that the bomber pilots took much longer due to the extensive training in navigation, formation work, bombing, and, of course, flying.

 

Primary, Basic, and Advanced training took 9 months (36 weeks) and about 200 hours flying time. Transition took another 80 to 100 hrs.

 

I have my great uncle's flight school graduation book called "The Gig Sheet" from Pampa Army Flying School. It's like a high school year book with photos of all the graduates, the installation, aircraft photos, etc. There are 200 graduates in the book. The first 11 photos are of already commissioned reserve officers from Infantry, Artillery, Cav, ect. ranging from 2LT to Captain. Below the names are rank for those previously commissioned, then hometown, Primary (location), Basic (location).

My great uncle graduated Primary-Sikeston, Basic-Enid. Our family has a photo of what I guess is a previous school prior to Pampa where the graduating class is in front of a single engined trainer.

The class my great uncle graduates with is 43C (Pampa) that began training on August 8, 1942 and finished March 20, 1943. The Pampa class book has only photos of AT-10 Wichita aircraft. I found on a website about WWII airfields in Texas that Pampa later got B25s and other medium bombers. The same website also noted that Pampa had one of the best safety records of the war.

 

Thank you for the info re your great uncle. The training duration varied some from school to school and between the type of training.
I got to thinking about things in 1942-43 and recalled an aviation "extravaganza" that took place near our home on Siesta Key and Sarasota to impress military dignitaries from South America . They gathered every flyable airplane in the state to perform an aerial parade up the coast and past Longboat Key where the viewing stands were located. For three hours there were airplanes of every make and size flying by in formation for a low pass in front of those to be impressed with American Air Power. P-39, P-40, P-47, B-17, B-24, B-25, B-26, and C-47 aircraft roared past for hours and it impressed me if it didn't impress our guests.A great show ! I heard later that quite a few of the fighters flew a wide race track pattern to pass by two or three times. An interesting side note occurred at sarasota Air base that had over-flow airplanes parked all along the runways. A P-39 landed wheels up with the belly tank still attached. It didn't hit any of the parked aircraft but the col. flying it had a very red face.

 

Sparky 51 where is this at I looked all over chino airport and did not see it I know a couple of volunteers at the Yanks Air museum and no one had any idea of what I was talking about