My grandpa flew in B-17s during the war up until the moment he got shot down, and the Fw 190 was the aircraft he respected the most(obviously he loved the B-17 more though). I have a video on ym channel where somebody interviewed him about some of his experiences. Towards the end he mentions this one mission where they had to fly around Berlin to attract as many fighters as they could sot he P-51s could shoot them down(war of attrition type stuff). His flight consisted of 12 B-17s, all of a sudden 40 Fw 190s appeared, they broke off into 2 groups of 20, and for about 5 minutes took turns coming at them from the rear with strafing runs. He was either flying as bombardier or navigator that mission so he was up in the nose. He said every time he'd look out the plexiglass he's see another B-17 on fire falling out fo the sky. All together the 190s took out a 6 of the 12 aircraft in his flight. Him and his crew got a 3 day leave I think he said after that one.
That is a amazing story...I am glad your grandpa made it...the paradox of this is, my father was in a FLAK 88 unit in Berlin in 1944-45...he told me of horrific stories when his unit was in action...it was a mandatory procedere to go to the crash sites of American and British bombers shot down...he told me nobody felt any pride when they saw the carnage...as the Russians closed in May 1945, he escaped westward to the Elbe river and was taken prisoner by US troops...they felt sorry for him as he was just a skinny 16 year old kid...what really saved him was that he spoke excellent English, so the US army used him as a translator. for many years...he was very well treated by the US troops and made many friends for life...so you see, we were lucky that our father and grandpa survived...that is why we are here today to share these stories. Take care and all the best...greetings from Berlin Matthias
When it came time for my father and I to build a model kit together in the early 60's, it was the FW190. As we looked over all the kits in the hobby shop he pulled a balsa wood version from the shelf, and said "this is the one"......L asked why?...had my eye on the model cars. He said: "cause this is the SOB that shot me down". Dads B17 was shot down in Feb '43, think it was about his seventh mission, turning for home after hitting the sub pens of Wilhelmshaven. Dad bailed from the ball, the entire crew got out......he spent the rest of the war in various Stalags, Think I did a good job on the build, down to the yellow nose cone.....Dad never touched it once!!!
First model my Dad bought me as a kid was Fw-190. I eventually asked him why - he was in the RAN in WW2 - he said "It's not a Zero and it was better!" He was mostly in the Pacific but went to UK during the Blitz as well. Survived Leyte and Lingayen Gulf after Singapore and Ceylon.
The FW190 was a remarkably innovative design, with many novel features. One of the best was the ‘Kommandogerat’ for the BMW 801 radial engine, the first ever integrated automatic engine control system. Due to wartime conditions heavy demands were made on the engine and the interaction of a number of additional mechanisms were necessary to achieve required power and fuel consumption targets. Having these systems handled automatically gave the pilot a definite combat advantage, leaving him to concentrate more fully on flight, less on keeping the engine running properly. However, the unit was not electronic, instead it was completely mechanically operated. A ‘computer’ that worked through a bewildering collection of gears, shafts, cranks, pushrods, cams, springs, levers, cables etc. And which remarkably - amazingly - adjusted ignition advance, boost pressure, mixture richness etc.
Like a lot of things that the germans did and developed it was because they needed to, the Allies had better fuel and metallurgy. Weirdly enough they couldn't design a decent ship.
Typical piston engines have separate levers for mixture, propeller, and throttle. Changing the power setting would require moving all three, whereas the FW 190 combined all three into a single power lever which greatly reduced pilot workload. Similar automatic controls didn't become common in piston aircraft engines until FADEC became popular in planes like the Diamond DA40 and DA42.
Why the misleading thumbnail showing a dual-engine fighter with two huge red arrows pointing to the engines? I hate it when channels play clickbait games like that.
This is one of my favourite planes of all time. It may interest you to know the following: Kurt Tank was almost killed testing it himself when the supercharger got stuck at the wrong stage. This plane was being produced in parts in small carpentry and metalworking shops in villages across Germany and assembled later to avoid the bombings. It replaced the Stuka in the east, and was one of the first planes with multiples fail safes-even it's oxygen tanks for the pilot were 3 small linked ones, to prevent catastrophic damage if one tank was hit and exploded. The pilots favoured head-on attacks against soviet planes at first, because they could use the huge radial engine as a shield. It could be outfitted with 2 heavy machine guns and 4 cannons internally. The pilot sat in a semi-reclined position, which makes heavy G forces much easier to manage. The Germans called it the "Würger" which means "strangler", "slayer", and funnily "Shrike"- which in English is sometimes called the butcherbird.
Possibly one of the most underrated fighters of all time. Everyone talks about the Spitfire, P-51 Mustang, BF-109 or the Zero in WW2 but this fighter was better than most of them.
Johnnie Johnson, RAF top-scorer in WWII wrote in one of his books of metaing FW190 in a Spit MK5 in '41. To quote: "it was faster, climbed better, dived better, rolled better and was better armed. All I could do was stand my spit on a wingtip, pull as hard as I could and pray they ran out of ammo".
The FW190A Focke Wulf was superior to most allied fighters except the P51D Mustang and P47D Thunderbolt at high altitude. The FW190D Dora was an even match for the P51D Mustang ( better pilot wins the dogfight ) but not the P47M Thunderbolt again were talking at high altitude. Down on the deck the Dora ruled supreme. But by early 1945 most of the Luftwaffe top aces were gone so even with the Dora its kind of Apples to Oranges.
@@davegeisler7802 you obviously have not heard of the Spitfire marks 9, 14 and 18 and the Tempest mark 5, all will kick the crap out of any German and American piston driven fighter of the Second World War.
My father who served in the RAF always spoke of the 190. 'Good engineers, the Germans'. He would say, he's been gone over 30 years now, lost his best friend by the name of Tom Berry, who completed his selection as a rear gunner, my dad failing the tests. 'I liked old Tom'. He said when I discovered a portrait of a young man in uniform in a writing cabinet one day. I wish I still had it and must try and find some information out about him, you never know I might find a copy. Sorry, I digress..... memories.
@@kurtlamprecht93 nothing better to do? Maybe you should get out more, and if you've nothing pleasant to say perhaps consider keeping it to yourself. I don't want to hear it. Anyhow take care I'm finished with this.
Experienced , and fuel shortages , lacking experienced good pilots , due to attritional war against the allies hindered the excellent plane . It was the luftwaffes version of the USAs P47 Thunderbolt .
@@manchild3479 No if that were so more Spitfires would have been shot down but more and more the Fw190 was being outclassed by every new Spitfire variant and by the MkXIV only the Fw190s roll rate reigned supreme
Another feature of the Fw 190 was it's ability to be assembled from sections built in widely separated small shops. This decentralization was important when allied bombing raids were destroying any large complexes.
I love the FW (although a killing machine). Pilots quoted it was easy to land due to the broad gear and it was not easily taken out by a shot into the cooling system (air cooled). I had a 1:32 model as a kid. Cheers from Germany! 💯👍
Kurt tank, the designer of the 190, understood the value of reliability and ruggedness in a fighter. On a side note, the f6f hellcat also was demonstrated the value of ruggedness and reliability.
@@davidh6300 Per Eric Brown (I think, because I think he met Tank) Kurt Tank was a cavalryman in WW1 and knew the sort crappy conditions that could exist in a battlefield; he felt the 109 was a pampered racehourse, while the 190 was, in his words, a rugged plowhorse. Let it be ALSO said that Eric Brown (British Test Pilot Extraordinaire) thought VERY highly of the FW. He considered it one of THE best fighters in WW2, based on the versatility, ruggedness and splendidly harmonized controls.
@@esmenhamaire6398 It wasn't underpowered. 900km/h is not underpowered in my book. You just couldn't "hammer" the throttle as they do in TopGun (actually you won't do it in any jet aircraft). Either the Jumo 004 would flame out or explode. and of course due to material shortages, the 004 didn't have a long lifetime and was best treated like a raw egg. But it had power. Meteor was underpowered.
"Platzschutzstaffel" (aerodrome security squadron). These were mostly late war 190D models. I don't know if every Me-262 group had a squadron attached, but the groups of JG 7 certainly had.
@@ottovonbismarck2443 I just made a video flying the 'Me 262 A' in IL-2. It didn't seem underpowered to me either. As long as you flew her to her strengths and kept her fast she was untouchable.
You missed one of the most innovative items regarding the cooling system... the geared fan. Behind the propeller is a fan that was geared to spin considerably faster than the propeller, increasing the airflow into the engine to improve cooling. You also missed referencing the FW-190 Doras which we inline-engined variants designed for high altitude. They used the inverted Vee, water-cooled Junkers Jumo 222... originally a bomber engine and were intended as a stopgap aircraft until the design of the Ta-152 C and H could be completed. They turned out to be excellent aircraft in their own right, capable of going toe to toe with the best allied aircraft. There is a story where near the end of the war Kurt tank himself was ferrying a Ta-152 (the ancestor of the FW-190) to Cottbus. While flying he was intercepted by a pair of P-51s. Since his plane had no ammunition aboard he simply opened the throttle and accelerated away from them. Also, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful aircraft ever designed.
The Ta152 was a descendant, not an ancestor of the Ta152 :-) But I came here to see I anyone commented on the Dora with its inline engine, a fact that Dark Skies sadly missed. But thankfully you did :-)
@@SatumangoTheGreat D'oh! yeah thanks for the correction... brainfart there I guess :) Although Tank himself insisted many times that the 152 was a complete redesign and did not deserve to be thought of as having come from the 190. They do have a lot of similar looks though!
The looks of the FW-190 are great, I have 2 RC FW-190s (one I fitted a Darth Vader as the pilot). They both fly extremely well, easy to fly (for a Warbird), fast and manoeuvrable.
Man those Germans had cool stuff. The FW190 is certainly one of my favorite WWII fights alongside the Corsair, Mustang, and Spitfire. It was a beautiful plane.
I love the old vintage footage of these aircraft. Great video. I recently found out that I had a distant relative in Germany that flew the 109 he also ended up being a fighter Ace by the name of Johannes Wiese. Very interesting
You should then find him here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_War_II_flying_aces The list clearly shows on which front the WW2 was actually fought.
Wow. Very good 👍. Best short documentary on the 190 I've seen. Only thing I would add is why tank went with the bmw radial to begin with. The inverted v12 used in the bf 109 was seen as the best aero engine of the time and was used in a large range of fighters and bombers wich made it a high demand engine. They were having issues keeping up with that demand. So tank decided to go with the bmw radial wich was not only more reliable but also far more available in large quantities. He designed the 190 around that one factor. After the war he went on to designing aircraft for Argentina including their first jet.
@@joesutherland225 yeah and that aircraft only failed because of the british engine didn't deliver the performance promiced, and the end result was a subsonic aircraft
My understanding is that Tank went with a radial design because the inline engines were scarce in Germany due to use in so many other planes of the Luftwaffe already (BF-109s, 110s, 210s, He-111s, JU-87s, etc). It turned out to be a great choice.
The FW 190 x were my favorite Axis airplane models as a youth, regardless of the multitude and popularity of the ME 109s and Mitsubishi Zeros that my peers enjoyed. True, they were always trying to shake off a Spitfire, Mustang, or F4U "Bent-wing bird" Corsair (in Black Sheep Squadron colors, of course) in my imagination and in my bedroom ceiling display, but who didn't love the Allied air power back then? Then model rocketry stole my fervor. Then cars, real ones. Then girls. I spent more on the last category than all the rest added up, I think.
Dang, sounds like we could have been brothers. Never check out "The Rocketry Forum" on the interwebs. It can be as addictive as cat videos. (I typed that before I noticed your avatar.) : )
My father was a sailor during WWII in the Pacific and I was a sailor during the 90's, I thought I knew everything about the European theater during WWII, I learned many things on this one. Outstanding work on this one.
The best German fighter plane of the Second World War! 2x 13mm machine guns and 4x 20mm cannons on the plane. What a beast of a plane!!! No wonder why it shot down so many allied bombers!!!
Good video but the Fw190 was never at any point the backbone of the Luftwaffe's fighter force. For all its virtues (and vices) it never threatened the primacy of the Bf109. Although at the end of the war the Ta152, Fw190D and Bf109K series were absolute monsters and among the finest piston engined fighters on the planet. The fact that the Bf109K could go toe to toe with Mustangs and Griffon Spits is particularly amazing.
@BekGrou PRIMUS True but you don’t start WW with train load of aspirin and declare War on country as an afterthought with out any coordination with your Allie’s especially after. Japan signed a non aggression pact with Russia.
My dad was a bombardier in WW2 flying in a B-17. He was on 25 mission from D-Day, 6/6/1944 to 12/24/1944 when his plane was taken down by flak from the Anti-Aircraft 88 German gun. He said these were deadly and scared him a lot. I asked him about the famed German fighters, if he shot at any? He said on all of his missions he saw only two. “Did you shoot at them?” We tried but they were going 300 mph and were flying by at strange angles. He said that they were impressive but most of them had been destroyed. He said that he was glad that there weren’t very many because they would have been deadly!
"He said on all of his missions he saw only two. We tried but they were going 300 mph and were flying by at strange angles." Sounds like these were very experienced pilots who knew how to effectively attack a bomber formation, which is impressive given how late in the war this was.
Btw My grandpa was also in the b17 he was a belly gunner(in the bubble underneath) he was shot down over the English channel, somehow survived the crash, swam to France, joined up with the French resistance and fought with them for the rest of the war until the invasion. Upon getting sent back to his unit they declared that he had completed his tour since the time he was supposed to had been there had long ago passed. (The end is kind of my way of understanding it, he used different words but he only told me once on my tenth birthday just before he passed) God speed gramps you were a motherf*cking badass and a wonderful person. I miss you Ps. He was also in Korea with the Marines this time. Then he was a Marine drill instructor. His name is Nicholas "Nick" Flowers. And he was as hard as a .50cal casing and twice as deadly in his day. You are missed every day sir and loved more. We all miss you. If somehow you can read this. Yes. I did finally clean the shed out. Hahaha (In the end he had Alzheimer's and would only remember that I was supposed to clean out the shed. So he would always ask (screamed more like it)(he WAS a drill instructor) me if I cleaned out the shed yet hahaha damn I miss even those times with him. Shit. Life sucks when you get that old. Unfair really
Those old guys were tough and a lot of fun to talk to if they thought you were worth a crap. One of the guys I knew ditched in the Pacific and got in his raft and saw a sub coming up on him. He had a 45 and was ready to take them on if they were Japs. LMAO. We need more men like them.
My Grandfather flew Spit mk2 mk5 he says the Mk9 was easily on Par with 190 and acceleration was slightly better especially above 10.000ft, he was shot down 4 times from 1941-44, died aged 87 in his bed ...a life well lived
Fun fact that was missed; the fw 190 was also able to be built by assembling components that came from all different kinds of factories; meaning it didn’t need to be an aerospace factory to produce parts for it.
I was told by the Grumman F-8F Bearcat exhibition pilot at a Commemorative Airforce show in Camarillo, California, that The Fw 190 influenced the design of the Bearcat. But I have also read that Kurt Tank was influenced by Howard Hughes 1935 H-1 racer. All great planes.
Influenced by Howard Hugues..😂 Realy man. I dont think that the Germans had the time to see Howard Hugues movies,or even have access to Howard Hugues airplanes. That never happen my friend. If it prove to be the Best Fighter of WW2 why the American,many years before didin't Saw the Potential of the Radial motors and used it.. if since 1942 they had the footages of the FW190 in action and is unique Deadly capabilities..??!!
@@jpmtlhead39 On September 13, 1935, Howard Hughes set a world land plane record of 352.388 mph in the H-1, besting the 1934 record of 314.319 mph set by a Caudron C.460 Rafale. This record was set under the auspices of the International Aeronautical Federation (FAI) of Paris, France. Every aircraft designer interested in speed, including Kurt Tank, would have been aware of this record, and in 1935 Germany wasn't at war with anyone. This wasn't an absolute record; the fastest aircraft in the world at the time were seaplanes, but what did catch notice was that Hughes used a radial engine when all of the other record-setting aircraft of the time used in-line air or liquid cooled engines. Since I posted my remark I have looked into the claim, and though Howard Hughes himself believed that the Mitsubishi Zero was derived from the H-1, and others, not just that Bearcat pilot I talked to, have thought the Fw-190 was also influenced by it, it appears that it is more a case of similar problems requiring similar solutions; convergent evolution. The American military was quite aware of the advantages of high performance air-cooled radial engines. The F4U began test flights in 1940 (XF4U-1) and the P-47 was a direct descendant of the P-43, also first flown in 1940. The early superiority of the Japanese radial-engine fighters over pretty much anything else in the air at the time is well known.
Thanks for another excellent video!! It's a really handsome aircraft and I can imagine the consternation in fighter command when it appeared. Once again fortune smiled on Britain when that pilot handed over a fully functioning aircraft though - I bet they couldn't believe their luck!!!
He MAY have been an embedded "spy" and the rest of the stuff around the story just made up junk as a cover. The first casualty of war is truth...as the saying goes. It is nonsense to believe stuff about the third Reich...whoever heard of the third most powerful Aryan Nazi....being a horrible little short arse runt....with a dark complexion who had an inherited birth defect a club foot!!....like hoppy Goebbels.
As always ,another great installation of knowledge into my memory !! Thanks so much for your awesome delivery of history , love the format you use ! Perfect
I was waiting for this one! I knew you’d eventually do one on the FW190. Imo the best-looking Luftwaffe fighter. I love the sleek design in combination with the radial engine.
"We are now in a position of inferiority... There is no doubt in my mind, nor in the minds of my fighter pilots, that the Focke Wulf 190 is the best fighter in the world today." Air Chief Marshal Sholto Douglas, British Air Force, 1942
@@TinyBearTim if you will, a peak condition 109 had 100% potential performance. A Similar 190A would have 90% of said performance.....but it was easy er to keep a 190 in good operational shape and the ceiling for the pilots was not as high as it was on a 109. Where's you need top aces to get all the 100% of a 109. The good pilots could get 100% of the 190. And they did not tire as fast as the 109s did... On top of that it had, Better range More firepower Was much more durable And could run on lower octane fuel...
The "Boom and zoom" tactic was essential to the fw190. Using the elevation as a resource to be managed with care. Diving and then returning to a elevation the pray could not reach with their current energy potential. Since with the "workhorse engine" a very brilliant focus, since the resource can be obtained out of combat, and the managed during.
Yes the mighty butcherbird I remember it well it came flying out of the Sun descending like a butcher into the stormy skies of Britain wreaking havoc amongst are hurricanes and Spitfires yet we learn to deal with the butcher bird knowing it for what it is and that is the butcher bird
German pilot landed at Pembrey after losing his orientation in a dogfight, he mistook the Bristol Channel for the English Channel, he was taken to Fairwood Aerodrome near Swansea a few miles away for interrogation, I lived right on the flight path. Heard the story as a child, what a coup for us!
Fw-159 was also designed for front line observation - hence the parasol wing like the Hs-126. The entire concept and request for prototypes was very different to that which the Bf.109 and the Fw.190 subsequently filled. Fw-190 had oil cooling problems until one pilot and his groundcrew decided to move the lower cooling pipes to higher up on the sides - the lower rear cylinder then ceased to crack or seize. This was retrofitted to all Fw.190's as a field modification. Vibrations from the guns over the engine also caused problems - becoming worse as the calibre went up from 7.92mm to 13mm. Many aircraft had one or both nose guns removed - leaving the four cannon in the wings or two in the wings and underwing twin pods! (Making 6 x 20mm cannon!). The G model, long range ground attack, had the nose guns deleted in construction.... If the D-9, D-11 and D-13 models as well as the Ta-152C and Ta-152H models had been produced sooner, Europe might still be speaking German from Paris to Moscow.
Wonderful airplane, my father was a slave worker in Posen-Kreising (today Poznań Krzesiny) and always repeated me that his relation with the airplane was love-hate. Hate, because as a Polish teenager was forced to work there and a lot of his colleagues died there, but love because objectively it was a great fighter. My father told me that he pissed on the electric systems of the airplane believing that electrolytes destroy them :-)
The FW190 was very much like the Spitfires in that the both started off relatively short but with each new model (version/variant) they grew longer over time, and were very different aircraft at the end, from the Mk 1’s.
"We are now in a position of inferiority... There is no doubt in my mind, nor in the minds of my fighter pilots, that the Focke Wulf 190 is the best fighter in the world today." Air Chief Marshal Sholto Douglas, British Air Force, 1942
@@barfuss2007 I know I did! I admit it, it was a typo! I even edited my last reply because I was out walking my wolf, whilst typing!! Hahahahaha!!! Old age! Yer eyesight goes a bit too!
The BF109 seems to get all the "glory" which I've never quite understood. Was it a good fighter? Yes. Is the FW190 better? Yes but unless you seek out stories/videos etc about it more times than not you'll hear about the BF109. Thank you for making this video. The Fw190 is by far my favorite axis fighter and ties for first as my favorite ww2 fighter, right next to the P51.
They were outnumbered way too much to EVER have had a chance at winning. The US and FDR demanded "Unconditional Surrender" but only AFTER Stalingrad! When they sure they would eventually win the war.
@@JamesLaserpimpWalsh lol do you not understand that everyone has their own opinion. You seem shocked when someone doesn't have the spitifre as their favorite.
A little incorrect, the Germans had no issue building them, even at the end they had plenty to the point where it was easier to get a new one over repairing. The reason these and other weapons could not turn the tide is lack of experienced pilots and crew
I read a true story of a crippled P.47 Thunderbolt trying to make it back across the English Channel. A lone FW 190 appeared, he pulled up along side of the heavily smoking Thunderbolt and saluted him. The American pilot didn't know what to think...The German pilot pulled off but quickly returned firing about 1/3 of his ammo. He pulled up along side him saluted again, pulled off And came back again this time he emptied his ammo into the P.47 he failed to shoot it down. One last time he pulled up along side the Badly damaged but still flying & Saluted him again shaking his head, smiled and headed back.the P.47 had 60 holes in it the tip of the left wing was completely blown off along with half of the tail.
I think that Story was from The highest scoring American Ace in the European theatre. Bob Johnson with 26 confirmed kills. His story of that account is pretty much all over the internet as well as the German Ace that was doing the shooting and let him go or ran out of ammo 🤭
I have a lot more respect for the fighter pilot who "escorted" the barely flying B-17 back to base. He was much more of a "good sport." The two pilots met and became best of friends after the war.
I think I read that story in an piece by J.D. Webster, (air superiority/air strike, the speed of heat etc). I also read that the width of the Fw190’s undercarriage while totally legit was also a subtle rebuke to Messerschmitt. (Len Deighton? Fighter?) wrote that Willy’s background was gliders. Thus undercarriage was not his bag. As mentioned in the video a lot of accidents and losses were down to poor landings or moving across rough terrain.
Clearly the 190 had poor navigational equipment. I'm from a small village in Wales, far to the west of any action and where the mentioned, captured 190 mistakenly landed. Convinced he was in France, the ashen faced pilot was taken to the police station repeatedly shaking his head saying "nein nein".
@@joshstanton267 - No. It was tricky for rookie pilots but was highly praised. People always seem to find fault in the 109, particularly the landing gear, yet say nothing of the spitfire with a similar configuration and with much less prop clearance.
The FW-190 was a mean fighter. It was fast, packed a punch, and was durable enough to absorb punishment. The 190 took a fearsome toll on USAAF bombers over Europe with its cannons inflicting serious damage.
It seems that you consistently leave out the offensive armaments of these war planes. For me and I believe many others, the details or the guns and rockets and bombs are easily as important as any other aspects of these war birds.
I was somewhat surprised that the Allies & Soviet didn't fight over Kurt Tank's services after the war. He worked in various countries, including for a few dictators in South America. It was as if he was blacklisted everywhere. I wonder why?
@Salvador Vizcarra No offence intended, but that is a long answer to be so simplistic. The raids and associated escorts destroyed the Luftwaffe by manufacturing and airborne attrition by a huge amount. This massively diverted resources away from the Soviet theatre. Finally, the English and other commonwealth were fighting from 1939 to 1945, plus them and the USA were fighting in the Pacific, Africa, the Atlantic, the Mediterranean and supplying the Soviets with huge supplies of materiel. Otherwise the Soviets were doomed to lose.
Maybe because Allies and Soviet are more interested in Rocket science hence why space race is a thing later, for plane he wasn't needed as soviet and allies already had various plane company that already proved in war
The Butcher Bird. You have to wonder how could you lose any Air Battle with a Butcher Bird in your Arsenal? I’m guessing as Bad Arse as they were. Ultimately, the other guys had some not too Bad Arse planes as well! A Brilliant German Machine none the less.
@@kenneth9874 at early war and mid war yes The later A-8s and D-9s were amazing But there weren’t many built because of 1 fuel and two manufacturing towards the end of the war It’s highly debated though I personally think the 190s were better
Spitfire's and Mustang's got all the accolades, but The FW-190, The AM6 Zero, P-47 Thunderbolt, and The F6F Hellcat all had Radial Engines and were excellent fighters in their own right
@@georgesakellaropoulos8162 There were many other Radial Engine Fighters from all the belligerent countries that I didn't mention, but yes, the Corsair was one of the top fighters of that type
also the most advanced, still for today's standard, had a good control layout, good landing gear, good visibility, and the kommandogerät, allowed only use one lever instead of three, like the rest of the world used
The famous FW-190 Butcher Bird has always been one of my favorite German fighters. Kurt Tank did a great job designing it.
who knows it could have made a difference...................
100% Agree! very stylish plane!
@@dgolovaSHThe same with the Bearcat from Grumman. I read that the Bearcat design was inspired by the Focke wulf fw 190 series. Is it true though?
@@gregorysaugustine5236Not a bad plane, but I think razorbacks look so much more stylish than bubble tops. Just more edgy and mean looking
@@gregorysaugustine5236 Hawker also copied the cowling/exhaust for their Tempest II/Sea Fury from a defector's FW 190 in Apr 1942.
My grandpa flew in B-17s during the war up until the moment he got shot down, and the Fw 190 was the aircraft he respected the most(obviously he loved the B-17 more though). I have a video on ym channel where somebody interviewed him about some of his experiences. Towards the end he mentions this one mission where they had to fly around Berlin to attract as many fighters as they could sot he P-51s could shoot them down(war of attrition type stuff). His flight consisted of 12 B-17s, all of a sudden 40 Fw 190s appeared, they broke off into 2 groups of 20, and for about 5 minutes took turns coming at them from the rear with strafing runs. He was either flying as bombardier or navigator that mission so he was up in the nose. He said every time he'd look out the plexiglass he's see another B-17 on fire falling out fo the sky. All together the 190s took out a 6 of the 12 aircraft in his flight. Him and his crew got a 3 day leave I think he said after that one.
That is a amazing story...I am glad your grandpa made it...the paradox of this is, my father was in a FLAK 88 unit in Berlin in 1944-45...he told me of horrific stories when his unit was in action...it was a mandatory procedere to go to the crash sites of American and British bombers shot down...he told me nobody felt any pride when they saw the carnage...as the Russians closed in May 1945, he escaped westward to the Elbe river and was taken prisoner by US troops...they felt sorry for him as he was just a skinny 16 year old kid...what really saved him was that he spoke excellent English, so the US army used him as a translator. for many years...he was very well treated by the US troops and made many friends for life...so you see, we were lucky that our father and grandpa survived...that is why we are here today to share these stories.
Take care and all the best...greetings from Berlin
Matthias
@@matthiasjurisch2221 wonderful story!
Great stories thanks for sharing. Grandson of 2 WW2 pacific theater navy vets. Proud to have served myself though never saw combat.
I have the utmost respect for being on a b-17 over Germany, that takes some serious guts. truly the greatest generation to ever grace this earth
I now know what it's like to drink sand. Also, taking the jurassic trading cards in the divorce is crossing a line.
When it came time for my father and I to build a model kit together in the early 60's, it was the FW190. As we looked over all the kits in the hobby shop he pulled a balsa wood version from the shelf, and said "this is the one"......L asked why?...had my eye on the model cars. He said: "cause this is the SOB that shot me down".
Dads B17 was shot down in Feb '43, think it was about his seventh mission, turning for home after hitting the sub pens of Wilhelmshaven. Dad bailed from the ball, the entire crew got out......he spent the rest of the war in various Stalags,
Think I did a good job on the build, down to the yellow nose cone.....Dad never touched it once!!!
A Brave VERY LUCKY MAN 😁THAT Ball turret Was a Deathtrap 😔😔😔GOD BLESS All of them g
Good work
Good work
First model my Dad bought me as a kid was Fw-190. I eventually asked him why - he was in the RAN in WW2 - he said "It's not a Zero and it was better!" He was mostly in the Pacific but went to UK during the Blitz as well. Survived Leyte and Lingayen Gulf after Singapore and Ceylon.
Yikes...Imagine as a boy seeing and holding the kind of plane that very nearly killed your father. My generation can't imagine. What a moment!!
The FW190 was a remarkably innovative design, with many novel features.
One of the best was the ‘Kommandogerat’ for the BMW 801 radial engine, the first ever integrated automatic engine control system.
Due to wartime conditions heavy demands were made on the engine and the interaction of a number of additional mechanisms were necessary to achieve required power and fuel consumption targets.
Having these systems handled automatically gave the pilot a definite combat advantage, leaving him to concentrate more fully on flight, less on keeping the engine running properly.
However, the unit was not electronic, instead it was completely mechanically operated. A ‘computer’ that worked through a bewildering collection of gears, shafts, cranks, pushrods, cams, springs, levers, cables etc. And which remarkably - amazingly - adjusted ignition advance, boost pressure, mixture richness etc.
Single control throttle, not seen again until the Piper Tomahawk.
Yeah it was decades ahead of its time. Essentially a computer before computers where invented lol. Crazy what those Germans where able to produce.
Did not know that...
Thanks
RV guy.mass
Like a lot of things that the germans did and developed it was because they needed to, the Allies had better fuel and metallurgy. Weirdly enough they couldn't design a decent ship.
Typical piston engines have separate levers for mixture, propeller, and throttle. Changing the power setting would require moving all three, whereas the FW 190 combined all three into a single power lever which greatly reduced pilot workload. Similar automatic controls didn't become common in piston aircraft engines until FADEC became popular in planes like the Diamond DA40 and DA42.
Why the misleading thumbnail showing a dual-engine fighter with two huge red arrows pointing to the engines? I hate it when channels play clickbait games like that.
Thank you for the hint! I'm not gonna watch the video.
CLICBAIT. Instant cancellation. The plane in the thumbnail is a FW 187 Falke.
Thumb the video down and report for spam/misleading. Usually what I do.
this is a very stupid channel.
@@MumbamumbaGreat idea !😮
This is one of my favourite planes of all time. It may interest you to know the following:
Kurt Tank was almost killed testing it himself when the supercharger got stuck at the wrong stage.
This plane was being produced in parts in small carpentry and metalworking shops in villages across Germany and assembled later to avoid the bombings. It replaced the Stuka in the east, and was one of the first planes with multiples fail safes-even it's oxygen tanks for the pilot were 3 small linked ones, to prevent catastrophic damage if one tank was hit and exploded.
The pilots favoured head-on attacks against soviet planes at first, because they could use the huge radial engine as a shield.
It could be outfitted with 2 heavy machine guns and 4 cannons internally.
The pilot sat in a semi-reclined position, which makes heavy G forces much easier to manage. The Germans called it the "Würger" which means "strangler", "slayer", and funnily "Shrike"- which in English is sometimes called the butcherbird.
Possibly one of the most underrated fighters of all time. Everyone talks about the Spitfire, P-51 Mustang, BF-109 or the Zero in WW2 but this fighter was better than most of them.
Nonsense it’s incredibly high profile
Johnnie Johnson, RAF top-scorer in WWII wrote in one of his books of metaing FW190 in a Spit MK5 in '41. To quote: "it was faster, climbed better, dived better, rolled better and was better armed. All I could do was stand my spit on a wingtip, pull as hard as I could and pray they ran out of ammo".
The FW190A Focke Wulf was superior to most allied fighters except the P51D Mustang and P47D Thunderbolt at high altitude. The FW190D Dora was an even match for the P51D Mustang ( better pilot wins the dogfight ) but not the P47M Thunderbolt again were talking at high altitude. Down on the deck the Dora ruled supreme. But by early 1945 most of the Luftwaffe top aces were gone so even with the Dora its kind of Apples to Oranges.
OMG Terrifying!
I wish it could be like that in war thunder too
@@davegeisler7802 you obviously have not heard of the Spitfire marks 9, 14 and 18 and the Tempest mark 5, all will kick the crap out of any German and American piston driven fighter of the Second World War.
My father who served in the RAF always spoke of the 190. 'Good engineers, the Germans'. He would say, he's been gone over 30 years now, lost his best friend by the name of Tom Berry, who completed his selection as a rear gunner, my dad failing the tests. 'I liked old Tom'. He said when I discovered a portrait of a young man in uniform in a writing cabinet one day. I wish I still had it and must try and find some information out about him, you never know I might find a copy. Sorry, I digress..... memories.
Those memories are important pieces of history sir, please digress to your hearts content.
@@christopherhughes2211 absolutely, I think it helps to get these things out for posterity. And thank you! 👍
@@kurtlamprecht93 well you did
@@kurtlamprecht93 nothing better to do? Maybe you should get out more, and if you've nothing pleasant to say perhaps consider keeping it to yourself. I don't want to hear it. Anyhow take care I'm finished with this.
Thanks for sharing though...it's important history.
FW190 never fails to amaze me. it was fearsome, awesome, and a masterpiece of German engineering. it was way ahead of time in every aspect.
Experienced , and fuel shortages , lacking experienced good pilots , due to attritional war against the allies hindered the excellent plane .
It was the luftwaffes version of the USAs P47 Thunderbolt .
It was likely the best overall piston fighter plane of the war
@@hertzair1186 Spitfires would have something to say about that.
@@manchild3479 No it could not Its service ceiling was not good and the old saying applied He who has the height has the fight
@@manchild3479 No if that were so more Spitfires would have been shot down but more and more the Fw190 was being outclassed by every new Spitfire variant and by the MkXIV only the Fw190s roll rate reigned supreme
Another feature of the Fw 190 was it's ability to be assembled from sections built in widely separated small shops. This decentralization was important when allied bombing raids were destroying any large complexes.
They were even building them in forrests i believe.
Same principle Airbus is now succsesful with.
@@steffenrosmus9177 🤣
Who asked you
@@lhasenor3736 me
I love the FW (although a killing machine). Pilots quoted it was easy to land due to the broad gear and it was not easily taken out by a shot into the cooling system (air cooled). I had a 1:32 model as a kid. Cheers from Germany! 💯👍
Agreed. Built all of these WW2 war birds as a kid 1:48 scale Revell and Monogram kits
Don't forget the Dora, the best of the 190 series, she was liquid cooled.
Not to mention the development of the TA-152.
Kurt tank, the designer of the 190, understood the value of reliability and ruggedness in a fighter. On a side note, the f6f hellcat also was demonstrated the value of ruggedness and reliability.
@@davidh6300 Per Eric Brown (I think, because I think he met Tank) Kurt Tank was a cavalryman in WW1 and knew the sort crappy conditions that could exist in a battlefield; he felt the 109 was a pampered racehourse, while the 190 was, in his words, a rugged plowhorse.
Let it be ALSO said that Eric Brown (British Test Pilot Extraordinaire) thought VERY highly of the FW. He considered it one of THE best fighters in WW2, based on the versatility, ruggedness and splendidly harmonized controls.
The Fw 190 was also used to cover the Take Off and Landing sequences of the Me 262, which was vulnerable at those times due to low speeds.
@@apollomoonlandings plus it was grossly underpowered. Beautiful aircraft though!
@@esmenhamaire6398 It wasn't underpowered. 900km/h is not underpowered in my book. You just couldn't "hammer" the throttle as they do in TopGun (actually you won't do it in any jet aircraft). Either the Jumo 004 would flame out or explode. and of course due to material shortages, the 004 didn't have a long lifetime and was best treated like a raw egg. But it had power. Meteor was underpowered.
"Platzschutzstaffel" (aerodrome security squadron). These were mostly late war 190D models. I don't know if every Me-262 group had a squadron attached, but the groups of JG 7 certainly had.
@@ottovonbismarck2443 I just made a video flying the 'Me 262 A' in IL-2. It didn't seem underpowered to me either. As long as you flew her to her strengths and kept her fast she was untouchable.
@@British-Dragon-Simulations Boom & Zoom is all I say ... ;-)
You missed one of the most innovative items regarding the cooling system... the geared fan. Behind the propeller is a fan that was geared to spin considerably faster than the propeller, increasing the airflow into the engine to improve cooling. You also missed referencing the FW-190 Doras which we inline-engined variants designed for high altitude. They used the inverted Vee, water-cooled Junkers Jumo 222... originally a bomber engine and were intended as a stopgap aircraft until the design of the Ta-152 C and H could be completed. They turned out to be excellent aircraft in their own right, capable of going toe to toe with the best allied aircraft.
There is a story where near the end of the war Kurt tank himself was ferrying a Ta-152 (the ancestor of the FW-190) to Cottbus. While flying he was intercepted by a pair of P-51s. Since his plane had no ammunition aboard he simply opened the throttle and accelerated away from them. Also, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful aircraft ever designed.
The Ta152 was a descendant, not an ancestor of the Ta152 :-)
But I came here to see I anyone commented on the Dora with its inline engine, a fact that Dark Skies sadly missed. But thankfully you did :-)
@@SatumangoTheGreat D'oh! yeah thanks for the correction... brainfart there I guess :) Although Tank himself insisted many times that the 152 was a complete redesign and did not deserve to be thought of as having come from the 190. They do have a lot of similar looks though!
@@kl0wnkiller912 Indeed, it definitely has the FW190 DNA.
@@kl0wnkiller912 And talking about brain farts, I definitely meant to say that the TA152 was a descendant of the FW190, not a descendant of itself :-)
FW 190 D 9 has Jumo 213 engine.
Biggest firepower for a fighter plane.... Super power and crazy aerodynamic capabilities for that era
The looks of the FW-190 are great, I have 2 RC FW-190s (one I fitted a Darth Vader as the pilot). They both fly extremely well, easy to fly (for a Warbird), fast and manoeuvrable.
Funny 🤣 would look funny seeing Darth Vader fly a world war 2 plane
Thank you for your service
May the Focke-wulf be with him..
@@salvagedb2470 ..focke it
@@davidb8373 What service? They are remote control planes, he wasn't fighting/ flying in the war?
Man those Germans had cool stuff. The FW190 is certainly one of my favorite WWII fights alongside the Corsair, Mustang, and Spitfire. It was a beautiful plane.
I love the old vintage footage of these aircraft. Great video. I recently found out that I had a distant relative in Germany that flew the 109 he also ended up being a fighter Ace by the name of Johannes Wiese. Very interesting
You should then find him here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_War_II_flying_aces
The list clearly shows on which front the WW2 was actually fought.
@@hurri7720 thank you
@pegamini yep that's him
@pegamini holy fuck. the guy knew his craft damn well
VW built that shit. Many cars still use this design
Wow. Very good 👍. Best short documentary on the 190 I've seen. Only thing I would add is why tank went with the bmw radial to begin with. The inverted v12 used in the bf 109 was seen as the best aero engine of the time and was used in a large range of fighters and bombers wich made it a high demand engine. They were having issues keeping up with that demand. So tank decided to go with the bmw radial wich was not only more reliable but also far more available in large quantities. He designed the 190 around that one factor. After the war he went on to designing aircraft for Argentina including their first jet.
And india
he was also a consultant on the Panavia Tornado.
@@joesutherland225 yeah and that aircraft only failed because of the british engine didn't deliver the performance promiced, and the end result was a subsonic aircraft
My understanding is that Tank went with a radial design because the inline engines were scarce in Germany due to use in so many other planes of the Luftwaffe already (BF-109s, 110s, 210s, He-111s, JU-87s, etc). It turned out to be a great choice.
@@bradschaeffer5736 exactly what I said lol
The FW 190 x were my favorite Axis airplane models as a youth, regardless of the multitude and popularity of the ME 109s and Mitsubishi Zeros that my peers enjoyed. True, they were always trying to shake off a Spitfire, Mustang, or F4U "Bent-wing bird" Corsair (in Black Sheep Squadron colors, of course) in my imagination and in my bedroom ceiling display, but who didn't love the Allied air power back then? Then model rocketry stole my fervor. Then cars, real ones. Then girls. I spent more on the last category than all the rest added up, I think.
Dang, sounds like we could have been brothers. Never check out "The Rocketry Forum" on the interwebs. It can be as addictive as cat videos. (I typed that before I noticed your avatar.) : )
It's better than the 109 and zero
awwww finally. my bird.. thanks for breaking down the absolute genius of this design and why the allies saw her as the axis threat no.1 in the sky ❤
Try this link.
th-cam.com/video/yCN9juCGq5w/w-d-xo.html
My father was a sailor during WWII in the Pacific and I was a sailor during the 90's, I thought I knew everything about the European theater during WWII, I learned many things on this one. Outstanding work on this one.
I am sure there are many more things you never know before yet and may learn about ww2 in europe and North Africa and Middle East.
seriously? if you learn ANYTHING on this youtube channel... it only means that you knew absolutely nothing to begin with.
The best German fighter plane of the Second World War! 2x 13mm machine guns and 4x 20mm cannons on the plane. What a beast of a plane!!! No wonder why it shot down so many allied bombers!!!
Armament depends on the version though. I think the first version had two 7.9 mm machineguns and two 20mm cannons. Still a good punch for the time...
@@SatumangoTheGreat absolutely!
@Salvador Vizcarra - dude, your therapist needs to increase your dosage a little
@@dongately2817 that alone deserves a thumbs up. I have no idea where that rant was going with that guy? He's all over the place.
@@WALTERBROADDUS - yeah, maybe up the lithium by a few hundred mg?
Good video but the Fw190 was never at any point the backbone of the Luftwaffe's fighter force. For all its virtues (and vices) it never threatened the primacy of the Bf109. Although at the end of the war the Ta152, Fw190D and Bf109K series were absolute monsters and among the finest piston engined fighters on the planet. The fact that the Bf109K could go toe to toe with Mustangs and Griffon Spits is particularly amazing.
Could be another reason they lost war. BF109 low gas mileage poor landing gear Should have built more 190. Like dump the tiger and more Stuka.
Reason why they didn't shift all fighter production to the FW-190 was purely political.
@@carstenrenekjrulff6272 Political and War go together like water and oil.
@BekGrou PRIMUS True but you don’t start WW with train load of aspirin and declare War on country as an afterthought with out any coordination with your Allie’s especially after. Japan signed a non aggression pact with Russia.
@BekGrou PRIMUS 0
My dad was a bombardier in WW2 flying in a B-17. He was on 25 mission from D-Day, 6/6/1944 to 12/24/1944 when his plane was taken down by flak from the Anti-Aircraft 88 German gun. He said these were deadly and scared him a lot. I asked him about the famed German fighters, if he shot at any? He said on all of his missions he saw only two. “Did you shoot at them?” We tried but they were going 300 mph and were flying by at strange angles. He said that they were impressive but most of them had been destroyed. He said that he was glad that there weren’t very many because they would have been deadly!
always funny to see how americans call the incoming fire from a Flak "flak" because that's what they had to deal with.
"He said on all of his missions he saw only two. We tried but they were going 300 mph and were flying by at strange angles."
Sounds like these were very experienced pilots who knew how to effectively attack a bomber formation, which is impressive given how late in the war this was.
My dad was a parent trooper, but he was also typist spent more time and typing then he did jumping out of airplane
By D-Day most of the German fighters had been driven from the skies due to lack of fuel.
Btw My grandpa was also in the b17 he was a belly gunner(in the bubble underneath) he was shot down over the English channel, somehow survived the crash, swam to France, joined up with the French resistance and fought with them for the rest of the war until the invasion. Upon getting sent back to his unit they declared that he had completed his tour since the time he was supposed to had been there had long ago passed. (The end is kind of my way of understanding it, he used different words but he only told me once on my tenth birthday just before he passed) God speed gramps you were a motherf*cking badass and a wonderful person. I miss you
Ps. He was also in Korea with the Marines this time. Then he was a Marine drill instructor. His name is Nicholas "Nick" Flowers. And he was as hard as a .50cal casing and twice as deadly in his day. You are missed every day sir and loved more. We all miss you. If somehow you can read this. Yes. I did finally clean the shed out. Hahaha
(In the end he had Alzheimer's and would only remember that I was supposed to clean out the shed. So he would always ask (screamed more like it)(he WAS a drill instructor) me if I cleaned out the shed yet hahaha damn I miss even those times with him. Shit. Life sucks when you get that old. Unfair really
What a badass. Hats off.
Those old guys were tough and a lot of fun to talk to if they thought you were worth a crap. One of the guys I knew ditched in the Pacific and got in his raft and saw a sub coming up on him. He had a 45 and was ready to take them on if they were Japs. LMAO. We need more men like them.
Some nice footage of a RAFwuffe aircraft there. Eric Brown is bound to have flown one. Please do a video on that legend!
Eric Brown has flown EVERYTHING, from 109 to 190 to Ta-152 to He-162. And yes, the man deserves a video if not a whole series.
My Grandfather flew Spit mk2 mk5 he says the Mk9 was easily on Par with 190 and acceleration was slightly better especially above 10.000ft, he was shot down 4 times from 1941-44, died aged 87 in his bed ...a life well lived
Good show!
Fun fact that was missed; the fw 190 was also able to be built by assembling components that came from all different kinds of factories; meaning it didn’t need to be an aerospace factory to produce parts for it.
I was told by the Grumman F-8F Bearcat exhibition pilot at a Commemorative Airforce show in Camarillo, California, that The Fw 190 influenced the design of the Bearcat. But I have also read that Kurt Tank was influenced by Howard Hughes 1935 H-1 racer. All great planes.
Influenced by Howard Hugues..😂 Realy man.
I dont think that the Germans had the time to see Howard Hugues movies,or even have access to Howard Hugues airplanes.
That never happen my friend.
If it prove to be the Best Fighter of WW2 why the American,many years before didin't Saw the Potential of the Radial motors and used it.. if since 1942 they had the footages of the FW190 in action and is unique Deadly capabilities..??!!
@@jpmtlhead39 On September 13, 1935, Howard Hughes set a world land plane record of 352.388 mph in the H-1, besting the 1934 record of 314.319 mph set by a Caudron C.460 Rafale. This record was set under the auspices of the International Aeronautical Federation (FAI) of Paris, France. Every aircraft designer interested in speed, including Kurt Tank, would have been aware of this record, and in 1935 Germany wasn't at war with anyone.
This wasn't an absolute record; the fastest aircraft in the world at the time were seaplanes, but what did catch notice was that Hughes used a radial engine when all of the other record-setting aircraft of the time used in-line air or liquid cooled engines.
Since I posted my remark I have looked into the claim, and though Howard Hughes himself believed that the Mitsubishi Zero was derived from the H-1, and others, not just that Bearcat pilot I talked to, have thought the Fw-190 was also influenced by it, it appears that it is more a case of similar problems requiring similar solutions; convergent evolution.
The American military was quite aware of the advantages of high performance air-cooled radial engines. The F4U began test flights in 1940 (XF4U-1) and the P-47 was a direct descendant of the P-43, also first flown in 1940. The early superiority of the Japanese radial-engine fighters over pretty much anything else in the air at the time is well known.
An Absolutely Beautiful, Good and Legendary Aircraft!
The FW-190 is my favorite WW2 aircraft. Thanks for the video.
Thanks for another excellent video!! It's a really handsome aircraft and I can imagine the consternation in fighter command when it appeared. Once again fortune smiled on Britain when that pilot handed over a fully functioning aircraft though - I bet they couldn't believe their luck!!!
And I bet that German Pilot couldn't believe his luck either!!
He MAY have been an embedded "spy" and the rest of the stuff around the story just made up junk as a cover.
The first casualty of war is truth...as the saying goes.
It is nonsense to believe stuff about the third Reich...whoever heard of the third most powerful Aryan Nazi....being a horrible little short arse runt....with a dark complexion who had an inherited birth defect a club foot!!....like hoppy Goebbels.
Good work! Thank you! Best aviation documentary video channel. Greetings from Ukraine, Kyiv!
As always ,another great installation of knowledge into my memory !! Thanks so much for your awesome delivery of history , love the format you use ! Perfect
What a beautiful aircraft, solid and reliable quality needed in wartime. Thank you for your video
I was waiting for this one! I knew you’d eventually do one on the FW190. Imo the best-looking Luftwaffe fighter. I love the sleek design in combination with the radial engine.
Very well made video, highlighting Kurt Tank's design philosophy behind the Fw 190.
Great video !! Great content and historical footage.
"We are now in a position of inferiority... There is no doubt in my mind, nor in the minds of my fighter pilots, that the Focke Wulf 190 is the best fighter in the world today."
Air Chief Marshal Sholto Douglas, British Air Force, 1942
Source pls… also RAF*
Absolutely fascinating…. As ever a first class informational doc with excellent back story and footage.
I never understood why the BF-109, a great aircraft itself, still got more notoriety than the FW-190 which clearly outclassed the 109. 🤔🧐
As usual…Politics.
Politics and the 190 was late to the party.
Manufacturing was full on 109s... Sadly/luckily...
Most ww2 aces preferred it , it had more kills and holds the top 3 highest scoring aces
And really I would only say the late series ones were better
@D O Double G
The same thing happened in Great Britain. The Spitfires got the glory while the Hurricanes and Typhoons did most of the work!
@@TinyBearTim if you will, a peak condition 109 had 100% potential performance. A Similar 190A would have 90% of said performance.....but it was easy er to keep a 190 in good operational shape and the ceiling for the pilots was not as high as it was on a 109.
Where's you need top aces to get all the 100% of a 109. The good pilots could get 100% of the 190. And they did not tire as fast as the 109s did...
On top of that it had,
Better range
More firepower
Was much more durable
And could run on lower octane fuel...
The "Boom and zoom" tactic was essential to the fw190.
Using the elevation as a resource to be managed with care. Diving and then returning to a elevation the pray could not reach with their current energy potential.
Since with the "workhorse engine" a very brilliant focus, since the resource can be obtained out of combat, and the managed during.
My favourite aircraft of ww2 is the Mosquito but the FW190 is a very close second. Great video, I enjoyed it very much
I was waiting for this one, my favorite plane from wwII
This is a huge step up in your documentary content - long time channel subscriber and I’m truly impressed
Yes the mighty butcherbird I remember it well it came flying out of the Sun descending like a butcher into the stormy skies of Britain wreaking havoc amongst are hurricanes and Spitfires yet we learn to deal with the butcher bird knowing it for what it is and that is the butcher bird
Dieppe is pronounced Dee- Yep.
Otherwise, great vid on one of my favorite aircraft of WW2. Loved the Evolution into the TA-152.
My favorite Axis fighter. Especially the 190D version
Coolest nickname of all time, very descriptive and very apt.
This was the most successful fighter for the Germans during the war. It formed the backbone of the Luftwaffe.
Sicuramente e senza ombra di dubbio il miglior in assoluto caccia della seconda guerra mondiale, con buona pace di inglesi e americani 🙏👍
The 190 was way ahead of its time, a beautiful fighter
Until it met the P51 mustang
Enjoyed your video and I gave it a Thumbs Up
German pilot landed at Pembrey after losing his orientation in a dogfight, he mistook the Bristol Channel for the English Channel, he was taken to Fairwood Aerodrome near Swansea a few miles away for interrogation, I lived right on the flight path. Heard the story as a child, what a coup for us!
Thanks. I wondered how anybody could mistake the UK for the continent.
That was Brit disinformation. Faber had defected probably with help from the SIS and he claimed to have an aunt in Scotland.
Great Video Man, keep up the great work!
At 10:00, I was surprised to hear "DEE-pah" for Dieppe. Most people I know pronounce it something closer to "d-epp" or "d-yep."
Noticed that too, and I think the big W agrees - Dieppe (French pronunciation: [djɛp]
Fw-159 was also designed for front line observation - hence the parasol wing like the Hs-126. The entire concept and request for prototypes was very different to that which the Bf.109 and the Fw.190 subsequently filled. Fw-190 had oil cooling problems until one pilot and his groundcrew decided to move the lower cooling pipes to higher up on the sides - the lower rear cylinder then ceased to crack or seize. This was retrofitted to all Fw.190's as a field modification. Vibrations from the guns over the engine also caused problems - becoming worse as the calibre went up from 7.92mm to 13mm. Many aircraft had one or both nose guns removed - leaving the four cannon in the wings or two in the wings and underwing twin pods! (Making 6 x 20mm cannon!). The G model, long range ground attack, had the nose guns deleted in construction.... If the D-9, D-11 and D-13 models as well as the Ta-152C and Ta-152H models had been produced sooner, Europe might still be speaking German from Paris to Moscow.
Wonderful airplane, my father was a slave worker in Posen-Kreising (today Poznań Krzesiny) and always repeated me that his relation with the airplane was love-hate. Hate, because as a Polish teenager was forced to work there and a lot of his colleagues died there, but love because objectively it was a great fighter. My father told me that he pissed on the electric systems of the airplane believing that electrolytes destroy them :-)
Worth a try.
This is one of the most legendary German WWII fighters along with the Republic p47D Thunderbolt, Hawker Tempest and Typhoon
To me the fw190 was the best looking fighter of ww2
It did look good.
Especially the Dora variants
ME- 262 Jet Fighter Best looking WW2 Plane …magnificent💫
Great upload this one!
The FW190 was very much like the Spitfires in that the both started off relatively short but with each new model (version/variant) they grew longer over time, and were very different aircraft at the end, from the Mk 1’s.
When they put the Jumo engine in they had to counteract the extra length by extending the fuselage. Think it was the Dora variant.
"We are now in a position of inferiority... There is no doubt in my mind, nor in the minds of my fighter pilots, that the Focke Wulf 190 is the best fighter in the world today."
Air Chief Marshal Sholto Douglas, British Air Force, 1942
The D model is my favorite propeller driven airplane of all time.
The high altitude TA-162 version after the D9, was one of the best piston engine machines ever made. Beautiful bird.
Ta-152
@@barfuss2007 It was a typo! Ta 152 H, was a belter
@@ksturmer5388 you wrote Ta 162...
@@barfuss2007 I know I did! I admit it, it was a typo! I even edited my last reply because I was out walking my wolf, whilst typing!! Hahahahaha!!! Old age! Yer eyesight goes a bit too!
You must be thinking of the Ta 154.
Must have been a solid experience to fly such a masterpiece!
Hey Dark Skies, your german pronunciation is getting much better.
But his English pronunciation sucks. He might be illiterate in two languages
Pity he can't pronounce Dieppe though. It's not "deeper", it's dee - epp.
@pegamini Now I think about it, I agree you're right. It's dee-yep.
ive built models of both planes, but entill watching this video... it never dawned on me what a great plane this was. Thank You.
The BF109 seems to get all the "glory" which I've never quite understood. Was it a good fighter? Yes. Is the FW190 better? Yes but unless you seek out stories/videos etc about it more times than not you'll hear about the BF109. Thank you for making this video. The Fw190 is by far my favorite axis fighter and ties for first as my favorite ww2 fighter, right next to the P51.
Politic ruin everything
One was a thorough bred race horse the other a Clydesdale
Educational, well done!
10:00 deeper? proper pronunciation is dee yep." Apart from that a very interesting video as usual thanks.
He puts one into each of his videos to see if we're paying attention...
My favorite airplane of all time. Just a badass aircraft with a badass nickname.
Germans and their engineering...aircraft, tanks, binoculars, anything.
They were outnumbered way too much to EVER have had a chance at winning. The US and FDR demanded "Unconditional Surrender" but only AFTER Stalingrad! When they sure they would eventually win the war.
I am trying to figure out what the thumbnail has to do with the FW-190 topic?
The prettiest fighter of WWII. It has an elegant lethality. Butcher Bird.
Wow. Just wow. Spitfire is in my view. You wont find any straight lines anywhere on a spitfire. Just curves and elipses. The 190 was ugly looking.
@@JamesLaserpimpWalsh lol OK.
The 190 is the best looking Axis fighter but the Spitfire and Mustang are prettier.
Very funny. The earlier marks of Spitfire were clearly the most beautiful fighters of WW2.
@@JamesLaserpimpWalsh lol do you not understand that everyone has their own opinion. You seem shocked when someone doesn't have the spitifre as their favorite.
Thanks
I didn't know anything about this plane . Lucky they were not produced quickly enough and in much greater numbers earlier in the war 😳 Amazing plane
Depends +20.000 where produced.
Good stuff DS, will be waiting for parts 2 and 3. The long nose and the TA series!!!
A little incorrect, the Germans had no issue building them, even at the end they had plenty to the point where it was easier to get a new one over repairing. The reason these and other weapons could not turn the tide is lack of experienced pilots and crew
At last someone mentions this key factor ...
(I believe that fuel shortages might also have been a significant factor towards the end ...)
Great video I love the FW-190
I read a true story of a crippled P.47 Thunderbolt trying to make it back across the English Channel. A lone FW 190 appeared, he pulled up along side of the heavily smoking Thunderbolt and saluted him. The American pilot didn't know what to think...The German pilot pulled off but quickly returned firing about 1/3 of his ammo. He pulled up along side him saluted again, pulled off And came back again this time he emptied his ammo into the P.47 he failed to shoot it down. One last time he pulled up along side the Badly damaged but still flying & Saluted him again shaking his head, smiled and headed back.the P.47 had 60 holes in it the tip of the left wing was completely blown off along with half of the tail.
What a little bastard! 😎
I think that Story was from The highest scoring American Ace in the European theatre. Bob Johnson with 26 confirmed kills. His story of that account is pretty much all over the internet as well as the German Ace that was doing the shooting and let him go or ran out of ammo 🤭
I have a lot more respect for the fighter pilot who "escorted" the barely flying B-17 back to base. He was much more of a "good sport." The two pilots met and became best of friends after the war.
@@elultimo102 That was Franz Stigler an Charlie Browne: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Stigler
I think I read that story in an piece by J.D. Webster, (air superiority/air strike, the speed of heat etc).
I also read that the width of the Fw190’s undercarriage while totally legit was also a subtle rebuke to Messerschmitt. (Len Deighton? Fighter?) wrote that Willy’s background was gliders. Thus undercarriage was not his bag. As mentioned in the video a lot of accidents and losses were down to poor landings or moving across rough terrain.
Love Your Stuff, I study quite a bit, You and Mark Felton............... MEN! you are doing some great work!
Clearly the 190 had poor navigational equipment. I'm from a small village in Wales, far to the west of any action and where the mentioned, captured 190 mistakenly landed. Convinced he was in France, the ashen faced pilot was taken to the police station repeatedly shaking his head saying "nein nein".
My favorite plane! I've been waiting for this vid!
The BF 109 G had become dangerous to fly as it had a tendency to stall without warning on landing. The FW 190 was a genius design.
the 109 for all it's merits and astonishing performance was hated by pretty much every luftwaffe pilot .. haha.... it was a "widowmaker"
@@joshstanton267 - No.
It was tricky for rookie pilots but was highly praised. People always seem to find fault in the 109, particularly the landing gear, yet say nothing of the spitfire with a similar configuration and with much less prop clearance.
They were both as bad as each other on the ground but that's what they had so they just had to adapt or else.@@ThermicLight
Much awaited video.
Thanks
The FW-190 was a mean fighter. It was fast, packed a punch, and was durable enough to absorb punishment. The 190 took a fearsome toll on USAAF bombers over Europe with its cannons inflicting serious damage.
Ah excellent quality, speaking more slowly now, much easier on the ear
It seems that you consistently leave out the offensive armaments of these war planes. For me and I believe many others, the details or the guns and rockets and bombs are easily as important as any other aspects of these war birds.
I actually never noticed that before but you are right. Maybe gets demonetized for talking about weaponry
@@juliogonzo2718 I doubt it considering channels like Forgotten Weapons and Drachinifel.
Armament varied over different models.
Awesome video as always thank you for posting this.
I was somewhat surprised that the Allies & Soviet didn't fight over Kurt Tank's services after the war. He worked in various countries, including for a few dictators in South America. It was as if he was blacklisted everywhere. I wonder why?
@Salvador Vizcarra No offence intended, but that is a long answer to be so simplistic. The raids and associated escorts destroyed the Luftwaffe by manufacturing and airborne attrition by a huge amount. This massively diverted resources away from the Soviet theatre. Finally, the English and other commonwealth were fighting from 1939 to 1945, plus them and the USA were fighting in the Pacific, Africa, the Atlantic, the Mediterranean and supplying the Soviets with huge supplies of materiel. Otherwise the Soviets were doomed to lose.
@Salvador Vizcarra Revisionist bullshit.
Maybe because Allies and Soviet are more interested in Rocket science hence why space race is a thing later, for plane he wasn't needed as soviet and allies already had various plane company that already proved in war
Best one yet! Thanks
The Germans were very smart my daddy fought them he was paratrooper with the 82nd 504th PIR. He said they were exillaant
Excellent
Great video, music fits well, amazing footage too.
The Butcher Bird. You have to wonder how could you lose any Air Battle with a Butcher Bird in your Arsenal? I’m guessing as Bad Arse as they were.
Ultimately, the other guys had some not too Bad Arse planes as well! A Brilliant German Machine none the less.
Does anyone else love Nepolean Dynamite narrating great clips? 👍🏼💪🏼
By any measure the FW190 was superior to the BF109. That being said the BF109 stayed in production till the end of the war
109 was still very good at the end of the War.
A total of a little over 33000 x BF109 were built and a total of few more than 20000 x FW190.
The 109 was superior at higher altitudes
@@kenneth9874 at early war and mid war yes
The later A-8s and D-9s were amazing
But there weren’t many built because of 1 fuel and two manufacturing towards the end of the war
It’s highly debated though
I personally think the 190s were better
@pegamini … you’re correct. Except I’d call them derivatives rather than genuine Bf109’s. Not that it matters…
I love the Mustang, but FW-190 has always been one of, if not, my favorite WW2 fighters
Spitfire's and Mustang's got all the accolades, but The FW-190, The AM6 Zero, P-47 Thunderbolt, and The F6F Hellcat all had Radial Engines and were excellent fighters in their own right
You forgot the Corsair lol.
I think there's an element of shape consciousness in this. Not that I find radial powered planes unattractive. Quite the opposite.
@@georgesakellaropoulos8162
There were many other Radial Engine Fighters from all the belligerent countries that I didn't mention, but yes, the Corsair was one of the top fighters of that type
I personally think that the Fw190 is the most beautifully made fighter in the WW2.
Perhaps the most sexy looking fighter despite being a brute. While the 109 to me looks more warish but more fragile with the liquid cooling.
also the most advanced, still for today's standard, had a good control layout, good landing gear, good visibility, and the kommandogerät, allowed only use one lever instead of three, like the rest of the world used