FW-190F: How effective was it as a ground-attack fighter?

[Conslaw]

The "F" version of the FW-190 included modifications to optimize it for the ground-attack role. It was intended to replace the Ju-87 and other ground attack aircraft that were not deemed to be a survivable. It served primarily on the Eastern Front. I looked and I didn't see any other discussion threads dedicated to this subtype. The floor is open. What do you think of this aircraft?

 

[Conslaw]

The "F" version of the FW-190 included modifications to optimize it for the ground-attack role. It was intended to replace the Ju-87 and other ground attack aircraft that were not deemed to be a survivable. It served primarily on the Eastern Front. I looked and I didn't see any other discussion threads dedicated to this subtype. The floor is open. What do you think of this aircraft?

Apparently there isn't a lot of interest in this aircraft. Sorry about attracting crickets with this new thread. (Prove me wrong.)

 

[SaparotRob]

I recall a vid about NF FW 190's attacking Coventry one night and doing great damage. Isn't its nickname "Butcher Bird"? I believe it earned that name on the Eastern Front. I don't know if that's a Caidinism or not. That theatre was kind of far from the Solomon Islands.

 

[SaparotRob]

Hence my lack of interest in the plane. Which was designed by the brilliant aeronautical engineer, Kurt Tank. The later FW-190's (the Dora?) (which were inlines despite appearances) became "T" something or others. The original FW-190's were a great shock to the RAF. Leading to the Spitfire MK IX (?)

 

[pbehn]

I recall a vid about NF FW 190's attacking Coventry one night and doing great damage. Isn't its nickname "Butcher Bird"? I believe it earned that name on the Eastern Front. I don't know if that's a Caidinism or not. That theatre was kind of far from the Solomon Islands.

Wurger in German is the name of a bird, in English it is a Shrike, the Latin name is Laniidae which is from the Latin for butcher, also in English known as the butcher bird. Shrike - Wikipedia

 

[SaparotRob]

I know what a shrike is. I built an Astron Shrike in my childhood and looked it up. In a dictionary. I don't know how the FW 190 got the name Butcher Bird. Did it come from the crews, the Russians or Caidin? I'm going to go read about a plane I like somewhere else now.

 

[MikeMeech]

I recall a vid about NF FW 190's attacking Coventry one night and doing great damage. Isn't its nickname "Butcher Bird"? I believe it earned that name on the Eastern Front. I don't know if that's a Caidinism or not. That theatre was kind of far from the Solomon Islands.

Hi
Coventry! No they didn't, I believe you must be thinking of Canterbury which is in Kent and much, much closer to German airfields. This bombing attack took place 31st October, 1942, it was on this raid that Adolf Galland's youngest brother, Lt. Paul Galland was shot down off Calais I believe.

Mike

 

[SaparotRob]

You're right. Senility isn't as fun as I thought it would be.

 

[GrauGeist]

The later FW-190's (the Dora?) (which were inlines despite appearances) became "T" something or others.

The Ta152...

 

[Just Schmidt]

I wouldn't say I'm not interested in this aircraft, it's just that I do not know an awful lot about how effective it was. But as you ask what you think, you may be satidfied with opinion and conjecture in place of hard facts.

There is this, though, in case you haven't seen it:



As it says (and compared with the Ju-87), it had competitive bombload, was well able to defend itself and did not suffer from a liquid cooled engine. And of cause its limited high altitude performance was not a handicap in this role. On balance i suspect it was just about as formidable as a P-47 in the ground attack role, maybe not as rugged but at least offering a smaller target, in any event i do like all the Fw-190 variants. Armaments wise it becomes the usual discussion about a few cannon against a lot of machine guns. On the flip side, it would not have the pin-point accuracy of a dive bomber.

Moving on to conjecture, the relative lack of precision was probably a necessary price to pay for survivability, and in a pinch it could be used as a fighter. A days travel away, in Bodø, the war museum has a Fw-190 (identified as an A-3/U3 but sometimes also as F-3) which i haven't yet been to see myself.

FW 190 på plass i museet

I løpet av januar 2013 ble FW 190 satt inn i utstillingen i forsvarsdelen av Norsk Luftfartsmuseum. In January 2013 the FW 190 was ready for the exhibition at the Air Force Museum.

blhf.org

I've been toying for some while with the idea that the large number of late war allied fighters pressed into service as fb's was for nearly the opposite reason die Luftwaffe did it, namely that with the relative weakness of the latter thousands of fighters were no more urgently needed for the air superiority role, even if some readiness was still required. In contrast to the axis that had less aircraft (and pilots) than was strictly necessary, the allies in the late war had more. Then, even if they were not the most accurate of bombers, they could still apply pressure and keep the German army on its toes. Thus a theoretical deficit in accuracy could be compensated for by wast numbers, and air attack always has an effect on ground troops, even if nobody is hurt. But to be honest, I'm not sure about the timeline as to when and how many allied fighters were converted into fb's.

In regard to the divebombers vulnerability to ground fire, the rationale was of course the same for the allied and the axis.

So to sum up, had Germany been able to field enough Fw-190F's together with dedicated escort fighters, the allied offensives would have been just as hard hit from the air as the axis historically were, though higher up daylight strategic bombing in large scale would still be an allied monopoly. It was not the fault of the Fw-190F that didn't come about, but simply the usual problem of vastly greater resources at the disposal of the allies.

 

[GrauGeist]

The Fw190F and Fw190G were fairly accurate in the ground attack role.

 

[pbehn]

I know what a shrike is. I built an Astron Shrike in my childhood and looked it up. In a dictionary. I don't know how the FW 190 got the name Butcher Bird. Did it come from the crews, the Russians or Caidin? I'm going to go read about a plane I like somewhere else now.

"Wurger" wouldnt be an unusual name for a fighter, it is a predator that catches insects. But many birds have more than one name, some people in England still call a Kestrel a windhover or wind hanger. If you name a plane, Wurger or Shrike some one will start calling it by its other name "butcher bird". The Fw 189 was named Uhu (eagle owl)

 

[SaparotRob]

How was the name Buffalo arrived at?

 

[pbehn]

How was the name Buffalo arrived at?

Starts with B and is a place in New York?

 

[SaparotRob]

I was just wondering if the was a Buffalo bird or something.

 

[pbehn]

I was just wondering if the was a Buffalo bird or something.

But bird names are common, Hawk Harrier Eagle Swallow Raptor Falcon. The Fw 187 was a falke (falcon) The 189 was a Uhu (eagle owl) Fw 200 was a condor Why so unusual for the 190 to be a Wurger?

Here is a list of all Fw aircraft, almost all named after birds Focke-Wulf - Wikipedia

 

[special ed]

The Buffalo do have those little tiny wings.

 

[GrauGeist]

The F2A was given it's name "Buffalo" by the British.
Curtiss also named several of their attack types "Shrike" just as they named several fighter types "Hawk".
Both the Fw189 and He219 were named "Uhu", too.

 

[SaparotRob]

Fourth confirmed crash and burn.

 

[pbehn]

The F2A was given it's name "Buffalo" by the British.
Curtiss also named several of their attack types "Shrike" just as they named several fighter types "Hawk".
Both the Fw189 and He219 were named "Uhu", too.

Naming conventions were strange at times, the British liked alliteration and series, Douglas Dakota for example, Brewster had a huge factory in New York and Buffalo is a city in New York state. It could have been worse, I mean, how did the Wildcat get called a Martlet?