1 June 1939: At Bremen, Germany, Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau AG chief test pilot Flugkapitän Hans Sander took the first prototype of a new fighter, Fw 190 V1, W.Nr. 0001, registration D-OPZE, for its first flight. The Fw 190 was designed as a fast light-weight fighter with a powerful engine, easy to maintain under field conditions and able to absorb a reasonable amount of combat damage. The landing gear had a wide track which improved ground handling and was an advantage when operating on unimproved airfields. The mechanism used the gear’s own weight to lower it into place. Another interesting feature was to use of pushrods and bearings in place of the common cables and pulleys used to operate the flight controls. This gave a more precise, responsive operation. Also, the recent introduction of vacuforming allowed a large one piece “bubble” canopy to be used rather than the plexiglas/metal framework which was used in other fighters, such as the Messerschmitt Bf 109. Focke-Wulf frequently named its airplanes after birds. The Fw 190 was known as the Würger, or Shrike. Fw 190 V1 was 8.730 meters (28 feet, 7¾ inches) long with a wingspan of 9.500 meters (31 feet, 2 inches). It weighed approximately 3,000 kilograms (6,615 pounds). V1, the first prototype, was powered by a 55.4-liter (3,380.4 cubic inch) air-cooled, supercharged BMW 139 two row, 18-cylinder radial engine which produced 1,529 horsepower. This engine was developed from the Pratt and Whitney R-1690 Hornet which BMW built under license. A redesign of the engine resulted in the 14-cylinder BMW 801 which was used in the production Fw 190. To minimize aerodynamic drag, this large radial engine was tightly cowled and a large propeller spinner used. Cooling air entered through an opening at the center of the spinner and a fan between the propeller and the front of the engine circulated air. This was unsatisfactory and was significantly changed with the second prototype. The propeller was a three-bladed Vereingite Deutsche Metallwerke (VDM) variable pitch unit with a diameter of 3.460 meters (11 feet, 4¼ inches). It was driven at 54% of engine speed through a reduction gear unit. After testing by Focke-Wulf at Bremen, Fw 190 V1 was flown to the Luftwaffe test site at Rechlin-Lärz Airfield. Its identification markings were changed to FO+LY. Later, they were changed again to RM+CA. V1 continued to be used for testing until 29 March 1943. The Fw 190 was the most effective of Germany’s world War II fighters. More than 20,000 were built in 16 variants. The Focke-Wulf factory at Marienburg and the AGO Flugzeugwerke at Oschersleben were frequently attacked by Allied bombers. r/max
Posted on: Sun, 01 Jun 2014 19:00:00 +0000