Wednesday, July 01, 2009

FW 190

I've been brushing up on my working knowledge (lol) of the FW 190, and came across the best "Wow, I wish I'd found that in the woods behind my house" video of all time (see below)...this whole military relic hunting thing is pretty cool. Of course, it goes without saying that war is bad, the Nazi regime was evil, the swastika is a symbol of hate now thanks to Hitler, etc... But shoot, what a plane. What a plane...

According to Wiki:

"The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Würger, was a German, single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed by Kurt Tank in the late 1930s. It was used by the Luftwaffe during World War II. It partially replaced the Messerschmitt Bf 109 in 1941. Over 20,000 were manufactured, including around 6,000 fighter-bomber models. Production ran from 1941 to the end of hostilities, during which time the aircraft was continually updated. Its later versions retained qualitative parity with Allied fighter aircraft. The Fw 190 was well-liked by its pilots, and was quickly proven to be superior in all but turn radius to the Royal Air Force's main front-line fighter, the Spitfire Mk. V variant, on its combat debut in 1941.The early Fw 190As performance decreased at high altitudes which complicated its use as a high altitude interceptor. These complications were mostly rectified in later models and the introduction of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190D variant. Like the Bf 109, the Fw 190 was employed as a "workhorse", and proved suitable for a wide variety of roles, including air superiority fighter, strike fighter, ground-attack aircraft, escort fighter, and night fighter. Some of the Luftwaffe's most successful fighter aces flew the Fw 190. Erich Rudorffer claimed 222 kills, Otto Kittel 267 victories, and Walter Nowotny 258 victories. A great many of their kills were claimed while flying the Fw 190..."

If you find an Fw 190 in Russia outside of Leningrad, do you stand a snowball's chance in hell of getting to keep it, and maybe sell it on Ebay, or does VladPut get to claim it to go along with Nazi war booty?




My interest in these old planes, war relics, military history in general...chalk it up to boys will be boys. How could you not think it cool to stumble across an Fw 190 whilst hiking through the woods?

This forum discusses the story behind the Fw 190 in the forest.

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