Wulf in Eagle's Clothing - Eduard Takes The Next Step in Fw 190 Modeling

Take a plane that "seems" to have been designed based on Howard Hughes' high-speed racer - the smallest, sleekest aircraft built around a powerful air-cooled radial engine - and offer it to a leadership that wasn't interested in it. That was the Focke Wulf 190. Succinctly, it was a plane that the powers-that-be in Berlin had little interest in. The war would be won, they believed, with the planes already in hand - in other words, the Bf 109 and Bf 110. Why waste time, money and production resources on a new plane, they wondered, when the war was all but won.

Focke Wulf was pushing the Fw 190 - Kurt Tank's remarkably powerful fighter - in part because they had nothing much to build for the Luftwaffe beside the long-range patrol bomber, the Fw 200 Kondor, a converted airliner which served an important, but limited role in the war. They'd rather build their own designs than subcontract Messerschmitt fighters, so they had to come up with a fighter that was better than the Bf 109, without competing for strategic resources such as the Daimler-Benz aircraft engines. Which is at least one reason why Tank selected a tightly-cowled radial - with a cooling fan between the propeller and the engine - it was used for second-line aircraft, but not for high-priority strategic aircraft.

Initially, the Fw 190 was designed to be a point-defense interceptor fighter, which meant that it could climb quickly, carry a heavy machine-gun-and-cannon armament, and had excellent all-round visibility - just what was needed for intercepting enemy bombers flying over Festung Europa. The Fw 190's first assignment was on the French coast, defending the Reich from daylight raids by British fast bombers and fighter sweeps. However, it wasn't long before Operation Barbarossa - the invasion of the Soviet Union - stalled; instead of a lightning assault, it became a grinding ground war. Stukas were once again in fashion - they could serve as flying artillery and destroy anything on the ground. However, they couldn't defend themselves, and there weren't enough Bf 109s in the theater to both hold aerial superiority and fly escort for the increasingly-vulnerable Stukas.

What the Germans needed was a plane which could carry a meaningful ground-attack bomb load, deliver its attack, then fight its way out of trouble. And that, it appeared, was the Fw 190. At first, A-model Focke Wulfs were used in that dual-mission Jabo role, but it was quickly seen that for survival on the Eastern Front, ground attack Fw's needed extra armor protection - Soviet ground fire was deadly and increasingly heavy, and with aircrew attrition reducing pilots' average skill level, every bit of extra protection was needed.

Oddly, some of the armor developed for Eastern Front ground-attack versions later appeared in up-armored bomber-attack versions designed to survive the massed .50 caliber machine-gun fire from hoards of B-17s in tight formation.

Eduard has been creating a number of truly exceptional radial-engined Fw 190s - A-5, A-8 and other variants - and it isn't surprising that they adapted those molds to create the F-8, essentially the ultimate ground-attack Focke Wulf. It took seven light-olive-colored sprues, along with clear parts, photo-etched parts and masks to cover all the options of this remarkably engineered kit. The engine alone has something like 17 million parts, and the cockpit another 147,000 parts. I've read some reports that the Eduard Focke Wulf kits were "over-engineered" - but that is a judgment call, and a call I don't share. This kit is overwhelmingly remarkable - and to some, just plain overwhelming - but I have never seen such an exquisitely designed and engineered kit. Not for the faint of heart, for sure - for those modelers (and that includes me, every time I want to relax) who ARE faint-of-heart, Eduard has their Focke Wulf Fw 190 Weekend Edition (which is a hell of a kit in its own right).



What Wikipedia Says about the F-model Focke Wulf:

Attack versions

While nearly all variants of the Fw 190 could carry bombs and other air-to-ground ordnance, there were two dedicated attack versions of the Fw 190. The Luftwaffe was looking for aircraft to replace the Henschel Hs 123 biplane, which were seriously outmatched in 1942, as well as the slow and heavy Junkers Ju 87. The excellent low-level performance and reasonably high power of the Fw 190 suggested it would be a "natural" in this role. Two versions of the Fw 190 were eventually built, customized for this mission.

Fw 190 F

Restored Fw 190 F-8 in late war markings.

The Fw 190 F was started as a Fw 190 A-0/U4. Early testing started in May 1942. This A-0 was outfitted with centre-line and wing mounted ETC 50 bomb racks. The early testing was quite good, and Focke-Wulf began engineering the attack version of the Fw 190. New armor was added to the bottom of the fuselage protecting the fuel tanks and pilot, the engine cowling, and the landing gear mechanisms and outer wing mounted armament. Finally the Umrüst-Bausätze kit 3 was fitted to the aircraft by means of a ETC 501 or ER4 centre-line mounted bomb rack and up to a SC250 bomb under each wing. This aircraft was designated the Fw 190 F-1. The first 30 Fw 190 F-1s were renamed Fw 190 A-4/U3s; however, Focke-Wulf quickly began assembling the aircraft on the line as Fw 190 F-1s as their own model with 18 more F-1s built before switching to the F-2. The Fw 190 F-2s were renamed Fw 190 A-5/U3s, which again were soon assembled as Fw 190 F-2s on the production line. There were 270 Fw 190 F-2s built according to Focke-Wulf production logs and RLM acceptance reports.

The Fw 190 F-3 was based on the Fw 190 A-5/U17, which was outfitted with a centre-line mounted ETC 501 bomb rack, and two double ETC 50 bomb racks under each wing. 432 Fw 190 F-3s were built.

Due to difficulties creating an effective strafing Fw 190 F able to take out the Russian T-34 tank, the F-4 through F-7 models were abandoned, and all attempts focused on conversion of the Fw 190 A-8.

The Fw 190 F-8 differed from the A-8 model with a slightly modified injector on the compressor which allowed for increased performance at lower altitudes for several minutes. The F-8 was also outfitted with the improved FuG 16 ZS radio unit which provided much better communication with ground combat units. Armament on the Fw 190 F-8 was two MG 151/20 20 mm cannon in the wing roots and two MG 131 machine guns above the engine. According to RLM acceptance reports at least 3,400 F-8s were built, probably several hundreds more in December 1944 and from February to May 1945 (data for these months is missing and probably lost).

Dozens of F-8s served as various testbeds for anti-tank armament, including the WGr.28 280 mm ground-to-ground missile, 88 mm Panzerschreck 2 rockets, Panzerblitz 1 and R4M rockets.

There were also several Umrüst-Bausätze kits developed for the F-8, which included: The Fw 190 F-8/U1 long range JaBo, outfitted with underwing V.Mtt-Schloß shackles to hold two 300-liter fuel tanks. ETC 503 bomb racks were also fitted, allowing the Fw 190 F-8/U1 to carry one SC 250 bomb under each wing and one SC 250 bomb on the centre-line.

The Fw 190 F-8/U2 torpedo bomber, outfitted with an ETC 503 bomb rack under each wing and a centre-line mounted ETC 504. The U2 was also equipped with the TSA 2 A weapons sighting system that improved the U2's ability to attack seaborne targets.

The Fw 190 F-8/U3 heavy torpedo bomber was outfitted with an ETC 502, which allowed it to carry one BT-1400 heavy torpedo. Due to the size of the torpedo, the U3's tail gear needed to be lengthened. The U3 also was fitted with the 2,000 PS BMW 801S engine, and the tail from the Ta 152.

The Fw 190 F-8/U4 created as a night fighter, was equipped with flame dampers on the exhaust and various electrical systems such as the FuG 101 radio altimeter, the PKS 12 automatic pilot, and the TSA 2 A sighting system. Weapons fitted ranged from torpedoes to bombs; however, the U4 was outfitted only with two MG 151/20 cannon as fixed armament.

The Fw 190 F-9 was based on the Fw 190 A-9 but with the new Ta 152 tail unit, a new bulged canopy as fitted to late-build A-9s, and four ETC 50 or ETC 70 bomb racks under the wings. According to RLM acceptance reports 147 F-9 were built in January 1945, probably several hundreds more from February to May 1945 (data for these months is missing and probably lost).