TAMIYA
Tamiya 60766 Focke Wulf 190 A-3
Tamiya 60766 Focke Wulf 190 A-3 1/72 SCALE Plastic assembly kit. The Focke-Wulf Fw-190 is a German, single-engine, all-metal, covered-cabin fighter aircraft in the World War II low-wing design. Pilots considered the Fw-190 a better aircraft than the Messerschmitt Bf-109. A self-supporting low-wing with a working Fw-190 skin was commissioned by the Luftfahrtministerium, assembled in the autumn of 1937. Kurt Tank presented two propulsion proposals: the first with a liquid-cooled Daimler-Benz DB 601 engine and the second with the new BMW 139 radial engine. The latter was chosen and the work begun in the spring of 1938 was led by Obering R. Blaser. The first prototype of the Fw-190V1 was ready in May 1939 and was flown in Bremen on 1 June 1939 by Captain Hans Sander. The second prototype, the FW-190V2, armed with two MG131 and two MG17 machine guns, all 7.92 mm caliber, was flown in October 1939. To reduce drag, both were equipped with a tunnel intake in the propeller cowl, but engine overheating problems led to a return to the proven NACA shield design. Before testing of these prototypes finally began, the decision had already been made to replace the engine of the BMW 139 with a stronger, but longer and heavier BMW 810. This required many modifications, strengthening the structure and moving the cockpit back, which later became a source of problems with the center of gravity. The advantage was the removal of exhaust gas permeation problems and overheating of the cockpit due to its direct proximity to the BMW 139 engine. The third and fourth prototypes were abandoned, and at first the Fw-190V5 was completed with the new engine of 1940. Later, it received wings with a wingspan enlarged by one meter (from the original 9.5 m), which made it 10 km/h slower, but increased the rate of climb and improved maneuverability . It was marked Fw-190V5g and the shorter wing variant was Fw-190V5k. The first seven machines of the information series Fw-190A-0 had a short wing, the rest - a longer one. The first operational unit equipped with the Fw-190 - 6./JG 26 stationed at Le Bourget, declared its operational availability in August 1941 and from the first encounter of the new fighter with the British Supermarine Spitfire its advantage over of them. During the war, a dozen versions of this large aircraft were created. The "A" version machines, along with about a dozen upgrades, served as fighter aircraft. The versions marked "B" and "C" were only high-altitude fighter prototypes intended to fight strategic bombers, but did not go into series production. The "D" variant, as the only one of the Fw-190s, was powered by the new 1750 hp Jumo 213A engine and was the German answer to the P-51 Mustang. The new engine extended the fuselage by several tens of centimeters. This variant also primarily performed high-altitude hunting and hunting duties. Numerous variants of the "F" version were used as fighter-bombers in direct battlefield support. The "G" version performed the same role as the "F" version, but had a longer range. During the entire war, over 20,000 copies of this one of the best fighters of the Second World War were produced. Technical data (Fw-190A-8 version): length: 9 m, wingspan: 10.51 m, height: 3.95 m, maximum speed: 656 km/h, rate of climb: 15 m/s, maximum range : 800 km, maximum ceiling 11410 m, armament: fixed-2 13 mm MG131 machine guns and 4 20 mm MG151 cannons (2 MG 151 / 20E cannons for the D-9 version).
