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FW190

The time a P-51D pilot took off on a mission in a Mustang and an RTB took off in a German FW 190

by Till Daisd October 5, 2023

The Kommandogerat, a system of the FW 190A series that allowed boost pressure, fuel flow, mixture setting, and prop control with a single lever, made it virtually the only World War II aircraft that an enemy pilot could steal.

A highly decorated US Air Force (USAF) colonel, Bruce Ward Carr (Jan. 28, 1924 – Apr. 25, 1998) during World War II was shot down over Germany.

After evading capture for several days, he snuck into a Luftwaffe airfield and stole an enemy plane which he flew back to Allied lines. He also became a flying ace, credited with 14 victories, including five in a single day, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

Jay Thompson, a pilot and aviation expert explains on Quora.

‘In October 1944 Colonel Bruce Carr of the USAAF took off on a mission in a 354th Fighter Group P-51D and was shot down by flak while strafing ground targets over Czechoslovakia. He landed near a Luftwaffe field with the intent of surrendering to the Luftwaffe troops since they were generally much more friendly to US aircrew than were the soldiers of the German army, but it was becoming dark just as he got there, and from the trees, he watched two mechanics fuel up and then run up an FW 190A-8 and shut it back down again.

‘He decided well, that seemed to be a perfectly good airplane, why not give it a try. Near dawn, he snuck out and jumped in the cockpit, and having no knowledge of it he went with the theory that if he kept flipping switches and moving controls to the opposite position of where they currently were, he’d find the starter somehow. And damned if he didn’t, and luckily the FW 190A series included the most advanced throttle system for a WW2 aircraft called the Kommandogerat, where boost pressure, fuel flow, mixture setting, and prop were all controlled with a single lever, making it about the only plane in WW2 that an enemy pilot could steal and manage to get going down a runway with less than 30 minutes of experimentation.

‘Luftwaffe personnel were already coming out to see what was going on, so Col. Carr didn’t really have time to line up on the runway, he just gunned it across a corner of the field on a path that had him pass between two hangars before he was airborne. He was very pleased with himself when he managed to get the gear up.’

Thompson continues:

‘He then later said that he decided to fly back at treetop height in hopes of not drawing any Allied fighter attention, but said that the choice wasn’t great, because he was convinced that every .50cal M2 machine gun in existence in the 200 miles between that German airfield and his home field had taken shots at him.

‘When he got close to his squadron’s base in France, he decided not to mess around at all and line up with the runway some distance out and fly straight in before anyone could man the AA defenses – at this point in the war the Allies had pretty much total air control and there was almost no threat of German attack.

‘The only problem was that he couldn’t get the landing gear back down. Rather than make himself a target while trying to figure out what the problem was, he decided to just belly-land it. And that’s what he did, as American soldiers ran for the quad .50cal guns.

‘Needless to say, everyone was very confused when they found (then) Captain Carr sitting in the cockpit. It was an awesome opportunity for a one-liner, like “yeah, I never liked the P-51 anyway”, or maybe “you wouldn’t believe what happened in that fight yesterday, but some German is flying my P-51”, but unfortunately he was too exhausted from the adrenalin and just said something to the effect of “**** you, I’m Captain Carr of this goddamned squadron” when the first soldiers arrived and pointed lots of guns at him.

‘Col. Carr later earned the Distinguished Service Cross when he and three other P-51s climbed (very bad idea) into a formation of 60 German fighters, and shot down seven, with Col. Carr being credited with five.’

Thompson concludes:

‘I had the honor of meeting Col. Carr, I think it was 1997 down at Kermit Week’s air museum called Fantasy of Flight in Florida, and he arrived at aged 70 something, flying a P-51D that blew over our heads at about 300kts and 50 feet before breaking into a perfect entry to a final on the runway. We got to then listen to him tell this entire story, and ask him questions afterward.’

Photo by U.S. Air Force

October 5, 2023 0 comment

History

The RAF Mosquito pilot who made a landing while carrying a bullet tip from a Luftwaffe Ju 188 in his liver

by Till Daisd September 16, 2023

written by Till Daisd

A skilled Ju 188 gunner could leave his imprint even on a Mosquito, as was the case on the night of November 6–7, 1943, over the English Channel, around 30 miles south of Dungeness, in Kent

The Junkers Ju 188, an improved version of an earlier type that included more performance and advanced technology, was the pinnacle of mid-war German twin-engined aircraft design.

It was developed as a part of the 1939 “Bomber B” program to replace the Ju 88 and He 111 medium bombers. Its radical redesign of the cockpit area included all-around visibility for high-speed bombing, torpedo-bomber carrying, FuG 200 radar, and camera-equipped reconnaissance operations.

What emerged in the autumn of 1943 was a sophisticated bomber, a reconnaissance aircraft, and an intended nightfighter.

Actually, as described by Robert Forsyth in his book Junkers Ju 188 Units of World War 2, a skilled Ju 188 gunner could impact significantly even on a Mosquito, as was the case during the night of November 6–7, 1943, over the English Channel, about 30 miles south of Dungeness in Kent.

At 22:35, Sqn Ldr John Selway and Plt Off Norman Bamford of No. 85 Sqn took off in a Mosquito from West Malling to begin a patrol. They were pointed in the direction of a “Fw 190,” which they shot down in flames at 23:55 hours south of Hastings. They were then given a second vector for a different “Bandit” that was roughly 20 miles away and traveling south. The enemy aircraft was so far below the Mosquito that Selway could not have descended far below without overshooting, so he turned to starboard before turning back to port as the Mosquito approached at 6,000 feet.

Contact was reestablished with what was thought to be a Ju 188 that was “traveling very fast and weaving at about 20,000 feet.” Selway approached at about 1000 feet, but Bamford instructed his pilot to throttle back because Selway’s range was decreasing quickly. Selway was hit by a burst of fire from the Ju 188 at that precise moment, severely wounding his stomach, and he was unable to retaliate. The pilot lost control, sending the Mosquito into a dive and ending the engagement.

With his airspeed indicator and altimeter shot up as a result of a bullet entering the cockpit between the windscreen and the armor plate below it, which then crashed into the instrument panel, Selway was still able to level the nightfighter off and land it back at West Malling despite his wound. Selway entered the crew room unaided after landing, and as Jimmy Rawnsley later noted;

‘For a while, he just stood there discussing the affair with the others in his usual light-hearted fashion. He started to drink some tea, but fortunately “Rigor” Mortimer snatched the cup away from him, thereby possibly saving his life. When he started to undress, the onlookers were shocked to see that his clothes were liberally soaked in blood.’

After being sent right away to the hospital, Selway underwent an urgent operation to have the tip of a Ju 188 bullet removed from his liver. Although he survived, his second tour was over.

Junkers Ju 188 Units of World War 2 is published by Osprey Publishing and is available to order here.

Photo by: German Federal Archive and Royal Air Force

September 16, 2023 0 comment

History

Why the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 German fighter aircraft caused stir in the RAF in 1941

by Till Daisd January 4, 2023

written by Till Daisd

In September 1941, the Fw 190 entered combat over northwest France and quickly established its dominance over the Mark V Spitfire, Britain’s greatest fighter at the time

One of Germany’s top fighter aircraft during World War II, the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, flew for the first time on June 1, 1939. It first saw action in September 1941 over northwest France and quickly established its dominance over the Mark V Spitfire, Britain’s greatest fighter at the time.

‘The Fw 190 was a much more modern aircraft than the Bf-109, and had superior agility at low level than the Bf-109 E and F models,’ Arthur Major an aviation expert explains on Quora. ‘The fact it was powered by an air-cooled radial engine also made it more resistant to battle damage than contemporary fighters powered by liquid-cooled engines (this is the same reasoning that the US Navy used in selecting their aircraft).’

In addition to being superior to the Spitfire Mk V at the time of its release, the Fw 190 was also highly-liked by Luftwaffe pilots for its sturdiness and capable ground handling as well as its performance (the wide track undercarriage contributed to this).

Major goes on:

‘As to the rest of the design philosophy, Kurt Tank wanted something more than an aircraft built only for speed. Tank outlined the reasoning:

‘The Messerschmitt 109 and the British Spitfire, the two fastest fighters in the world at the time we began work on the Fw 190, could both be summed up as a very large engine on the front of the smallest possible airframe; in each case, armament had been added almost as an afterthought. These designs, both of which admittedly proved successful, could be likened to racehorses: given the right amount of pampering and easy course, they could outrun anything. But the moment the going became tough they were liable to falter. During World War I, I served in the cavalry and in the infantry. I had seen the harsh conditions under which military equipment had to work in wartime. I felt sure that a quite different breed of fighter would also have a place in any future conflict: one that could operate from ill-prepared front-line airfields; one that could be flown and maintained by men who had received only short training; and one that could absorb a reasonable amount of battle damage and still get back. This was the background thinking behind the Focke-Wulf 190; it was not to be a racehorse but a Dienstpferd, a cavalry horse.

‘Kurt Tank’s design philosophy was well warranted, and the Fw-190 turned out to be one of the best fighters in the war, serving continuously throughout and being adapted for a multitude of missions, including fighter, fighter/bomber, night fighter and as the basis for multiple experimental weapons, including rockets, guided missiles and even 30mm recoilless cannon arranged to fire upwards when triggered by the shadow of an American bomber overhead.

‘The aircraft also underwent continuing improvements, including upgrades from machine guns to automatic cannons, improved engines, and eventually replacing the radial engine with the Junkers Jumo engine (Fw 190D) and massive aerodynamic improvements to create the Ta 152, which had the potential to become one of the “ultimate” piston engine fighters, although too little, too late.

‘With regard to 1941, the RAF was indeed concerned, as the Fw 190 was wresting air superiority from the RAF over the English Channel and impeding the ability to “lean forward” into occupied Europe.’

Here’s why the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 German fighter aircraft created panic in the RAF when it appeared in late 1941 — A captured German Focke-Wulf Fw 190A-8 (W.Nr. 681497, “White 11”) of 5./JG 4 at St. Trond airfield, Belgium, circa 1 January 1945.

Major compares the Fw 190A and Spitfire V:

‘The British were keen to test captured Fw 190As during the war. The performance of the German fighter series had caused concern to RAF Fighter Command. Against the Spitfire V, the Fw 190 was found to be better in all respects with the exception of turning radius. At 2,000 ft, the Fw 190 was 25 to 30 mph faster; at 3,000 ft it was 30 to 35 mph faster. Its lowest speed advantage was 20 mph faster at 15,000 ft. At all altitudes, it remained the faster fighter. The Fw 190 was also faster in the climb. If a Fw 190 was engaged by a Spitfire V, it could use its superior roll rate to enter a dive in the opposite direction. Its dive speed would enable it to clear the Spitfire. In defensive mode, the Spitfire could evade an attack if caught at low speed only by using its advantage in turning circles. If traveling at maximum speed when engaged, the Spitfire could gain speed in the dive, forcing a longer chase, and drawing the Fw 190 further away from its landing ground.

‘Air Marshal Sholto Douglas expressed concerns that the Merlin-engine Spitfires were coming to the end of their developmental life, whereas the Fw 190 was only just beginning its career. At the time, he feared the enemy held the technological edge. Douglas determined that the Fw 190 was superior to the Spitfire V and also concluded that the Spitfire IX was also inferior in the climb and acceleration owing to negative G carburation. Douglas’ fears would prove overly pessimistic. The Spitfire IX would prove a clear match for the Fw 190A and the Griffon-engined Spitfire XIV would hold the edge on the type. In 1942 several tests were conducted by RAF pilots at the Royal Aircraft Establishment.’

Major comes to the following conclusion:

‘So initially, the Fw-190 was a superior aircraft to the RAF’s fighter fleet, and concern was well warranted until the Spitfire was improved to meet the new threat. Like everything else, there was a constant dance between the Allies and Axis as each side strove to improve their capabilities and abilities. Focke Wulf was able to surprise the RAF in 1941, and had a good, solid platform to build upon for the rest of the war.’

Photo by U.S. Air Force

January 4, 2023 0 comment

History

The final aerial victory of the European Air War on May 8, 1945

by Till Daisd December 30, 2022

written by Till Daisd

There are multiple reports of the aerial combats between American and Soviet aircraft on May 8 and thereafter.

After Adolf Hitler died by suicide on April 30, 1945, the Third Reich stumbled along for another week under the leadership of Reichsprasident Karl Donitz, a former grand admiral of the Naval High Command.

From May 1, his first day in office, until the end of the war, according to Dan Sharp’s book Spitfires Over Berlin, Donitz did everything in his power to ensure that as many German servicemen as possible could surrender to the British and Americans while concurrently pursuing the war against the Soviet Union using whatever means were still at his disposal.

On May 4, he first gave Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery control of his forces in the Netherlands, Denmark, and northwestern Germany; the conditions included a total restriction on Luftwaffe flights. With Luftwaffe’s opposition ending, this effectively brought hostilities to a close for the RAF.

The only known exception was at around 6.30 am on May 5 when a patrol of three 130 Squadron Spitfire XIVs came across a Siebel Si 204 twin-engined transport/ trainer flying over the sea west of Hamburg. After it began evasive maneuvers, it was shot down and jointly claimed by Flight Lieutenant Dudley Guy Gibbins and Warrant Officer Vic J Seymour — the last British victory of the air war.

The only known exception occurred on May 5 at approximately 6.30 am, when a patrol consisting of three 130 Squadron Spitfire XIVs came across a Siebel Si 204 twin-engined transport/trainer over the sea west of Hamburg. After it began evasive maneuvers, it was shot down and jointly claimed by Flight Lieutenant Dudley Guy Gibbins and Warrant Officer Vic J Seymour. This was the final British victory of the air war.

Final Dogfight – May 8, 1945: Who scored the last aerial victory of the air war in Europe? — P-51 Mustang

However, the fighting carried on elsewhere. On May 5, Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg and US General Dwight D. Eisenhower met in Reims, France, to begin negotiations. On May 6, German Chief of Staff Generaloberst Alfred Jodl arrived. For as long as feasible, Donitz had advised him to defer submitting to a full surrender so that additional German forces could flee the Soviets.

With Donitz’s approval, he completed the task in less than 24 hours, signing the instrument of unconditional surrender at 2.30 am on May 7. “All forces under German control to cease offensive operations at 23.01 hours, Central European time, on May 8, 1945” was a critical phase in the instrument.

American airmen stationed in England began to prepare for two very distinct missions on May 8 in the west. The 306th Bomb Group’s 12 B-17s carried out Mission 986, the Eighth Air Force’s final operational mission over Europe during the war, which comprised dropping leaflets over significant targets.

At 7:45 am, 369th Bomb Squadron aircraft took off to fly over Dunkirk. After being surrounded and subsequently bypassed by the British during the drive into occupied Europe, the fortified town was still under German control. The leaflets informed the garrison that they had been told to surrender, and the following day, they did.

However, combat continued to take place on the other side of Europe. The highest-scoring fighter ace in history, Major Erich Hartmann, 23, of I./JG 52, took out with his wingman at eight in the morning in his Bf 109s to intercept Soviet aircraft over Brno. Later in age, on reflecting on the circumstances, he recalled: “My wingman and I saw eight Yaks below us. I shot one down and that was my last victory.

I decided not to attack the others once I saw that there were 12 Mustangs on the scene above me.

“My wingman and I headed for the deck where the smoke of the bombing could hide us. We pulled through the smoke and saw once again the two allies fighting each other above us. Incredible! Well, we landed at the field and were told that the war was over.”

With 25 remaining planes destroyed and all of their remaining munitions fired into the woods, Hartmann and his men finished the war with 352 victories—started looking for British or American forces to surrender to. Despite discovering Americans, he was nonetheless handed over to the Soviets.

A ground attack unit with a Fw 190 equipped, III./SG 77, was also stationed in Czechoslovakia. Bernhard Ellwanger, a pilot underoffizier, recalled: “On May 8 all aircraft, with the exception of four, were drained of fuel. Why my crate was one of those four, I don’t know to this day.

“Led by Hauptmann Gunther Ludigkeit, Kapitan of 7. Staffel, we took off in the direction of Prague. Our mission was to destroy the Prague radio station which was in the hands of Czech partisans. When we were at 4000m Prague came in sight.

“Then I saw something I couldn’t take my eyes off: hundreds of American fighters filled the sky like some gigantic flypast at an air show. The whole mass flashed silver in the sun. The sight almost made me miss our attack. Our Schwarm dived away to port with me following.

“With the target centered in my Revi, I released my bomb at 1500m. A direct hit. Then we got out of there, eastward back to base. So ended my last sortie on the very day of the capitulation and with it my last chance of landing in the American zone.”

On May 8, at 7:54 a.m., Leutnant Gerhard Thyben of JG 54 and his wingman Fritze Hangebrauck shot down a Pe-2 while fleeing from the Courland pocket in Fw 190s. However, Oberleutnant Fritz Stehle, Staffelkapitan of 2./JG 7, is thought to have achieved the final Luftwaffe victory of the Second World War over Czechoslovakia at 4 At 3:20 pm, he took off in a Me 262 A-1a W.Nr. 111690 “White 5” to intercept Soviet Yak-9 fighters, and he was successful in shooting down one of them.

He then flew ‘White 5’ to Fassberg, where it was captured by the British.

Another Siebel Si 204 was the last American triumph and likely the last Luftwaffe aircraft to be shot down throughout the conflict. Three miles southeast of Bad Rodach, Bavaria, at 8 p.m., or three hours before the formal end of hostilities, 2nd Lieutenant Kenneth L. Swift of the 429th Fighter Squadron, 474th Fighter Group, USAAF Ninth Air Force encountered the German aircraft while flying his Lockheed P-38 Lightning “Beauty Juny.”

He fired warning shots, which were enough to prompt its pilot to crash land it. While most other USAAF units were stood down by this point, the 474th continued to provide tactical air support for the US First Army until May 9 from its air base, R-2 at Bad Langensalza. It was the only group in Northern Europe flying the P-38 by the end of the war.

His warning shots were enough to cause the plane’s pilot to crash land. The majority of other USAAF units had stood down by this point, but the 474th continued to support the US First Army with tactical air support from its air base, R-2 at Bad Langensalza, until May 9. By the conclusion of the war, it was the only group in Northern Europe flying the P-38.

Swift’s victory over the Siebel was his first and only one of the conflict, however he later added another “kill” when piloting North American F-86 Sabres in the Korean War. He was given the rank of major and afterwards joined the German Air Force as an instructor.

On May 8, 1945, nine German aircraft were estimated to have been shot down in total. Unknown numbers of Allied aircraft were shot down by Luftwaffe machines.

On May 8, the final RAF pilot to perish before the war’s formal end was killed. Flight Lieutenant Donald James Hunter, 22, of Upminster, Essex, was killed when his Spitfire, LF XVI, TB383 3W-A, experienced engine trouble during a victory flypast close to the unit’s base at Varrelbusch, Germany, and he attempted an unsuccessful emergency landing. Hunter was a member of the 322 (Dutch) Squadron.

And finally, there are multiple reports of aerial battle between American and Soviet planes on May 8 and thereafter. In one instance, Second Lieutenant Lazuta of the Soviet 106th Guards Fighter Air Regiment, based at what had been Focke-Wulf’s Cottbus factory airfield, attacked Captain Malcolm L. Nash of the 39th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, 10th Photographic Group, Ninth Air Force on May 8 while he was flying an unarmed F-5E Lightning on a PoW camp pinpointing mission near Dresden. Nash escaped the crash of the Lightning, which Lazuta mortally damaged, roughly 40 miles west of Dresden.

On the same day, two Soviet P-39s from the 100th Guards Fighter Air Regiment attacked two F-5s flown by First Lieutenant Thomas P. Petrus and Second Lieutenant Thomas Jackson near Prague. For his thirteenth and last “kill” of the war, Major Pschenitchnikov shot down Petrus, who managed to parachut to safety while suffering from serious burns. He identified the aircraft as a Focke-Wulf Fw 189.

Avro Anson Mk. XI PH539 of the Desert A Force Communication Flight was attacked by three Soviet Yaks on May 11 while flying off course close to Graz, Austria. It crashed into some trees after making a forced landing in a field.

Spitfires Over Berlin is published by Mortons Books and is available to order here along with many other beautiful aviation books.

Photo by U.S. Air Force Wikimedia Commons via Military History Now

December 30, 2022 0 comment

History

Bruce Carr, the P-51D pilot who took off in a Mustang and RTB in a Luftwaffe FW 190

by Till Daisd November 21, 2022

written by Till Daisd

Col. Carr rushed across a corner of the field, passing between two hangars, before taking off since he didn’t really have time to line up on the runway

Bruce Carr received the Distinguished Service Cross and was a lieutenant at the end of World War II. Despite all of this, he makes no claim to heroism—a dubious assertion—but he is unable to deny his involvement in a risky incident that is unlike any other in that war’s history.

‘In October 1944 Colonel Bruce Carr of the USAAF took off on a mission in a 354th Fighter Group P-51D, and was shot down by flak while strafing ground targets over Czechoslovakia,’ remembers Jay Thompson, a pilot and aviation expert on Quora. ‘He landed near a Luftwaffe field with the intent of surrendering to the Luftwaffe troops since they were generally much more friendly to U.S. aircrew than were the soldiers of the German army, but it was becoming dark just as he got there, and from the trees, he watched two mechanics fuel up and then run up an FW 190A-8 and shut it back down again.

‘He decided well, that seemed to be a perfectly good airplane; why not give it a try? Near dawn, he snuck out and jumped in the cockpit, and having no knowledge of it, he went with the theory that if he kept flipping switches and moving controls to the opposite position of where they currently were, he’d find the starter somehow. And damned if he didn’t, and luckily the FW 190A series included the most advanced throttle system for a WW2 aircraft called the Kommandogerat, where boost pressure, fuel flow, mixture setting, and prop were all controlled with a single lever, making it about the only plane in WW2 that an enemy pilot could steal and manage to get going down a runway with less than 30 minutes of experimentation.

‘Luftwaffe personnel were already coming out to see what was going on, so Col. Carr didn’t really have time to line up on the runway; he just gunned it across a corner of the field on a path that had him pass between two hangars before he was airborne. He was very pleased with himself when he managed to get the gear up.’

Thompson continues:

The Story of Bruce Carr, the P-51D Pilot who left on a mission flying a Mustang and RTB flying a Luftwaffe FW 190 — *Colonel Bruce Carr*

‘Needless to say, everyone was very confused when they found (then) Captain Carr sitting in the cockpit. It was an awesome opportunity for a one-liner, like “yeah, I never liked the P-51 anyway”, or maybe “you wouldn’t believe what happened in that fight yesterday, but some German is flying my P-51”, but unfortunately he was too exhausted from the adrenalin and just said something to the effect of “**** you, I’m Captain Carrnof this goddamned squadron” when the first soldiers arrived and pointed lots of guns at him.

‘Col. Carr later earned the DistinguishednService Cross when he and three other P-51s climbed (very bad idea) into a formation of 60 German fighters, and shot down seven, with Col. Carr being credited with five.’

Thompson concludes:

Photo by U.S. Air Force

November 21, 2022 0 comment