About

Focke-Wulf 190-A8 werk nummer 173056

Focke-Wulf 190-A8 werk nummer 173056 was manufactured in Cottbus, Germany in July 1944. The original data tag for the aircraft displays the letters “NAT” which suggest it was manufactured at the Focke-Wulf plant in Marienburg, Germany, however, this plant was destroyed in an air raid on the 9th of October, 1943. It is believed a number of aircraft sub-assemblies including w/n 173056 were rescued from the Marienburg ruins and transported to Cottbus, Germany for final assembly.

History suggests w/n 173056 joined Gruppe I of Jagdeschwader 11 (I./JG11) in late July/early August 1944 where it flew as “White 14”.  Jagdgeschwader 11 was a German fighter wing operating under Luftflotte 3 (Air Fleet 3) – one of the primary divisions of the German Luftwaffe in World War II. On August the 17th 1944, Luftflotte 3 was ordered to withdraw to Reims after concentrating most of its efforts on attempting to hamper Allied tanks pushing on towards Paris. By August the 30th 1944 Reims was liberated by allied ground forces and almost immediately, the United States Army Air Forces IX Engineer Command 850th Engineer Aviation Battalion cleared Reims airport of mines and destroyed Luftwaffe aircraft.

Between the end of July 1944 and the end of August I./JG11 was based at the following airfields:

26/7/44 – 8/44 Mönchen-Gladbach
8/44 – 17/8/44 Bönninghardt
17/8/44 – 25/8/44 Dammartin-en-Goele
25/8/44 – 28/8/44 Reims-Champagne

In 1989 w/n 173056 was retrieved from Reims with the intent of being restored in France.  In 2001 the wreckage was purchased by an American collector and in 2002 it was sold to Don Hansen of Louisiana USA who tasked PAI Aero with the restoration project. Major components were produced from original Focke-Wulf factory drawings and supplied by Flug Werk of Germany. The aircraft is fitted with a 14 cylinder 1900HP Ash 82T in place of the original BMW801D.

After a ten and a half year restoration Fw 190A-8, w/n 173056 took to the air on October 9th, 2011.

From 2011 to 2014 the aircraft completed its test flight regime at the hands of experienced test pilot Klaus Plasa. In late 2014 the aircraft was purchased by Raptor Aviation P/L of Australia and in July 2015 the aircraft arrived in Albury NSW where it was re-assembled and once again test flown by Klaus Plasa.

This aircraft carries a standard scheme consisting of RLM 74/75/76 with a white spiral on the spinner. It also carries the markings of the Defense of the Reich (a blue band for JG 54), and a red vertical band on the rear fuselage denoting service with III. Gruppe. The red colour means 2. (or 10.) Staffel, and the number 1 belongs to the Staffel CO which at the time was Hans Dortenmann. With 18 kills in the Fw190D-9, and 38 victory credits total, he is the leading Ace in this aircraft type.

 

Hans Dortenmann

Hans Dortenmann was born on 11 December 1921 at Weingarten in the Württemberg region. He was serving in the army as an infantryman in April 1941 but transferred to the Luftwaffe and underwent flying training. Dortenmann was posted to JG 54 on the Eastern front on completion of his flying training. Leutnant Dortenmann was assigned to 2./JG 54 and gained his first victory on 6 February 1944, when he rammed a Russian La-5 fighter. Dortenmann’s Fw 190 A-6 “Black 7” sustained damage to its left wing but he managed to fly back to Orscha-South airfield where he successfully belly-landed. He flew this day as wingman to Ulrich Wöhnert (86 victories, RK) who would confirm Dortenmann‘s first victory.
~~~ Claims verification by Nick Hector ~~~
  •  Claim 1 6.2.44/1528 La-5 PQ 06444 @ 200m Believe this was against 254 IAP, 269 IAD, 14 VA. Lt. Nazimov only damaged (engine stopped in mid-air at one stage), made it back home.
  • Claim 3 26.2.44/1225 IL-2 Sturmovik PQ 60732 @ 500m Was this claimed against 7 GShAP KBF, 1410-1415 Russian Time?
  • Claim 4…26.2.44/1552 IL-2 Sturmovik 18km E of Wesenburg @ 20m 35 ShAP KBF. 5 losses (versus 4 claims)
  • Claims 12 and 13…LaGGs on 4.4.44 Day’s Fighter losses include Mikhail Machabeli of 10 GIAP-KBF, POW whilst Aleksandr Gerasimovich Baturin was WIA but made it home
On 10 June, 2./JG 54 was withdrawn from the Eastern front and relocated to Western front to join III./JG 54. Dortenmann had accumulated 15 victories in the time he had operated over the Eastern front. Over the Invasion front, Dortenmann claimed six Allied fighters shot down. On 20 June 1944, Dortenmann was appointed Staffelkapitän of 2./JG 54, which on 10 August became 12./JG 54.
  • Claim 16 24.6.44/0715 Mustang III Evreux (PQ UC 8) @ 1800m 65 sqn, four losses: P-51B-5 43-6464/FZ123 F/S W A Summer KIA. P-51B-1-NA 43-12239/FX944/D of F/L B P W Clapin, FX988 of F/S E T Williams and FZ109 of Sgt. D C Webb all of whom evaded capture (versus 6 claims)
Dortenmann was shot down near Paris on 26 June 1944, in Fw 190 A-8 “Red 1” but managed to bale out.
  • Claim 17 4.7.44/1952 Spitfire IX Isigny/N of St. Lo (PQ 15 West S/TS-9) @ 2000m 602 “city of Glasgow” sqn, two losses: ML252 of F/O J W Kelly and MH709(?) of F/S L H Challice. Both pilots KIA (versus 4 claims)
  • Claim 18 18.7.44/0930 P-38 Lightning Dreux/Ivry-La-Bataille (PQ AC-6) @ 3000m 474th FG. Overclaiming, only 3 losses: P-38J-10-LOs 42-67518/7Y- of 429th FS, 2/Lt. Glenn W Goodrich (may not have been a fighter victim) and 42-67671/K6- of 2/Lt. Clarence R Harless Jr evaded capture plus P-38J-15-LO 43-28727/F5- of 428th FS, 2/Lt. George H Holland Jr evaded capture (versus at least 9 claims.
  • Claim 19 25.7.44/2012 Spitfire IX L’Aigle/Conches (PQ AB-3) @ 2000m 135 WG. Overclaiming, no attributable losses.
  • Claim 20 26.7.44/1453 P-38J Lightning Mortagne-au-Perche, E of Alencon/St Anne (PQ 04 Ost N/BB-5) @ 3000m 393rd FS, 367th FG. Overclaiming, only two losses: P-38J-15-LO 42-104187/8L- of Capt. Raymond R Ray evaded capture and P-38J-25-LO 44-23681/8L- of 1/Lt. Burnus W Hayden KIA (versus 5 claims)
In mid-August, III./JG 54 was withdrawn to Germany to refit. In late September the Gruppe received its first Fw 190 D-9 fighters, becoming operational on 12 October when after only a few weeks of training, at the request of Major Nowotny, III./JG 54 under Oberleutnant Wilhelm Heilmann (34 victories) went to Hesepe and 12./JG 54 under Leutnant Dortenmann went to Achmer to fly airfield protection for the Me 262 jet fighters of Kommando Nowotny, remaining there until 25 December.
  • Claim 21 2.11.44/1230 B-17G-65-BO Flying Fortress Engelbertswald, SE of Lingen (PQ FQ-1) @ 5000m 43-37531 “Quien Sabe?” of 708th BS, 447th BG. 4 KIA, 5 POW (attributed to Flak)
  • Claim 22 6.11.44/1104 P-51D-10-NA Mustang Epe, 3km NW of Braamsche (PQ GR-1) @ 200m 44-14229/QP-N of 334th FS, 4th FG. 1/Lt Earl C Walsh, baled out and POW
  • Claim 23 7.11.44/1530 Tempest V 7.11.44/1530 EJ632 of 274 sqn. F/S R C Cole POW

On 25 December, III./JG 54 was placed under the operation control of Major Karl Borris (43 victories, RK) of I./JG 26 for Operation Bodenplatte. On 29 December 1944, Dortenmann shot down an RAF Spitfire in the Münster area on a day that III./JG 54 lost its Gruppenkommandeur Hauptmann Robert Weiss (121 victories, RK-EL) in addition to 12 other pilots in combat with Spitfires and Typhoons. 

  • Claim 24 29.12.44/1250 Spitfire Muenster-Handorf area (PQ GS-JQ) 401 sqn RCAF.Overclaiming, only one loss: MK300 of F/L E B “Paddy” Sheehy KIA (versus 3 claims)

While aloft with his staffel, he refused a suicidal order by control to descend to low altitude. His court-martial was ordered but the following day he was named acting Gruppenkommandeur of III./JG 54. Dortenmann was named acting Gruppenkommandeur of III./JG 54 on 30 December and remained in this role until 11 February 1945.

On 1 January 1945, Dortenmann led III./JG 54 on Operation Bodenplatte against Brussels-Grimbergen airfield, from which 12 of its 17 pilots that flew the mission failed to return. 12./JG 54 was disbanded on 19 February 1945 with its pilots being distributed throughout the rest of III./JG 54 and Dortenmann taking command of 11./JG 54.
  • Claims 25 and 26. 13.2.45/1656 and 1700 2 x P-47 Thunderbolts Nassau sector One of these was P-47D-6-RE Thunderbolt 42-74657/3T- of 22nd FS, 36th FG. David Irving Swope POW
  • Claim 27 21.2.45/1730 P-51B-1-NA or C-1-NT Mustang III Metelen area, SW of Rheine 315 sqn, 2 losses: P-51C-1-NT 42-103119/FB225 of F/S J Donocik KIA and P-51B-1-NA 43-12234/FX939 of Sgt. T P Kostuch, POW (the other victory was claimed by Guenther Rey or Willi Heilmann)
  • Claim 28 22.2.45/1400 P-51D-10-NA Mustang Farwick, NW of Quackenbrueck 44-14747/N2-Y “Rough Rider” of 383rd FS, 364th FG. 1/Lt Frederic Ross, baled out WIA-POW
On 25 February, III./JG 54 was absorbed into JG 26 with Dortenmann’s 11./JG 54 becoming 14./JG 26. 
  • On 19 March, Dortenmenn claims 2 Mustangs shot down for his 29th and 30th victories.
The scene depicted in “Dora Dazed” by Troy White took place on 19 March 1945. The encounter between Dortenmann’s Doras and USAAF Mustangs of the 78th Fighter Group is well documented. On that date, the 78th Fighter Group Was involved in a fight with Bf109’s of JG 27 as Dortenmann’s Staffel was returning from a patrol. With an altitude advantage, they surprised elements of the 84th Fighter Squadron who were concentrating on the 109’s. “Shampoo” Flight consisting of four Mustangs led by Major Harry Downing, CO of the 84th Fighter Squadron lost three planes with Downing falling to the guns of Oberleutnant Dortenmann. “While flying southeast at 4000 meters we encountered 8 Mustangs below us and about 5 enemy fighters flying above us in the clouds. I immediately dived on one of the Mustangs climbing up toward us. I attacked from above and behind and fired from 50-20 meters while semi-inverted in a steep left turn. I saw effective hits in the right wing, fuselage and engine. I was getting too close and had to break off and consequently could not follow the enemy fighter as it went down. I saw no parachute.”
  • Claim 29 19.3.45/1336 P-51D-15-NA Mustang SW of Haseluenne/Rheine-Lingen Possibly 44-15675/WZ-W of 84th FS Lt. Thomas N Reeves Jnr as he was believed to have been lost at the same time as Downing
  • Claim 30 19.3.45/1337 P-51D-20-NA Mustang Rheine-Lingen Said to be 44-72407/WZ-E of 84th FS, 78th FG, Maj. Harry L Downing, baled out, POW or evaded. His victory over Maj. Downing was confirmed by Unteroffizier Kurt Hein: “I was flying 50 meters behind and to the left of my Schwarm leader and saw Oblt. Dortenmann score hits on the right wing, fuselage and cockpit. Shortly thereafter I saw the right wing break off in the middle and the aircraft went down in a vertical dive in flames. I did not see it crash as I made my own attack and shot down a Mustang from behind. (Possibly Lt. Reeves) Oblt. Dortenmanns victory occurred at 1.36 pm at 3500 meters in grid square FQ 4. I saw no parachute.” Downing, however, did manage to bail out and spent the rest of the war as a guest of the German government. For the painting composition, the artist chose to depict Major Downing exiting his stricken P-51 just prior to the right wing fuel tank fully igniting and causing the wing to shear off. The 78th Fighter Group claimed 32 enemy fighters destroyed (6 FW 190’s and 24 Me109’s) against the loss of five P-51s. It was their most successful combat of the war. Actual German losses in this combat, however, were only four FW 190s and 14 destroyed or damaged Me109s.
On 29 March 1945, Oberleutnant Dortenmann was appointed Staffelkapitän of 3./JG 26.
  • Claim 31 28.3.45/1135 Tempest V 5km SW of Muenster 56 sqn. Overclaiming, only one loss: NV973/B of Sgt. S A Shepherd KIA (also claimed by Prager and Hein)
  • Claim 32 31.3.45/1446 L-4 Grasshopper (claimed as an “Auster”) Drenstein (PQ JQ-8)/Ludwighausen/Ahlen, SW of Muenster 44-80116/49-W of 2nd Armd Div. Lt Emerick, pilot, and Capt Mahon, observer both crashlanded safely.
On 12 April 1945, Dortenmann gets into a large air battle and claims a Tempest and a Spitfire destroyed.
  • Claims 33 and 34 12.4.45/1253 and 1254 2 x Tempest V 15km N of Uelzen 33 sqn, two lost immediately and a third written off upon return to base: NV783 of F/S P C Walton baled out and evaded, NV919 of Sgt. J Staines KIA. SN180/V of Capt. E D Thompson SAAF, damaged beyond repair. (Versus 6 claims)
  • Claim 35 17.4.45/1134 Tempest V SW of Luebeck 80 sqn. Overclaiming, only one loss: NV991 of F/O L A Smith DFC or DFM KIA (also claimed by Boecker and Soeffing)
He was awarded the Ritterkreuz on 20 April for 35 victories. During this period he flew 28 ground-attack missions claiming a transport glider, two aircraft, one tank car, seven trucks, three armoured infantry vehicles and an anti-aircraft position destroyed.
  • Claim 36 21.4.45/1519 Spitfire Buchholz (S of Harburg) Overclaiming, no traceable losses (Versus 3 claims)
  • Dortenmann scored his final two victories, his 37th and 38th, on 26 and 27 April 1944, his last mission. Both of his victims were Russian Yak-3 fighters over Berlin.
On 4 May 1945 Oberleutnant Dortenmann led I./ JG 26 on a fighter sweep to the Kiel Canal. It was the last combat mission for JG 26. Just before surrendering to Americans, Hans blew up his beloved Dora 9, in which he had survived in combat since the previous autumn, in one final act of defiance. This Dora was the very first Dora 9 to enter combat. Hans was made a prisoner of the British but was soon released. After the war, Dortenmann became an architect based in Heidelberg. He died on 1 April 1973.
In 150 combat missions, Hans Dortenmann was credited with 38 victories. He gained 16 victories over the Eastern front and 22 over the Western front, including one four-engine bomber and six Mustangs. He recorded 18 victories with Fw 190 D-9 (W.Nr. 210 003) making him the most successful fighter pilot with this type.

 

Flug Werk GmbH Germany

  • 14 man-years were needed to collect all necessary data prior to the start of the FW 190 project in 1996.
  • The Focke Wulf factory in Bremen had been captured by British forces in 1945 and many of the original drawings were stored at the IWM (Imperial War Museum) facility at Duxford.  At the direction of Herbert Tischler, a former WW2 Luftwaffe apprentice, David Potter,  searched through 80+ wooden “tea chests” to sift through the dusty drawings which had last been viewed/inventoried with handwritten notes in 1947. Everything from full-scale blueprints, fabrication and jigging instructions to flight testing notes and office stationary requisition forms were discovered. Approximately 65-70% of the original main- and GA-drawings drawings required to remanufacture an FW190 were in the collection.
  • The remaining data were retrieved by means of reverse-engineering, where about 3.5 tons of original Fw 190 wreckage was used to get all critical measurements. At the end of the process, about 34.000 (!) hours were spent to complete the documentation.
  • About  80% of the aircraft structures are also electronically documented, using AutoCAD tools.
  • The complete aircraft is documented in roughly 8000 individual drawings for the aircraft structures and related systems. This number includes drawings for tools and jigs as well.
  • More than 970 tools were manufactured in order to fabricate the structures ( needed to stamp ribs etc.).
  • 15 jigs were made to precisely assemble all subassemblies and allow the final joining of the fuselage- and wing structures. Setting up the jigs in order to form an assembly-line occupied the space of two tennis courts.
  • All hardware conforms to the former German RLM-Standards ( metric ). Even to the point where all countersunk riveting was done with special-made 120° rivets.
  • The raw materials are equal to or better in all their physical/mechanical/chemical properties than the wartime steel- or aluminium alloys, due to the shortage of strategic alloying ingredients in war-time Germany. No-one should consider flying on an original WWII  Fw 190 wing spar, as these are made of inferior materials!
  • Flug Werk GmbH built thirteen FW 190 aircraft. The proof-of-concept prototype ( the very first airframe ) went on to become the main-display-item in a Hannover museum. Another “Shortnose” is with the German Luftwaffe Museum in Berlin, which also received a complete wing to supplement their Fw 190 D 9 project.
  • The last two airframes ( Manufacturing Nos. 11 and 12 ) conform to FW 190 D9/N standards.
  • The complete structure, the flight control system, as well as the landing gear system can be considered 98% true to the original.
  • A major task was to fit a proper engine to the airframe. The only worthy substitute for the original BMW 801 is the Russian-designed “Asch 82 T” engine. This powerplant is almost identical to the BMW. It has the same weight, diameter, length, swept volume and is also direct fuel-injected. It has about 200 hp more available at the disposal of the pilot than the BMW 801 D ( @ 1760 hp ). Nevertheless, it is not a copy of the German engine, since it is a technological brainchild of the “Wright Cyclone” in contrast the “P&W Wasp”, being the design-ancestor to the “BMW 801” engine development. Only the fuel-injection seems to have some, assumingly “unwanted”, but obvious German design influence. Yet it is the perfect match for the FW 190 airframe.
  • All aspects of the engine-installation were precalculated and proven in theory, such as cooling airflow, the efficiency of the cooling-fan, oil-cooling and a stress-analysis of the newly designed engine mount, by a very skilled stress-analyst and a designer-engineer of the University of Munich’s aeronautical branch.
  • A complete exhaust system needed to be designed, following the original BMW’s confinements. It comprises of 14 individually formed exhaust stacks.
  • A computer-animated wind-tunnel analysis was performed in order to define the position of the oil cooler, which is located in the position of the two machine-guns just ahead of the windshield.
  • A complete stress-report and analysis were performed on the main landing gear legs and its oleo-dampening system as well.
  • Even the electrically operated gear-uplocks were replicated down to the most minute item.
  • The same company that provided the cyclo-type gear-boxes for the retraction of the landing gear during WWII, supplied the same –yet more rugged- reduction drives for the new FW 190’s.
  • An original canopy was retrieved from the lake-bed of “Lake Constanz” and was used to manufacture the plug for heat-forming the new acrylic canopies. Both canopy styles were available, the drawn (  A5 to A8 ) and the blown ( F8 / D9 ) style hoods.
  • Since the FW 190 is a high-performance aircraft, even by today’s’ standards, the windshield has kept its original thickness of 50 mm, in order to protect the pilot from any flying creatures which might get in the way of the “Würger”.
  • The paint is made by the once original war-time paint manufacturer “Warnecke und Böhm”, albeit with modern ingredients, now being epoxy/acryl-based enamels. The company has invested a great amount of research and development in order to be able to supply all needed RLM colour-shades in the correct gloss and pigment-count.
  • The three-bladed propeller was specially manufactured by “MT-Propeller” in Straubing / Germany. The blades are an exact copy of the wooden blades, destined for the Fw 190 A 10 – a “hopped up” version, with the BMW 801 TJ engine of 2000 hp and thus exactly matching the higher output of the Asch 82 motor).
  • All in all, it can be stated that the Flug Werk FW 190 A8/N, as well as the FW 190 D9/N, are exact copies of the Fw 190 “Würger / Butcher Bird” and after mastering a seemingly endless –and quite discouraging at times- list of tasks, hurdles and setbacks, the firm has reproduced one of the most important and the first true multi-role fighter of German WWII  aviation. The Flug Werk FW 190 shall serve as a living example of the once rich and cutting-edge German aviation industry and also keep a living memory of the brave men, who fought in this flying war-horse until the very last hours of an ill-fated war