Hi Maksim,
Thanks for the reply. I've now done a bit of digging, and I was only partially correct when I wrote that the
Überholung column: “usually doesn't indicate heavily damaged aircraft, but war-weary aircraft”. Some aircraft in the
Überholung column were indeed heavily damaged in combat or accidents and sent to be repaired, but some had suffered only minor damage, others were just war-weary, and others were older variants sent to be overhauled before going to a training unit or similar.
Here are some examples of aircraft from France, where there are records for incoming aircraft to the AGO repair unit at Villacoublay. These were all aircraft entering front-line service in late 1941 and early 1942:
FW 190 A-2 WNr. 0203, 25% damaged 28.03.42, to AGO 30.04.42
FW 190 A-2 WNr. 0207, built 1941, no loss reports, to AGO 02.02.43 [presumably war-weary]
FW 190 A-2 WNr. 0211, built 1941, no loss reports, to AGO 02.04.43 [presumably war-weary]
FW 190 A-2 WNr. 0213, 10% 31.05.42, to AGO 06.04.43 [presumably war-weary]
FW 190 A-2 WNr. 0216, 70% 10.11.42, to AGO 01.12.42
FW 190 A-2 WNr. 0218, 30% 23.05.42, to AGO 14.12.42 [presumably war-weary]
FW 190 A-2 WNr. 0220, 20% 05.08.42, to AGO 18.08.42
FW 190 A-2 WNr. 0221, built 1941, no loss reports, to AGO 17.09.42 [presumably war-weary]
FW 190 A-2 WNr. 0224, 25% 30.07.42, to AGO 11.08.42
FW 190 A-2 WNr. 0228, 20% 29.05.43, to AGO 13.06.43
FW 190 A-2 WNr. 0233, built 1941, no loss reports, to AGO 29.05.43 [presumably war-weary]
FW 190 A-2 WNr. 0235, built 1941, no loss reports, to AGO 23.09.43 [presumably war-weary]
FW 190 A-3 WNr. 0244, built 25.02.42, no loss reports, to AGO 20.01.44 [presumably war-weary]
FW 190 A-2 WNr. 0249, built 1941, no loss reports, to AGO 08.06.43 [presumably war-weary]
FW 190 A-2 WNr. 0251, built 1941, 60% 06.09.42, to AGO 20.09.42
FW 190 A-2 WNr. 0252, built 1941, no loss reports, to AGO 02.04.43 [presumably war-weary]
FW 190 A-3 WNr. 0256, built 1942, no loss reports, to AGO 05.01.43 [presumably war-weary]
FW 190 A-2 WNr. 0261, built 1941, no loss reports, to AGO 19.04.43 [presumably war-weary]
FW 190 A-2 WNr. 0263, built 1942, no loss reports, to AGO 12.10.42 [presumably war-weary]
FW 190 A-2 WNr. 0272,built 1941, 30% 19.08.42, to AGO 07.06.43 [presumably war-weary]
FW 190 A-2 WNr. 0275, built 1941, 70% 31.10.42, to AGO 09.11.42
Some of the above were damaged and sent to AGO within a couple of weeks. Others were clearly just considered war-weary and sent for overhauling. As you can see, the FW 190 A-2s without loss reports were generally sent for repair/overhaul when the variant was superseded by the FW 190 A-4, in late-1942 and the first half of 1943. Thus I'm not sure all the figures in the
Überholung column should be considered as aircraft damaged by enemy action or in accidents. For J.G. 52 in May 1944, you can't really say that there were “20 heavily damaged (required extensive repair on a factory)”. Some of the twenty might have been damaged and sent for repair, but certainly not all of them.
Interesting figures you've got there for the overhauled versus received from repair columns. Thanks for sharing them.
As I said in my previous post, I don't know much about this topic. Hopefully the likes of Andreas or Gerhard can step in and provide their thoughts.
Cheers,
Andrew A.
Air War Publications –
www.airwarpublications.com/earticles