[Rabe Anton]

Salut RT et al.!

Thank you so much for posting the photograph of an Fw 190A seemingly bearing WNr. 300 400. The visible characteristics pose an interesting question.

An official Focke Wulf factory document dated 15 Dec. 1944 listing all Fw 190 Werknumern-Hersteller two-letter numbers as of that date plus the same for projected Ta 152 production shows no Fw 190 Werknummer allocations in the 30x xxx range. This generates the question, What's the Focke Wulf in the photograph doing showing what appears to be a Werknummer beginning with "30?" Possibilities that occur to me are:

(1) Mimetall-Erfurt produced Fw 190A-8s in the 38x xxx range. Owing to the style of the numbers employed, It seems possible that the actual Werknummer is 380 400. Mimetall-Erfurt, moreover, applied its Werknummer in exactly the same position and style as on the aircraft in the photograph.

(2) I manipulated the photograph provided, and the "300" does, in fact, seem to be "300" and not "380."

(3) Another explanation might be a simple mistake at the factory whereby 300 400 was applied instead of 380 400.

(4) Finally, it is conceivable that Focke Wulf or one of its licensees produced Fw 190s with Werknummern in the 30x xxx range in the early part of 1945. Such production would have been after the 15 Dec. 1944 list and thus would not have appeared on it or might not have been projected for use as of mid-Dec. 1944.

I, and I expect others, would be most pleased to have further commentary on this question. Ch. Bavarois, P. Rodeike, would you like to comment?

RA