[Seaplanes]

Regarding the six-digit Werknummer system introduced from summer 1942 as a trial and made compulsary by RLM for most manufacturers from early 1943, is based on a system were the main factory, like Focke-Wulf for themselves and for all their licencees, issued a two-digit number identifying the producer and the model of the aircraft, followed by four digits which was the actual Werk-nummer. RLM ordered the factories to make gaps in the series of Werk-nummern, to make it more difficult for enemy intelligence to reconstruct production batches. As it was up to each factory, like Focke-Wulf, to issue the two digits to their licencees, it is obvious that aircraft from different producers could end up with the same six-digit Werk-nummer. However, aircraft of the same main type, like Fw 190, never received duplicated Werk-nummern. I have for years believed that these Werk-nummern were issued by RLM to each factory, but this seems not to be the case.