Fw190 Wn 300400

[RT]

Amazed that this plane

http://fw190.hobbyvista.com/mombeek1.jpg

Dont raised more comments, are there any other planes known in this range ??
I mean 300xxx ??

Rémi

[Charles Bavarois]

Hello Remí,

there was no production block 300.xxxx with Fw 190s.

IMHO it's Werknummer 380400, a Fw 190 A-8 from Mimetall-production.
The a/c was delivered to I/EJG 1 on 6. Dez 1944 (Ultra Hw 5/627).

Greetings

Carl

[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

[Charles Bavarois]

Hello RA,

as you wrote, the location and style of the Werknummern shown on this a/c is quite unique on late Fw 190s. AFAIK we can only find them on Fw 190 As of the 380.xxx Werknummernblock. Mimetall D-9s use the same odd location and style.

Published photos have 380170, 380352, 380374 and 380394. The photo of 380352 is rather clear and one can see, that the left part of the stencil for the number "8" has only a very small extension on the right side representing the "middle bar" of an arabic numer "8". The right part of the stencil has no middle bar at all, but only a hardly recognisable dent on its outer side just were you expect the waist of the "8". All in all, the numbers "0" and "8" are very, very similar.

We have quite a lot of reports on Fw 190s from 380.xxx, but not a single one from 300.xxx, so I assume it to be 380400. A hitherto unknown 300.xxx production-block at Mimetall next to the 380.xxx may be possible, but I regard this as highly unlikely. The real expert on Fw 190 is Gerhard Stemmer. He certainly can help us much more.

Greetings

Carl

[Merlin]

I have a better copy of this photo from the Carlsen/Meyer collection, it is clearly 380400.

[RT]

Nd as reported already, the 380400, was quoted 2 times one time to enter on the I.EJG1, the other on 8.febr.45 to go out, possibly ot was damaged

Rémi

[Kutscha]

http://fw190.hobbyvista.com/werkn.htm

Focke-Wulf 190 F-8
Block Remarks Sources
190 001 - 190 030 ??? [3]
300 000 - ? ??? [2]

[ChristianK]

If it helps, a photo of 380374 at Pilsen...

Cheers,
Christian

[RT]

iT's helping, in the sense that is clearly showing a way to make the 8 to fool people

Rémi

[Rabe Anton]

Servus, Carl!

Thank you very much for your very clear and lucid commentary on Fw 190A-8.
We do not differ in any way about the correct Werknummer. And like others,
I've no indication of any Fw 190s with construction numbers beginning
with 30x xxx.

One other thing—may I compliment you on your English capability. The
language is not especially easy to handle in a natural way!

RA