Photos 4-20

[Rabe Anton]

Gents,

There are some odd things going on with the Fw 190F-8 photographs under discussion in this thread. There are no great qestions of history to be resolved, but several curiousities are manifested in the photos. A discussion might be interesting.


• Werknummer - I'm close to David Brown on this one. Before reading his post, I interpreted the number as 931 527. Production block data not to hand for me. Does any reader know the possibilities for either 931 327 or 931 527?


• The Aircraft Remains - Only the rather bent fuselage and empennage are visible in the photos. So where are the wings? And, perhaps, the engine? See below.


• Setting - The photos are thought to have been taken in Albania. But wait a minute, boys and girls! Last I heard, Albania was a Muslim country. Sure looks like a Christian cemetery behind the airplane!!! And . . . what the heck is a Focke Wulf Fw 190F-8 doing wrecked in Albania, of all places? Of course, airplanes fly, and they can fly many places. But a Fw 190F-8 wrecked in Albania? What are the chances, please?


• Wonderment - Now, finally, these Fw 190 photos are truly remarkable images (to me, at least) as evocations of the horrors of war. Perhaps they're a little too evocative, a little too symbollic, a little too good to be chance. Given the above questions and one known example (the "put together" Bf 109 standing on its nose photo'd by Soviets in the ruins of Stalingrad), is it possible that the photos of the Fw 190F-8 were (a) not taken in Albania at all, and (b) deliberately posed or staged by a war photographer (I suggest Soviet, for several reasons)?


If some or all of this thesis be true, it could explain the lack of wings and engine in the wreckage; the oddly intact fuselage; the lack of an impact gouge or skid marks; and the suspiciously serendipitous setting.

RA