Quick technical question about the FW190

[leonventer]

Hi Leo,

Thanks very much for your post. You're absolutely correct and I was wrong.

Despite having over 150 books on the radial-engined versions of the Fw 190, I made the regrettable blunder of consulting only 2 of them before posting my earlier response to Giampiero's question.

The offending books are:

• "Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Volume One 1938-1943" by Smith and Creek, Classic Publications, 2011
  On page 291, it states that the larger dimensions of the outer MG151/20 cannons introduced on the A-6 "resulted in a modified wing with a flat bulge on the upper surface to accommodate the more advanced weapons."
• "The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Radial-Engined Versions (Second Edition)" by Franks, Valiant Wings Publications, 2019
  Pages 143 & 144 contain diagrams depicting the A-6 variant and its many sub-variants. All of them feature the rectangular bulges over the outer guns, captioned as "MG151/20 cannon bulges in upper wing panels."

However, this information is INCORRECT according to a more reliable reference, namely:

• "Focke Wulf Jagdflugzeug: Fw 190 A, Fw 190 'Dora', Ta 152 H" by Peter Rodeike, Struve Druck, 1998

Herr Rodeike shows convincingly, via drawings and photos in his chapters on the A-6, A-7 and A-8 variants, that the outer MG151/20 did not require an upper rectangular bulge. It was only necessary on machines designed to fit outer MK108s.

To summarize:

• The A-6 did NOT have the rectangular bulges.
  (Note: The Franks book depicts an experimental A-6/R-12 sub-variant that was fitted with outer MK108s, so it presumably would have had bulges.)
• The A-7 sub-variants fitted with outer MG151/20s did NOT have bulges. However, some A-7s carried outer MK108s, and those DID have bulges.
• On the A-8, it's a bit more complicated. Some A-8s with outer MG151/20s did NOT have bulges, but other A-8s were produced with a 'universal' wing that could accommodate either an outer MG151/20 or MK108, so all these latter machines DID have bulges, regardless of the weapon type.
• For the A-9, things are a bit fuzzy because I'm not sure if all of them had the 'universal' wing.

Hope that clarifies things a bit. My apologies for spreading misinformation.

Regards,
Leon Venter