Performance of the Fw 190A on the Deck?

[Crumpp]

Hi Art,

We had some Vets from the 9th AF in the museum a while back. I will get more details from Mark as he related their story to me.

Anyway, it went something like this:

In the last few days of the war their flight came across an FW-190A down low. Wanting to take a good peek at this lone aircraft, the flight moved up on the 190's rear unnoticed. As the lead P51 moved off to the side to get a better look, the German pilot realized he had 4 P51's on his tail.

In an obvious panic, he rolled, split-S, and dove away. They followed him. After leveling off at treetop height, black smoke poured from the 190 and he left the P51's behind.

Oskar Bösch also outturned and outran a P51 flight over the Ardennes in December 1944. He told me that the first Mustang overshot him as he banked hard right. He then entered a turn fight with that Mustang which went for several circles before gaining gun solution. When he looked back, he saw a several Mustangs in the same circle. That is when he broke hard, opened up his "Ribbennol", and dove for the trees. He counted 5 Mustangs in pursuit that eventually gave up the chase.

http://baileyprints.com/prints/war-wolf.html

Oskar credits the low level speed of the FW190 as the reason he survived the war. In his words, "In my Focke, I feared no fighter I could see."

Thank you Art for your service to mankind. It is the reason why we can openly discuss these events today.

All the best,

Crumpp