Fw190A of KG51

[JohnMacG6]

I was looking through an old copy of the French magazine 'Areo Journal' (#8, Aug-Sept 99) and in it there's a colour-side-view of an Fw190A-8 9K+ "red3", supposedly of 3./KG51, found at Bad Aibling in May 1945. It appears to be a completely standard A-8 with a blown hood. The only unusual thing is that it lacks the standard late-war spiral painted on the spinner.
Can anyone
a) comment on this aircraft?
and b) tell me where I can find a pic of this aircraft, either on the net or elsewhere?
TIA

[FalkeEins]

...picture is in Lorant's "Le Fw 190"..but its far too dark to make out details, apart from the small 'K' in front of the black outline Balkenkreuz..and the lack of spinner spiral..

[David E. Brown]

There are photos of two other Fw 190 A aircraft from this unit (also with red numbers outlined in white):

"9K+9" ( Fw 190 A-8 ) - found at Munich-Riem junkpile (JVC collection)
"9K+12" ( Fw 190 A-3 ) - location unknown (Experten collection)

Regarding "9K+3", I think that there are a few photos (USAAF official) of it published in the dormant magazine "Airfoil" along with a colour profile by Steve Sheflin. Perhaps someone can confirm the issue.

Cheers,

David

[Norbert Schuchbauer]

I have info that Fw 190 were flown by a pilot from 5./KG 51 from München-Riem September, October 1944 (Logbook entry). I also think that red 3 belonged to III./KG 51 not 3./KG 51. The 9K code was 1/5 the size of normal as with most late war applications for KG 51. The spiral issue can be explained through the fact that most Fw 190 with KG 51 were in the training role for NSGr 20. The training unit was also refered to as III./KG 51 Erg.-Staffel (Nacht).

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Norbert

[JohnMacG6]

So can "red3" be confirmed as an A-8, not an F?

[Wayne Little]

Red 3 pictures can be seen in Airfoil No.5 page 16 along with a profile on page 19.

Regards
Wayne Little

[S Sheflin]

I always seem to get into these discussions late.

Regarging the Bad Aibling Fw 190 9K+3, yes it is definately an A-8 or A-9. Other photos of it clearly show a 4-gun wing and underwing Morane mast.

Sadly, I have never found a Werknummer for this aircraft. While it has a 12-blade cooling fan, research now shows that that the number of fan blades is not always an indicator of the type (A-8 vs A-9 and BMW 801 model fitted).

Has anyone ever found an Allied report on the aircraft captured at Bad Aibling? By the way, please note that unlike in AIRFOIL #5, I actually spelled "Aibling" correctly.

Best regards,

Steve Sheflin