Impact of Fw 190A introduction in the east

[DavidIsby]

The introduction of the Fw 190A to combat on the eastern front in 1942 did not have anything like the impact it had on RAF Fighter Command when it had first entered combat the year before.

Much of this reflects the Fw 190's limited numbers and engine reliability issues in 1942, the fact that they were used for air-ground missions, and that most air combat in the east was below the medium altitude where the Fw 190 proved so effective in 1941-42 against the RAF.

It also remains that the highest-scoring German aces in the east flew Bf 109s.

I would be most interested in any sources or insights for this.

thanks,
David Isby

[FalkeEins]

David,

interesting assertions...a couple of thoughts

in the West by early-mid 1942 you have an almost unbroken 'chain' of Fw 190 units running from northern Germany down the Channel to the Atlantic coast, with numbers concentrated in a comparatively small area for specific operations ie Donnerkeil, Dieppe etc

Over Russia the Fw 190 was introduced piecemeal with the emphasis firstly on Staffel-size Jabo and then Schlacht units as you point out..

Nowotny’s Kaczmarek Karl “Quax” Schnörrer wrote the following about the northern sector in early 1943;

“ as a fighter pilot I was starting to get the unpleasant feeling that the aerial supremacy we had enjoyed would soon be a thing of the past. Everywhere you looked when flying over Russian lines there were unbroken columns of reinforcements and war materiel rolling towards the front lines. We flew daily Stuka escort sorties, always tangling with large groups of Russian fighters as we strove to clear the skies teeming with enemy aircraft. I recall on one occasion that Nowotny’s Schwarm ran into 50 –60 Russian fighters and we were quickly surrounded..."

[Leo Etgen]

Hello David

The unit that introduced the type on the Eastern Front was I./JG 51 which arrived at Lyuban on 10 September 1942 with Fw 190 A-2 and A-3 fighters after re-equipping at Jesau in August 1942. However, there was little enemy aerial activity during the five weeks the Gruppe remained on the Leningrad-Volkov sector and on 17 October 1942 the Gruppe was transferred to Vyazma on the Moscow sector but here too there was little enemy aerial activity. Stab/JG 51 converted to the Fw 190 A-3 in November 1942 and III./JG 51 began conversion to the Fw 190 A-2 and A-3 that month as well but it was not until January 1943 that the Gruppe completed the conversion process from the Bf 109 F-2. IV./JG 51 began conversion to the Fw 190 A-4 in January 1943 and the process was complete by March 1943. The Stabsstaffel of JG 51 was equipped with the Fw 190 A-4 in January 1943 and was mainly used in the Jabo role. The first major actions that these units encountered occurred during Operation Mars and the operations conducted during the siege of Velikiye Luki during which I./JG 51 claimed 29 victories on 4 December 1942. Perhaps the reasons why the introduction of the type on the Eastern Front was not as noteworthy as its introduction on the Western Front was due to the relative lack of enemy aerial activity for some time following its arrival as well as the fact that the attention of both sides was focused on the events at and around Stalingrad. Andrew Arthy has a quite nice article on the conversion of JG 51 at http://fw190.hobbyvista.com/earlyjg51190s.htm.

Horrido!

Leo

[Jochen Prien]

Gentlemen,

picking up Leo Etgen's thread, I dare say that the Fw 190 did have its impact on the aerial war in the East as can be seen from the following exemplary figures of I./JG 51, which was the first Gruppe to convert to the Focke-Wulf: In the first half year of 1943 I./JG 51 claimed a total of 307 enemy aircraft shot down for the total loss of only seven Fw 190s due to enemy action with four more being damaged. In this process six pilots were lost - killed, missing or captured - and one more was wounded. Even given an inevitable degree of over-claiming ( I./JG 51 not being one of the notoriously "optimistical" units ) I would find this a quite impressive ratio of claims to losses.

Regards

Jochen Prien