High-rise "Focke-Wulf"
The development of German high-altitude fighters characterized the attitude of the German leadership towards air combat on the Western Front. With the exception of the battle for England, North-West Europe remained, until a certain point, a peripheral theater of operations.
Attention to him by Hitler and the leadership of the Luftwaffe only awakened after a British raid on Cologne in May 1942. At the end of 1940, the daytime air battles over southeast England gradually ceased. Only at night did the Luftwaffe bombers continue to alarm British air defenses.
Both sides expected that with better weather in spring, daytime raids would resume, but this did not happen. Hitler now turned his gaze to the east.
In the summer of 1941, the command of the British Air Force gave priority to the release of De Havilland reconnaissance company DH 98 Mosquito, because after the invasion of German troops on the territory of the USSR, the British government urgently needed information about the redeployment of the German army and fleet.
Already in August, the first 10 serial “Mosquito” PR1 were transferred to the 1 th photo reconnaissance squadron in Benson for military trials, and in September the new reconnaissance aircraft made their first combat sortie. His route ran through Paris and the ports of Western France - Brest and Bordeaux.
In the very first departure, the main trump card of this aircraft appeared - high speed at medium and high altitudes: three Bf.109 patrolmen trying to attack a reconnaissance aircraft at a height of about 7000 m could not catch up with him. Since the spring of 1942, the squadron, fully re-equipped on the Mosquito, operated from bases in England and Gibraltar over almost all of Western and Central Europe.
In the first months of 1942, at the insistent demand of the Luftwaffe, based on the experience of using air defense fighters, as well as intelligence information about enemy development of high-altitude engines and increased production of superchargers for existing aircraft engines, the Technical Committee of the Ministry aviation Germany (RLM) began to explore the possibility of creating a high-altitude fighter. He had to be capable of intercepting the high-speed DH98 Mosquito, which appeared in increasing numbers over the territory of the Third Reich and sometimes operating at heights almost inaccessible to German fighters.
In contrast to the allies, Germany’s attempts to develop a high-rise engine were somewhat chaotic, since the Planning Department, despite intelligence information, was not interested in the development of such engines. At the same time, back in November 1941, Kurt Tank pointed out the need to produce high-altitude engines: “We tried all the ways to improve the height characteristics of the BMW 801, but it was clear that a completely new engine was needed. I already predicted that something like this could happen. At the beginning of the 1941 of the year, before the FW-190 was put into service, I spoke with General Udet and Yeshonnek on this issue. I said that they should launch the high-altitude motor Jumo 213 into the series, which passed bench tests at Junkers so that we could have a ready-made high-altitude version of the FW-190 in case it would be necessary. General Hans Yeschonnek, then chief of staff of the Luftwaffe, replied: "Why is this necessary? We do not conduct any air battles at such heights!" As a result, we lost about a year in the development of an effective high-altitude engine, a time which we did not catch up with. In the end, we have adopted a very good high-altitude fighter FW-190D with Jumo 213. But he was ready too late - in the summer of the 1944 of the year, but by that time Germany’s air superiority had been lost. ”
At that time, German industry produced in large volumes several major engine types: Jumo 211 for Ju-87, 88 and He-111, BMW 801 for FW-190 and Dо-217, DВ 601 for Bf.109, Ме-110 and Not -111.
All of these engines met current needs, however, none of them were suitable for a high-altitude fighter, because the BMW 801, not to mention the more "old types", had a height limit of 6800 m, and in fact it had problems with 5900 m Regardless of the views on the problem, the company "Junkers" and "Daimler Benz" began to develop high-altitude engines. Junkers began designing a new version of Jumo 213Е, with a volume similar to the basic version of Jumo 213A (35 l.), But with a higher compression ratio and increased speed, and Daimler Benz initiated the development of a new DB 603 engine with increased pistons in diameter 45 l.
All proposals for improving the height of the engines can be divided into two groups. The first is schemes using the so-called emergency mode, for example, the GM1 nitrogen oxide direct injection system into cylinders (this engine power increase system was first mentioned by the Germans under the code name "ha-ha"), where nitrous oxide or laughing gas, located in liquid, under pressure injected into the supercharger. The second is the most complex engines with separate injection units.
In 1942-43, it was still doubtful that the problem could be solved by using a turbojet engine - the behavior of the turbojet engines at such heights was not studied. Such information was not available until the beginning of 1945, when relevant research was conducted at Junkers. The advantage of a piston engine during this period was that its characteristics had a fairly wide range, and the use of superchargers or systems that increase the height of the engine, further expanded the scope.
The 603 DB engine had a take-off power equal to the 1800 HP. The development plan for this engine was rejected by RLM, which motivated its refusal by the fact that its introduction would entail major changes in the production of other necessary engines and the inevitable suspension of the design of new aircraft.
Despite the decision of the Technical Committee, Daimler Benz continued to build prototypes on a proactive basis, based on experimental data from the 605 DB engine designed for Bf.109G, designed for operations at medium altitudes.
At the turn of 1942-1943's, on the basis of analytical studies, it was found that the development of a high-altitude engine with a power 1000 hp. at altitudes of the order of 10000 m, comparable in labor costs to the design of a conventional motor with a power over 3600 hp (!) and that the further development of high-altitude engines is very expensive. For this reason, the development of high-altitude DB 603 was much slower than was necessary.
A similar situation developed with Jumo 213E, the first prototype of which was tested only by the beginning of 1944 of the year, however, its serial production began already early next year. The Jumo 213E and "F" engines were delivered to the Focke-Wulf in the fall of the 1944 of the year, and the DB 603E and the "L" in January of the 1945 of the year and only a few copies. The BMW 801 TJ in several copies was also transmitted by the Focke-Wulf and was used only for its testing in the air.
Prototypes of the latest aircraft engines: Jumo 222, 224, 225 and DB 628, with great power and could not bring to the series, although under them some projects were developed, including the "Focke-Wolfe".
By the end of the war in the engine industry, the Germans had reached an extremely high level, especially in the field of creating power-enhancing systems and automatic control devices. However, due to the difficult military and, as a result, the economic situation, the modernized and modern engines did not have enough, not to mention their high-altitude versions.
At the end of the summer of 1942, it was already clear that the US Air Force was going to concentrate significant numbers of bombers on British bases for strikes on the territory of the Third Reich. The high-altitude flights of the B-17 coupled with the Halifax and the Lancaster have already caused certain problems for the German interceptors. And new intelligence brought information about the serious intentions of the United States to organize the serial production of the most powerful B-29 with even more impressive speed and altitude characteristics. As a result, there was an urgent need for a high-altitude fighter.
At a meeting held in the spring of 1942, RLM commissioned firms to announce their requirements for a new high-altitude super-rider (Hohenjager), also capable of performing the functions of a high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft.
The “super-fighter” program was divided into the following stages: “urgent” with the development of a fighter based on production aircraft with maximum use of components and assemblies of basic machines and “deferred” with the development of a new high-altitude fighter and reconnaissance aircraft.
The implementation of this program "Focke-Wulf" began, possessing certain experience in creating high-altitude FW-191 bomber, although it did not go into service with the German Air Force, and a hermetic cabin and motors equipped with a two-stage supercharger were tested and tested.
FW-191.
In the same period, the competing company Messerschmitt AG proposed its previously “frozen” project of the high-altitude interceptor Me-209Н, the further development of the record aircraft Me-209. However, the developed machine did not confirm the expected results, so the development was finally discontinued.
The planes created under the Hohenjager 1 program were given the designation FW-190B, and the first prototype machine of this modification was the FW-190V12, which has a pressurized cabin and equipment for the production of high-altitude flights. Soon, three more modified aircraft FW-190A-3 / U7 were prepared for testing.
In parallel with the tests at the Focke-Wulf, BMW continued fine-tuning the prototype BMW 801TJ engine equipped with a turbocharger, which was planned for installation on a serial FW-190В. However, these engines, by order of the RLM, “Focke-Wulf” was never sent in the time promised earlier.
Meanwhile, taking into account the results of tests of the first prototypes, another three serial FW-190A-1 were converted. These machines have become the FW-190B-O prototype series. They had the following weapons: two MG 17 synchronous machine guns and the same number of MG 151 / 20E guns mounted at the base of the wing.
The next FW-190B-O, like its predecessors, was a converted FW-190A-1 and was similar to the previous prototypes, with the exception of the BMW 801D-2 engine equipped with a GM system. This test car was handed over to BMW.
Then, to the standard of the series "B" upgraded three more machines, which became the prototypes of the FW-190B-1. In the autumn of 1943, Focke-Wulf decided to stop the fine-tuning of the FW-190B machines, devoting all efforts to the development of a new version of the FW-190C.
The failure of the "Hohenjager 1" program, which was developed by the FW-190B, did not affect the other one-type program "Hohenjager 2". The main difference of this program from "Hohenjager 1" was the use of the 603 DB engine.
Development of a new prototype fighter, which received the name FW-190C, was required not only through the use of a new engine. FW-190C with DB 603 was supposed to be equipped with a turbocharger, created jointly DVL and the firm "Hirh". Daimler Benz sent several X XUMUM DB prototypes to Focke-Wulf. For the manufacture of prototypes FW-603C used several production aircraft series A-190.
On the FW-190V16, we mounted a DB 603Aa motor with a centrifugal supercharger and a three-blade propeller. In August, 1942 was handed over to the Daimler Benz plant in Rechlin for extensive testing. Already in the first flight was detected malfunction of the cooling system. In the autumn of 1942, after the elimination of the cooling system defect, the flights were resumed, with the pilot reaching an altitude of 11000 m in one of the sorties.
Soon, at the Daimler Benz factory airfield, the FW-190C prototype developed a speed equal to 727 km / h at the height of 7000 m and reached the ceiling in the 12000 m. Flights at the level of the practical ceiling became common - the car was sometimes at this height more than an hour and a half!
Naturally, these indicators could not be achieved under the conditions of real combat operations with installed armaments and the necessary fuel supply, however, they were higher than those with an aircraft with a BMW 801 even with GM-1 turned on.
At the end of the summer of 1944, the day-to-day air raid of Allied bombers on the Daimler Benz plant FW-190V16 was destroyed. The FW-190C prototypes were obtained with the 603 DB engines without turbochargers, and were, so to speak, intermediate or transition machines from the FW-190B to “C”. But the FW-190V18 was the first aircraft - the benchmark of the FW-190C series. It is first equipped with a DB 603G engine equipped with a turbocharger, but then, due to the lack of these engines, was equipped with a DB 603А-1 and a new four-blade propeller.
The FW-190V18 engine was mounted on a TK 9AS turbocharger (Hirth 9-228, developed jointly with DVL and Hirth 9-2281). 240 rpm at a temperature of incoming exhaust 60 ° C. A device that clearly requires further refinement was installed under the fuselage, forming a kind of pocket, due to which FW-22000V950 nicknamed "Kangaroo."
At the end of winter 1942, the Daimler Benz passed the test machine, at the factory airfield of which, after the new year, the car was flown over. For further test flights, the head of the Focke-Wulf company G. Zander was seconded to the company, who after nine flights expressed his negative opinion regarding the new machine. Being impressed by the flight, he qualified the plane as unsuitable for flight, and expressed the need for a number of modifications to its design.
According to the chief pilot, the center of gravity of the machine, due to the installation of a heavy compressor under the fuselage, moved back to the tail so much that the machine did not want to rise above 7700 m. At any height, the plane is not stable on all planes and is difficult to control. The turbocharger did not give out 20000 rpm.
After modifying the FW-190V18 from the serial A-1, several more prototypes of the FW-190C aircraft prototypes were prepared. All of these cars were equipped with a DB 603S-1 engine with a TK 11 turbocharger, had a pressurized cabin and a wing with an increased to 20,3 square. m square. On them, the implementation of the program "Hohenjager 2", which became the basis for the FW-190C, was completed. Despite the fact that the machines of this series could become successful high-altitude fighters, this did not happen. The reason is that the maturation of the 603 DB engine is too slow, which made TA RLM recommend Focke-Wulf to suspend the development of the FW-190C.
At the end of the war, fascist Germany had serious problems with raw materials, primarily with certain types of alloying metals. Without them, it was impossible to produce high-quality turbines and other necessary parts of high-temperature turbo-compressors, the life of which did not reach the 20 hours, and then burn-out of the exhaust pipe bodies occurred. German engineers could not launch a reliable turbocharger into the series until the very last days of the war.
The third high-rise project based on the FW-190 design with a Jumo 213 motor was the FW-190D. At the turn of the 40-s, the engine compartment of the firm Junkers Flugtsoyg and Luftwaffe AG was working on a new 12-cylinder in-line 1750-strong engine of liquid cooling Jumo 213 designed by Dr. August Lichte.
Jumo 213 was a further development of the Jumo 211, while it had a smaller geometric dimensions and weight, and also worked at higher revs and developed more power. The blows of the allied bombers slowed down the development and preparation of the serial production of the specified engine. Therefore, in the required quantities, it began to be produced only in the summer of 1944 of the year, while their monthly output amounted to about 500 copies.
Initially, the engine was developed as a "bomber", but Likhte envisaged the development of two versions "C" and "E", adapted for mounting weapons in the collapse of the cylinder blocks and, therefore, suitable for use on single-engine fighters. Interestingly, the Jumo 213 assemblies were completely identical to the attachment points of the 603 DB engine.
Kurt Tank, probably not without the insistent recommendation of RLM, decided to use the new engine on the FW-190, according to the "urgent" plan for developing a high-altitude fighter based on serial machines with maximum use of predecessor units.
The first prototype of the "D" series was the FW-190V-17, reworked in the winter of the 1941 of the year from the FW-190A-0 serial fighter. The fuselage of the fighter has become noticeably longer. On 60, see the nose of the car that housed the Jumo 213А engine was built up. The mixing of the center of mass forward necessitated an extension of the fuselage tail section on the 0,6 m. The compensation section between the central part of the fuselage and the plumage, unreasonable from the point of view of the requirements of the laws of aerodynamics, was carried out in such a way that allowed the least developed technology of airframe production.
The following five cars were experienced FW-190D-1 machines with a standard non-pressurized cabin, which was planned to replace all versions of the FW-190А fighter. The supply plan assumed a large-scale production of the D-1 version, equipped with Jumo 213A to 950 machines per month.
The D-1 version was not built in batches, and its only copies were five prototypes. For the next version of D-2, two experimental machines FW-190V26 and FW-190V27 have been planned. Both aircraft equipped hermetic cabin and DB 603 motors. The armament consisted of a pair of MG 131 synchronous machine guns and the same number of MG 151 / 20 guns in the wing bases. Both prototypes were the only representatives of the FW-190D-2.
By the beginning of 1944, Focke-Wulf introduced many changes to the design of its aircraft, which affected not only the high-altitude fighter created by the program, but also other FW-190 series. For example, the rejection of the problematic cab sealing system. But the most important proposal was the new component standardization system, which affected the entire production of the FW-190 fighter jets.
As a result of these actions, it was decided to discontinue development of the D-1 and D-2 versions. Instead, the variant of the perspective development of the fighter and the first production version of the high-altitude fighter were given the name FW-190D-9, since the fuselage of the cars of this variant was similar to the fuselage FW-190-9. In turn, the D-3 - D-8 variants were not designed at all and, accordingly, were not manufactured.
The order for the original layout of the projected FW-190B-9 fuselage was placed in October 1942 of the year, and Foke-Wulf began its construction at the end of the year. An official inspection of the layout presentation was made by the RLM Commission in the middle of summer 1943.
The launch of the FW-190D-9 in the series is scheduled for mid-August 1944. The results of flight tests were encouraging, but the tests themselves lagged behind the deadlines, because of the five prototypes, three were left because of the German bombardment. Despite this, the start of production was sustained, and the first cars of this version were laid on the production site of the Focke-Wulf in Cottbus and under the subcontract on Arado. In September, the licensed production of FW-190D-9 began at the factory "Fieseler" in the city of Kassel.
The observance of the production start dates was possible due to the fact that in March, the design bureau, led by Rudolf Blaser, sent out to the factories intended for the production of FW-190D-9, sets of technical documentation. Serial machines differed slightly from the prototypes. So, to neutralize the reaction of the screw changed tail, increasing its area, in addition strengthened the design of the fuselage. Engineers used a lot of new design solutions for engine layout. For example, on the FW-190D-9, they installed a round hood with a ring heatsink, similar to a Ju-88 bomber. In addition, there was no oil cooler air intake on the bonnet, it was mounted in the collapse of the engine cylinders and it was cooled with liquid from the common system of the engine itself.
Some technical problems solved quite original. In order to reduce the cross-sectional area of the engine compartment, the designers needed to move the oil tank, which rested against the engine mount and had a large volume. Then they decided to strut the engine mounts just to pass through the oil tank! Getting acquainted with the captured FW-190D-9, aviation specialists were surprised at the originality of the solution.
The first serial fighter FW-190D-9 was flown around early in the autumn 1944. The machine was used in tests to determine the flight performance. In September, the failure of the supercharger led to the need to replace the entire power plant. On the machine mounted a new Jumo 213C-1. The tests were interrupted a month after the next engine failure and were not resumed until the start of 1945.
In September, FW-190D-9 arrived in Hannover-Langenhagen from Rechlin. There, on the airfield of the firm, the MW 50 system was installed on the aircraft, providing at the height of 5000 m a short-term increase in Jumo 213А power to 2100 hp. Interestingly, it was originally forbidden to turn on this system during takeoff, but then this restriction was lifted. FW-190D-9 transferred to the plant "Junkers" for air test engine.
Interestingly, at first the impression produced by the D-9 on the German pilots was unimportant. It was planned that Jumo 213 will have power up to 1850 hp, but in fact it was on 100 hp below. At the same time, the pilots noted that the new FW-190 turned out to be less maneuverable.
The pilots disliked the FW-190D-9 so much that K.Tank was forced to personally come to III / JG54 in Oldenburg to try to convince the Luftwaffe pilots of the advantages of the Dora-9. However, his arguments were as follows: "FW-190D-9 is a temporary measure until it goes into the Ta 152 series. Motor factories - BMW 801 manufacturers were bombed. There are no other suitable air-cooled radial engines. But Reich has a significant number of copies of the engine Jumo 213, due to the fact that the production program of the bombers "frozen." We have to use these engines, and soon everyone will be able to make sure that the new machine is not bad. "
The commander of the air unit, R. Weiss, said: "You say that this plane is a temporary measure ... Well, if you want us to fly the Dora-9, we will fly." To the surprise of the pilots, having adapted to the new fighter, they managed to find in it a sufficient number of advantages over such fighters as the FW-190A and Bf.109, including a higher dive speed and excellent rate of climb.
In horizontal flight at an altitude of 6500 m FW-190D-9 accelerated to 685 km / h, and using the emergency mode of the engine with the inclusion of the MW 50 system, the speed increased by another 15-20 km / h. Now, the pilots of the Luftwaffe could fly at speeds no worse than the American Mustang.
A continuation of the FW-190D series was the version of the all-weather fighter with improved D-11 armor protection, which differed from its predecessor by the more powerful Jumo 213F-1 engine with a turbocharger and MW 50 equipment. However, the assembly of the aircraft of this series due to problems with the production of engines Jumo 213F and the difficult situation on the fronts and the country was not started until the end of the war. The development of the next model of the "D" series went in parallel with the design of the FW-190D-11.
In the fall of 1944, RLM began preparations for the production of a FW-190D-12 with a Jumo 213F engine, equipped with a supercharger and in addition to it with the MW50 system. A prerequisite for the timely start of mass production of the FW-190D-12 was the launch of the two-stage blowers no later than November of the 1944 year.
The FW190D-12 series was a modification of an all-weather fighter, with reinforced armament from MG 151 / 20 guns in the wing and a synchronous 30-mm MK108.
The next and last prototypes, equipped with Jumo 213 motors, D-13 series were transformed from the FW-190A-8 serial fighter aircraft V62 and V71 aircraft. Both of these machines actually had no differences from the representatives of the previous series, with the exception of the MG 151 / 20 synchronous gun mounted instead of the 30-mm MK 108.
Later on these fighters were mounted Jumo 213F-1 motors with a compressor 9-821 ЗН and equipment MW 50. Due to the fact that the D-13 series machines were supposed to be used as high-altitude interceptors, the prototypes were equipped with pressure cabins. The FW-190D-13 series was supposed to launch 1944 from December, before the end of the tests, since it differed from the D-12 only in armament.
By the end of 1944, significant progress was made in the development of the DB 603 high-altitude motor, which was improved by the efforts of Design Bureau Daimler Benz and prepared for launch in a series. As you know, before 1943, Kurt Tank began designing a new fighter with the Ta-152 code, planning to use the FW-190D glider with a DB 603 engine with a supercharger or with the latest version of this type of engine. Despite lobbying K.'s themeTank, RLM, the ministry did not want to stop the production in progress - there was practically no unification of the design of the new FW-190 fighter. Thus, it was required to modify existing aircraft in the transitional version of the new high-altitude fighter. Such an intermediate machine was the FW-190D-14.
Hastily prepared two prototypes. The first prototype was equipped with a DB 603E engine, which has a take-off power equal to 2100 HP. with an improved supercharger, which allowed to raise the height of the motor to 11000 m and with the equipment MW 50. The second prototype received the DB 603E, the take-off power of the 1800l.s.
For D-14 planned armament, consisting of a synchronous cannon MK 108 or MK 103 and two wing MG 151 / 20. After the 1944 assembly was completed in the winter, both prototypes were handed over to the Daimler Benz company in Echterdingen for testing. During the tests, the height was reached 11700 m and speed - 710 km / h.
The final phase of testing the prototypes of the D-14 series coincided with the final stage of the war and therefore the serial production of the FW-190D-1 4 could not be implemented.
There are other reasons why this series ended on two prototype machines. For example, simultaneously with the development of the D-14 series, work was under way on the D-15 variant, which was better adapted for mass production or that RLM allowed to proceed to the detailed design of the Ta-152. Therefore, after the cancellation of the program for the further development of the FW-190, both cars were transferred to the testing program of the pressurized cabin for the Ta-152 project. In general, the D-14 series was originally stillborn.
Work on the latest model FW-190D began simultaneously with FW-190D-14. The new version of the D-15 was based on the design of the FW-190F-8, while the wing and other parts, with the exception of the front and tail parts, taken from the Ta-152C, remained unchanged. In other words, the FW-190D-15 was a mixture of the FW-190F-8 and Ta-152С designs, while the construction was simpler than even the FW-190D-9.
Start of serial processing of FW-190F-8 in the FW-190D-15 was planned from April 1945, but this, of course, did not reach the year. Thus, the experienced machines of this version were not produced. However, from 11 to 17 on April 1945, at the request of Gaspel, 15 FW-190D was transferred from combat units to replace Jumo 213А-1 motors with DB 603G.
Since the plant in Echterdingen was the object of permanent Allied air raids, retrofitting was carried out at another plant in Nellingen, distant 50 km from the main plant of the company. Replacement of engines managed to implement only a few machines, which made up an experimental batch of FW-190D-15. Non-re-equipped airplanes flew from there on April 22, that is, at the time when American forces occupied Nellingen.
Two FW-190D-15 still managed to transfer to combat units, one of which was discovered by US troops in very poor condition.
"Long-Nosed Focke-Wulf" was Germany's best serial fighter. He perfectly proved himself in air battles with "Mustangs" and "flying fortresses". In general, more than 700 FW-190D fighters out of a total of FN-190 equal to 20000 units were produced. But no fighters, even the most successful, were able to save the Reich. Nothing could stop the victorious offensive of the Soviet Army.
Sources:
Medved A., Khazanov D. Focke-Wulf Fw 190. Multi-purpose Luftwaffe fighter. M .: Yauza, Eksmo. 2007. C. 76-79, 96-99.
Ivanov S. Focke Wulf FW-190D Ta-152 // War in the air. No.82. C. 2-18, 41-45.
Kudishin I. The Focke Wolf FW-190 Fighter // Aviation and Cosmonautics. 2000. No.05-06. C. 55-60.
Borisov Yu. Long-nosed FW-190 // Wings of the Motherland. 2002. No.12. C. 21-26.
Green William. Wings of the Luftwaffe (warplanes of the Third Reich). CH 2. M .: Publishing Department TsAGI, 1994. C. 141-149.
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