Hermann Graf - photo album

Click HERE to watch album of Hermann Graf.

 Hermann Graf and young boys from Hitlerjugend

Set of videos - Battle scenes, Butcher Bird, Guncamera, Der Adler, Training 1939



"Luftwaffe - Battle Scenes" 

"Messerschmitt Me 109, Me 110, Focke Wulf 190 Guncamera"

"Captured Focke-Wulf Fw190"

The production process and technical review - Luftwaffe equipment

BMW Flugmotorenbau GmbH in 1936 moved into the new factory it had built at Allach on the outskirts of Munich. This is where the MTU Aero Engines is located today. (source: www.mtu.de)

With the BMW 801, BMW Flugmotorenbau GmbH developed the first German twin-row radial engine. With the Nazi regime’s ever-expanding military build-up and the subsequent war, during which the BMW 801 found extensive use as the powerplant for a number of fighter aircraft, among them the Focke-Wulf Fw190, the company pushed the speed of development and the scale of production to the limits of its capacity. Sadly it even went far beyond, especially towards the end of the war, when thousands of forced laborers had to work at the plant to further increase its output. After just two years of development, the first engines were delivered in 1940, and production — which mainly took place in Munich-Allach — was ramped up to around 1,000 units per month by early 1944. In all, the company produced some 30,000 BMW 801s. (source: www.mtu.de)

Deutsche Luftfahrttechnik WK2 - display of their stunning work

Guys from Deutsche Luftfahrttechnik WK2 arrange a small exhibition of the effects of their work at the end of May. Pleas enjoy watching this set of photos shared with Us by Urban Mühlenkamp. Guys, congratulation and huge thanks for your stunning work and effort.

Thanks to your work, the eyes of all lovers of history and aviation can enjoy what we see on the pictures. We look forward to the next project.

Focke-Wulf Fw190 - Powerplant. Part 6 - Compiled by German Dzib

Powerplant

BMW 801

The BMW 801 was a powerful German air-cooled 14-cylinder-radial aircraft engine built by BMW and used in a number of German Luftwaffe aircraft of World War II. Production versions of the twin-row engine generated between 1,560 and 2,000 PS (1,540-1,970 hp, or 1,150-1,470 kW). It was the most produced radial engine of Germany in World War II with more than 28,000 built.

FW190 A5 BMW801 Engine startup

The 801 was originally intended to replace existing radial types in German transport and utility aircraft. At the time, it was widely agreed among European designers that an inline engine was a requirement for high performance designs due to its smaller frontal area and resulting lower drag. Kurt Tank successfully fitted a BMW 801 to a new fighter design he was working on, and as a result the 801 became best known as the power plant for the famous Focke-Wulf Fw 190.

Focke-Wulf Fw190 - Pilots and Armament. Part 5 - Compiled by German Dzib

Pilots

Otto Kittel

Otto "Bruno" Kittel

Otto "Bruno" Kittel (21 February 1917 – 14 or 16 February 1945) was a World War II Luftwaffe flying ace. He flew 583 combat missions on the Eastern Front, claiming 267 aerial victories, making him the fourth highest scoring ace in aviation history. (45)(46) Kittel claimed all of his victories flying the Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Focke-Wulf Fw 190 against the Red Air Force. (47)
Kittel joined the Luftwaffe in 1939, at the age of 22 and flew his first combat missions in 1941. (48) In spring 1941, he joined Jagdgeschwader 54 (JG 54) supporting Army Group North on the Eastern Front. Kittel claimed his first victory on 22 June 1941, the opening day of Operation Barbarossa. Kittel took time to amass his personal tally of aerial victories. By February 1943, he reached 39 kills, relatively insignificant when compared with some other German aces. In 1943, his tally began to increase when JG 54 began to operate the Fw 190. Kittel earned the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes) on 29 October 1943, for reaching 120 aerial victories. By the time he was officially awarded the decoration he had a tally of 123. A large number of his Soviet victims included the IL-2 Shturmovik aircraft, leading the German Army to call him the "Butcher Killer", a nickname they had given to the tough Shturmovik. (49)
During the remainder of World War II, Kittel was credited with 144 other aerial victories, which earned him the covetedKnight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. On his 583rd combat mission, he was shot down and killed by the air gunner of a Shturmovik on 14 or 16 February 1945. Kittel was the most successful German fighter pilot to be killed in action. (50)

Focke-Wulf Fw190 + Dora - some facts. Part 4 - Compiled by German Dzib

Trainer versions

Fw 190 A-5/U1 — Several old Fw 190 A-5s were converted by replacing the MW 50 tank with a second cockpit. The canopy was modified, replaced with a new three-section unit that opened to the side. The rear portion of the fuselage was closed off with sheet metal.

Focke-Wulf Fw190S-8 Trainer version

Fw 190 A-8/U1 — A similar conversion to the A-5/U1.
Fw 190 S-5 — A-5/U1 trainers re-designated.
Fw 190 S-8 — A-8/U1 trainers re-designated. An estimated 58 Fw 190 S-5 and S-8 models were converted or built. (42)

Combat history

The Fw 190 participated on every major combat front where the Luftwaffe operated after 1941, and did so with success in a variety of roles. Luftwaffe pilots who flew both the Fw 190 and the Bf 109 generally felt that, with the exception of high altitude capability, the Fw 190 was superior.

Production

A 0.40 km² (100 acre) Focke-Wulf plant east of Marienburg was bombed by the Eighth Air Force on 9 October 1944. (43) In addition, one of the most important sub-contractors for the radial-engined Fw 190s was AGO Flugzeugwerke, which from 1941 through to the end of the war produced enough Fw 190s to earn it major attention from the USAAF, with the AGO plant in Oschersleben being attacked at least five times during the war from 1943 onwards.

FW 190, Dora Series

The next variants development of Butcher's - Focke-Wulf Fw190. Part 3. Compiled by German Dzib

High-altitude developments

Tank started looking at ways to address the altitude performance problem early in the program. In 1941, he proposed a number of versions featuring new powerplants, and he suggested using turbochargers in place of superchargers. Three such installations were outlined

Fw 190 V12
(an A-0) would be outfitted with many of the elements which eventually led to the B series.

Fw 190 V13

The Fw 190C V18 prototype, with large ventral "pouch" fairing for
the turbocharger installation and broader-chord vertical fin/rudder.

(W.Nr. 0036) first C-series prototype

Fw 190 V15
(W.Nr. 0036) second C-series prototype

Fw 190 V16
(W.Nr. 0036) third C-series prototype

Fw 190 V18
(W.Nr. 0036) fourth C-series prototype

Fw 190 B-0
With a turbocharged BMW 801

Fw 190 B-1
This aircraft was similar to the B-0, but had slightly different armament. In its initial layout, the B-1 was to be fitted with four 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 17s and two 20 mm MG-FFs. One was fitted with two MG 17s, two 20 mm MG 151s and two 20 mm MG-FFs. After the completion of W.Nr. 811, no further Fw 190 B models were ordered.

Focke-Wulf Fw190 - Variants. Part 2. Compiled by German Dzib

Variants 

First prototypes (BMW 139)

Fw 190 V1 in its original form with the streamlined engine cowling
and ducted spinner. The pointed tip of the internal spinner can also be seen.
 Pilot is probably Hans Sander.

Fw 190 V1

(civil registration D-OPZE), powered by a 1,550 PS (1,529 hp, 1,140 kW) BMW 139 14-cylinder two-row radial engine. (5) D-OPZE first flew on 1 June 1939. (18) 

Fw 190 V2

Designated with the Stammkennzeichen alphabetic ID code of FL+OZ (later RM+CB) the V2 first flew on 31 October 1939 and was equipped from the outset with the new spinner and cooling fan. It was armed with one Rheinmetall-Borsig 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 17 machine gun and one 13 mm (.51 in) synchronized MG 131 machine gun in each wing root. (19) 

Anti bomber pilots, in defense of the Reich. Part 4

Why the role of these units were so important? In 1944, the weight of bombs dropped by the Allies on Reich reached the highest level of 993 000 tons, while the Luftwaffe dropped vain 9334 tonnes. Allied average tonnage monthly dropped for the year (77 743) exceeded the total tonnage of bombs dropped on Britain within six years of war (75 655).

Oberfeldwebel Willi Frös of 5./ZG 26 just returned from operational flight and stand on wing root of his Messerschmitt Me410B-1 at Königsberg-Neumark in May 1944 to be greeted by his ground crew. Visible is the Zielfernrohr 4A telescopic sight in the armoured windscreen.  Frös is holding a bandoleer of flare  of cartridges in his hand. It is believed he accounted for five Viermots shot down.

An Messerschmitt Me210A-1 of ZG 26 seen at Diepholz, in Germany, in ugust 1943 following its return to the Reich from North Africa. The aircraft has been adapted for its new home defence role by the fitting of under wing twin 21 cm WGr mortar tubes intended for breaking up enemy bomber Pulks.

At the beginning of the way to success - Ta152. Part 2

Fw190 with compressed air cooler the fitted at the bottom of the fuselage

After entering Fw190 into service in 1941,  a Luftwaffe gained the distinct advantage over Allied hardware aviation. However, British by entering soon Spitfires MkIX, the advantage clearly reduced. Even more difficult the situation has become for defence the German sky. Introduction to night operations Lancaster and Halifax, which operate on the high altitude, caused more and more problems for Luftwaffe aircraft's: Messerschmitt Bf110 and Junkers Ju88. The need for a high-altitude fighter became clear and necessary. Unfortunately, just at the beginning of 1944, Junkers began serial production of Jumo 213 E, a modified version of the Jumo 213 A. This engine had a two-stage, three-speed compressor and was in series production from middle of 1944 in contrast to DB603 Series E and L (which had similar performance characteristics)  which went into series production only at the beginning of 1945. another engine to be attempts (only a few) was the BMW 801TJ engine with a turbocharger. Jumo Ju213 E was a milestone for the creation of high altitude interceptor under the Luftwaffe service.Only these engines could realistically meet the challenges of altitude aircraft. Finally, in the history of Ta152 we can find three paths that team engineers of Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau AG came to the place in which was born Ta152. Three independent stages full of experiences and faults, successes and failures.

LUFTWAFFE im Focus - unpublished photos, No 1

Gruppenflugleber Oblt. Wili Bottländer of FFS A B 23 Kaufbeuren in his Arado Ar96, summer 1944

Anti bomber pilots, in defense of the Reich. Part 3

Messerschmitt Bf109G of Major Walther Dahl's III./JG 3 undergo enginbe maintanance at Leipheim in March 1944. The aircraft in the features a typical spinner spiral and the white fuselage band of the Geschwader, as well as the black vertical bar of III. Gruppe

Fw190 'Yellow 13' prepares o start up at Störmede in the spring of 1944. It is believed that this aircraft may have been one of those flown by Hauptmann Rüdiger Kirchmayr, Staffelkapitän of5./JG 1 and victor over 14 four-engined bombers

A set of 45 pictures of Focke-Wulf Fw190 and Messerschmitt Bf109

A captured Luftwaffe Focke-Wulf 190 at Sint-Truiden airfield in Belgium in the spring of 1945, painted in the colours of the 404th Fighter Group.

US personnel inspect a Junkers Ju87 at Fürth

Anti bomber pilots, in defense of the fallen idea of a madman. Part 2

Hitler's obsessive thinking about the bomb hit a British city, didn't allow to focus on the defense of their own country. Those pilots in the second half of the war, were doomed, but always showed, unquestionable usefulness of fighter units and high qualifications of the Luftwaffe staff.

Messerschmitt Bf109 G6/R of 12./JG3 fitted  with loaded underwing 21 cm WGr mortar tubes photographed at San Severo, in central Italy, in August 1943

Know your enemy -  under the Mediterranean sun, Sicily-based Germn fighter pilots receive open air instruction on how to attack a B-24 in 1943

Anti bomber pilots - one of the most important groups of defense of the Reich. Set of the pictures - Part 1

Engine oil is pumped from a bowser into the tank of Oberleutnant Egon Mayer, Fw190 White 7 of 7./JG2, summer 1942

Luftwaffe Aircraft on Lübeck Airport, 1946

Pictures come from Gerald Trevor Roberts archive, who served in the RAF during WW2.  To see more read all article HERE

Junkers Ju88

Focke-Wulf Fw190 some unique videos

Beauty under the Sky - Ta152. Part 1 - The Begining

Kurt Tank

Backround

From beginning of  British government held talks with the US government, bout joint military action by air (after joining the war) having the target - inflict heavy losses for armaments industry of the Third Reich. The Reich situation clearly deteriorated precisely from the moment when the British bomber fleet (operating mostly at night) joined by two US Air fleet. Yankees have started massive daily raids on the territory of the Reich. By 1944 industry of the German Reich was totally plagued by hundreds of Allied bombers. In addition to the progress of allied ground troops on each of the front, the sky was becoming to be the most threat affecting III Reich. As never before. From 1942/1943 for RLM ( Reichsluftfahrtministerium) became clear that to effectively combat with hundreds of bombers operting at high altitudes, Germany needed interceptor that operates at this same altitudes or higher.  In this challenge, Messerschmitts and Focke-Wulfs machines proved to be ineffective.

Set of Luftwaffe warbirds pictures

Dornier Do217 N