As the war began to turn against Germany, the Luftwaffe was forced
to defend the Reich against increasingly overwhelming numbers of
Allied fighters and bombers. The Focke-Wulf Fw 190, together with
the Bf 109G, was the mainstay of the Luftwaffe's Reichsverteidigung
(Defence of the Reich) fighter force, both by day and by night. As
the war progressed, the US Eighth Air Force, suffering heavy losses
over Germany, changed tactics. The escorting US fighters had been
expected to fly alongside the bombers to provide close protection.
But this meant that they could not chase after the enemy when in
combat, having to return to the bombers. So, from early 1944, the
decision was made to free the fighters, allowing them to fly ahead
of the bomber stream clearing the skies of German fighters. To
counter this, the Luftwaffe developed the Gefechtsverband, or
battle formation, composed of two units of Bf 109s and one
Sturmgruppe of Fw 190s. In Gefechtsverband operations, the Bf 109s
would engage the Allied fighters, particularly the long-range P-51
Mustangs, leaving the more heavily-armed Fw 190s to attack the
bombers. Though the large Gefechtsverband formations were unweildy
and not always effective, when they did work well, the powerful and
well-armoured Fw 190s wreaked havoc amongst the US bombers.
Meanwhile, on the Eastern Front, the Fw 190 was incresaingly relied
upon for fighter and Jabo missions against a dogged Soviet Air
Force. With the tide well and truly turned against the Luftwaffe,
newer versions of the Fw 190, such as the F and G variants, were
intruduced as well as the superlative D-9 which was powered by the
Jumo 213 A engine, armed with two MG 131s and two MG 151/20 guns
and had a new fuselage and wings. In this second volume detailing
the service of the Fw 190, Chris Goss has assembled photographs,
many of which have come from the archive of the late Dr Alfred
Price, to illustrate the final years of the type's war.
General
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