Focke Wulf Fw190-A8 PSS Design
By Martin Hursthouse
This article is in two parts, the description of the model construction and the background to the choice of subject.
THE MODEL
Focke Wulf Fw 190 A-8
Having decided to model the Fw 190, I was reasonably confident that I could make it work as a glider. As Peter Wulff had said about an earlier PSS project (the Blackburn Firebrand), "If you have done your homework, and all the relevant calculations are correct, it should work." After two years work, I was relieved that the previous model had worked very well; indeed better than I had expected.
Not being very scientific minded I find the aforementioned calculations tedious and perplexing; I prefer to see these projects as ‘flying paintings’ rather than mathematical machines. There is of course great satisfaction in getting it to look right and perform correctly, and a project which can take up to two years to complete cannot rely wholly on guesswork. I feel that this has caused a good mix of discipline for me, as it is essential to keep learning. Otherwise, why do it?
Known as the ‘Butcher Bird of Bremen’ the Focke Wulf Fw 190 was a small fighter, introduced as a radial engined alternative to the Me 109, perhaps the most famous WW2 German aircraft. The Fw 190 was a brute of an aircraft and some would say that it’s mean, purposefulness was it’s beauty. It’s main attraction for many was its turn of speed and breathtaking manoeuvrability - unmatched until the late Spitfires and Mustangs. I do not propose to give a lecture on the subject here, though I have given a bibliography at the end for those interested, and I have masses of related information if anyone needs it.
Original Focke Wulf drawings and the most superb drawings by Arthur Bentley were used, though it must be stressed that these were ‘scale drawings’ and not model building plans. All sections and profiles were scanned into the PC and enlarged to 1/5 scale to give me a slightly smaller model than the Firebrand. The scanning took much of the tedium out of the drawing and planning stage. Plywood, ramin and balsa timbers were used in basic construction, with glass fibre and carbon fibre reinforcement in high stress areas. Wing spars are of spruce and birch ply. The fuselage was built as two half-shells, laying up balsa strips over ply formers. This method is traditional, though I hadn’t tried it before and I found it a very slow but satisfying way of achieving deadly accurate contours. In my usual way I overdid the belt and braces with too much ply in the formers, but I can see that a very lightweight fuselage can be built in this way. After the two shells were joined, the whole structure was given a coat of epoxy resin and glass cloth. Body filler was kept to an absolute minimum to keep weight down and some areas were covered in tissue and dope (rather than glass skin) for the same reason.
The pattern for the canopy was built in two sections using kafir plaster, and the canopy was vacuum formed using PETG. Plasticard and ply detailing around cockpit and canopy areas. Much time spent in getting this particular canopy to look right.
It seems that many people dislike the paint finishing and detailing stage, but it has become one of the most fascinating ‘duties’ for me. Indeed, if somebody would care to build my models, I’ll just do the painting and detailing. After much research and preparation for this particular model, it was important for me to get it right. This was the time when I really did need Peter’s recollection and criticism, but I am afraid that is gone for ever.
Vinyls and acrylics were used for all paintwork, and application was by hand, using a ‘scale size’ brush when appropriate, and with airbrush dusting over. The trouble with airbrush finishing is that the subject becomes ‘too perfect’ with an all over velvet-like sheen. This is OK if your subject has just rolled out of the factory, but in this case, Peter Wulff had told me that all the 1/JG6 aircraft were ‘lying all over the field, a bit of a mess, dirty and pretty beaten up’.
All markings and decals were hand painted and ‘Letteraset’ was used for some of the finer stencilling.
A visit to the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth to see the only Fw 190 in Britain proved very useful, though the example there has been poorly ‘tidied up’ (a Dulux job?) since I first saw it in the early ‘60s.
The Fw 190 is modelled at 1/5 scale giving a span of 88 inches or 2.25 metres. Airfoil Section is the trusty Eppler 374. The All Up Weight is 11 lbs. 10 ozs, the Wing Area is 1300 sq. ins (approx.) and the Wing Loading is 20.6 ozs per square ft. This loading is still a bit higher than I would have liked, but also a relief after the 27+ ozs per sq. ft that I ‘achieved’ with the Firebrand.
Radio control will be by Futaba PCM 1024 and quite a lot of prayers. Control surfaces are ailerons, elevator, split flaps and rudder. Crow mixing, flap-elevator, snap-roll, aileron-rudder and tea making are all now programmed in, but it hasn’t flown yet, so these facilities have still to be tried. (If the conditions are wrong, I’ll stick to the tea making).
Oh yes, it will fly. At the time of writing the model has not been tried, but I am confident that it will do well. Of course any model takes a while to settle down and as Syd Taylor always says, it needs a few repairs before it really flies properly. For a number of reasons I am very pleased with the model, which I consider to be my best so far. I hope the first flight will be at the Fly-In on Sunday next, given the right weather. Please come along and giggle.
Update on flying: As can be seen from the pictures attached to this article and in model gallery 1 the Fw190 does indeed fly. The first flight was virtually trouble free, penetration is good despite the large frontal area (aided perhaps by the spinner?). Landings can be tricky with the low wing, there have been a few occasions when the lip of the cowl has dug in, causing the model to flip. Damage has been minimal in these cases. The Fw 190 has also flown in quite varying wind speeds, it has soared well in quite light winds, and also handled strong winds with ease. As can be see from one of the pictures below a take off dolly pulled by a bungee has been used to allow single handed operation. Launching by hand with the low wing is not easy, the dolly takes care of this. A further article on the design of the dolly will follow.
I would like to thank Ltn. Hans ‘Peter’ Wulff (the pilot) for his help and interest during the early stages of the project, and for the wonderful lifestory. A very special thanks to Marion Hamilton for her support with Peter’s details which helped me glue the history together.
Thanks also in particular to Dilip Sarker the aviation historian, and to John Weal the aviation illustrator who put me in touch with Ernst Scheufele of Der Gemeinschaft der Jagdflieger E.V.
Bibliography -
‘Warplanes of the Third Reich’ by William Green.
‘Markings and Camouflage Systems of the Luftwaffe’ by Verlag Dieter Hoffmann.
‘The Fw190-A8 Handbook’ by George G. Hopp.
‘Codes Units and Markings of the Luftwaffe 1939-45’
‘A Few of the Many’ by Dilip Sarkar.
‘Battle of the Airfields - 1st January 1945’ by Norman Franks.
‘Fw190 A-5-9 and F&G’ - drawings by Arthur Bentley.
‘Focke Wulf Aces of the Russian Front’ by John Weal
‘Focke Wulf Aces of the Western Front’ by John Weal.
‘Fw 190 in action’ by Jerry L Campbell,
‘Focke Wulf Fw 190’ by Heinz J Nowarra.
‘The Focke Wulf Fw190’ by William Green.
‘An Illustrated Guide to WW2 Fighters’ by Christopher Chant
‘Classic Fighters of the Luftwaffe’ DD Video
Video footage from Peter Wulff’s personal collection (ZG 26 Horst Wessel and 1/JG6).
The Imperial War Museum, Lambeth, London SE1.
‘Aeroplane Monthly’
Another couple of pictures of the model:
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Background to selection of the subject:
Hans ‘Peter’ Wulff
Flying models in the hills of Dorset and Wiltshire draws interest from many folk; and often those who have some connection with aircraft in a personal way. So it was when I had the pleasure of meeting Hans Wulff during 1995 whist flying gliders at ‘the Horses’. Conversation soon revealed that Hans - ‘Peter’ to those who knew him well, had been a Luftwaffe pilot during World War Two and he expressed his own interest in my projects involving scale models. At the time I was trying to complete my Blackburn Firebrand, a project which he thought was both odd and interesting as a potential glider.
Born in 1923 in Lübek, Northern Germany, Hans ‘Peter’ Wulff began flying gliders at fourteen and was flying solo before he was seventeen. By 1937 he was flying aerobatics and night-flying (in gliders!) in preparation for his inevitable place in the Luftwaffe.
To his disappointment, Leutnant Hans Wulff was posted to Russia flying bombing missions with KG53 (Legion Condor), flying Heinkel He 111s. He had so dearly wanted to fly fighters, but the authorities had different plans for him. Peter was impressed by the performance of twin engined aircraft - firstly the Heinkel He111, and later the Messerschmitt Me410 and this attraction to ‘twins’ lasted throughout his life.
The high speed and manoeuvrability of the Me 410 gave Peter an ‘interesting time’ flying with ZG26 based at Königsberg, trying to chase off the overwhelming American B17 formations over Germany in summer 1944. Heavily engaged in combat during the Battle of the Bulge he was shot down on three occasions and he lost all his comrades in the conflict.
As the situation became desperate for the Defence of the Reich many pilots were posted to fighter squadrons and Peter finally got his wish to fly the mighty Focke Wulf Fw 190, though not on terms which he would have chosen! During late 1944 Peter flew the Fw 190 A-8 with I/JG6 near Cologne and survived a number of remarkable combat missions. Though he had been shot down by Spitfires and Mustangs, he survived where most others did not. Understandably, he began to feel that he was leading a ‘charmed life’, generating an optimism which never deserted him.
Flying with I/JG6 from Quakenbrük in Holland, Peter was involved in the January 1st 1945 offensive against the airfields occupied by the allies, known as Operation Bodenplatte. Flying his ‘Blue 4’ (the Focke Wulf Fw 190 A-8) he was detailed to attack Volkel airfield soon after dawn. But his entire unit failed to arrive on target due to a navigational error and disruption by ‘early morning Spitfires.’
Becoming detached from the rest of I/JG6, Peter became involved in combat with allied fighters near Eindhoven, during which action he shot down a Spitfire, before being set upon by Tempests of 486 Squadron (New Zealand).
Peter’s aircraft was reported as having been shot down at very low level, first emitting white, then black smoke before exploding in a field. In fact the ‘white smoke’ was Peter’s parachute which opened inadvertently at below 200 feet as the canopy of the Fw190 blew clear. Peter was wrenched out of the fighter by the chute and although he was seriously injured by his collision with the tailplane, he survived once again and was taken by the British as a prisoner of war. (As a note of interest, it was Sq Ldr ‘Spike Umbers of the New Zealand 486 Squadron who appears to have been credited with shooting down Peter’s Fw 190. Spike Umbers was himself shot down and killed on 14 February 1945.)
Imprisoned in various British wartime establishments, the last being in Pembrokeshire, Peter settled in Wales after his release in 1948. He was able to mix his love of flying with his work in farming. Twin engined aircraft were always a lasting fascination, and he flew a Dornier for a local businessman for several years. He was also heavily committed to gliding, owning several of his own and a Fournier RF4. Along with current WSA member Lloyd Edwards, Peter was a founder member of the West Wales Gliding Club, where he committed himself to many hours on the tug.
Peter’s flying activities were curtailed increasingly by diabetes which affected his eyesight. Undaunted he learned to fly Microlight aircraft, owning and flying a Chevron until ill health forced him to give up, aged 71.
In May 1997 he went on a pilgrimage to St. Petersburg, (Russia) with the ‘German Lions Club’. And this is where Peter suddenly died on June 2, aged 74.
It had been my plan to involve Peter in my project to model a Focke Wulf 190 A-8, based on ‘Blue 4’, his last combat aircraft. I know he was very interested in what I was doing and I regret that he was not able to see its completion.
I would like to dedicate the model to the memory of Peter Wulff.
Martin Hursthouse February 1998
'Peter' Wulff