What a great conversation! Learned some great stuff and raised some new questions. Don't want to get too detailed as I am writing a book.
Little background. This guy has plenty of confirmed kills. He flew Me-109's from the beginning up until the Bf-109G6. From there he transferred over to the FW-190A8 in 1944. His "training" on the FW was an orientation to the cockpit and a circuit around the field. He then took off and flew his first combat mission in the type. No additional training and no pilots manual.
On fighting the airplane:
He primarily TURNFOUGHT Mustangs, Yaks, and La 5's. Spitfires he fought in the vertical. None of them were a problem for the FW-190A in the dogfight.
Aileron adjustment was extremely important to the turn performance of the type. There are THREE different ailerons that can be mounted on the FW-190A. Each has different hinge type and different performance. All were the pilot's choice to have mounted. He named the ones he preferred.
Additionally his crew chief would mount the ailerons with a spacer, which gave them additional height. This came from a FW Technical bulletin. Said it helped with low speed performance.
On the Flaps:
He did not mention the exact speed. I will press him for that later. He was in a very talkative mood but is not completely comfortable with English. Between my German and his English though the points were made.
He did use them in every engagement that he turned. They did decrease the turn rate considerably.
On the Prop:
The FW-190A8 had three props available for pilot use. Again it was the pilots choice. He preferred the broad chord wooden propeller. Said it had more flex and he felt it gave more of a bite in the air during low speed maneuvering.
Normal Metal Prop - VDM 9-16176A
Wide Chord Wooden Prop - VDM 9-12157H3
Manual mentions some others, anybody got any info on this?
On the boost systems:
GM-1, MW-50, and C3 "emergency power" were ALL used on the FW-190A. The FW-190A8 was rated for 1.58ata/1.65ata for 10 minutes. He also mentioned another alcohol based boost system but I need more information from him on it. MW30 perhaps, I wrote the name down and it is not an MW system. I am thinking an EW system similar to the later 109's.
GM-1 and MW-50 were more common than we would believe. This is confirmed by Dr Timken who has several of the systems laying around his hanger and they are listed on the FW-190 parts catalog. Anyway, I have more interviews with him later.
Surprised to learn on the boost systems though was:
He never used them! The alcohol based system took almost 3 minutes to develop power. He said bullets were much faster than all the boost systems. Roll and shallow dive was his best maneuver when an enemy fighter got on his six. He said the FW-190A8's dive acceleration would slam you to the back of the cockpit. He also said the acceleration when the second stage supercharger gear kicked in was very noticeable. Sounded like a modern automatic transmission. The supercharger would whine for a few seconds and followed by a "clunk" as the gear engaged. Then the acceleration would push you back.
He mentioned several times "I feared no Mustang." Looking at his record, I have no doubt he did not!
Oh he mentioned he always performed a 3 point landing and take off in the FW-190. Said prop strikes were common if you did not.
Crumpp
