|
So exactly what is a
Long Nose Dora? This aircraft is the least know
and understood of any of the German fighters.
For starters checkout the 3-Views
of the three different versions of the FW-190-D
on the main page,
this will clearly show you the key differences in
the shapes of the wing, fuselage and tail.
The FW-190-D used
an A fuselage with a longer tail moment to
offset the longer engine, The Junkers Jumo
engine was a 12-cylinder in-line liquid-cooled
power plant. The first production D models
were delivered in late 1943 and early 1944. The
FW-190-D9 was the fine st performing propeller
driven aircraft ever delivered to the Luftwaffe.
With improvements such as water injection, the Jumo engine could deliver 2240 hp at low-level
altitudes and 1880 hp at 15,500 feet.
This aircraft
was more than a match for the North American
Mustang and late model Spitfires. Originally,
the D model was only brought out as a stopgap
devised by Dr. Tank, while he was perfecting his
long awaited TA-152H.
This is where
the confusion starts. In the waning years of
WWII, the German High Command had planned to
honor the designers of the FW-19 0 and the Me-109
by changing the designations of the aircraft to
those incorporating their initials. Therefore,
the FW-190 Ra-2 and FW-190-Ra-3 became the
TA-152B and TA-152H: the TA Designation
stood for Dr. Kurt Tank.
The FW-190-D9
had a wingspan of 34 5.5 and the TA-152H had
a wingspan of 47 4.5. These later aircraft
were clearly as good as, and in some cases
superior to, the British and American fighters
with which they were in daily combat, but the
sheer numbers of opposing Allied aircraft
eventually overwhelmed the Luftwaffe.
|
