Sunday 2 May 2010

Focke Wulf Fw 190 Dora 9 in Military Aircraft Monthly

To presumably 'tie in' with the release of the new Eduard Dora kit the latest (May 2010) issue of 'Military Aircraft Monthly' includes a rather poorly done piece on the Fw 190 D-9. Quite why any editor could imagine that he could usefully contribute anything of interest on the 'operational' history of the D-9 (the stated aim of the piece) in only three pages is beyond me, but when combined with Peter Scott's error-strewn artwork then impressions are rather less than positive. Also illustrated in the article are two Ta 152's -although not mentioned in the text- but no D-11s or the usual D-13. Here's an example at random, but frankly I could have picked any of the illustrations ..this is one of several 'unit unknown' (including the Ta 152 !!) Where did the yellow fuselage band come from ?



Here's the reference photo from my collection (ie does not appear in the article) and 'my' caption by way of comparison..

On May 5, 1945, Czech Radio called on the citizens of Prague to rise up against the Nazi occupying force and for five days Czechs took up arms against German troops until the Red Army arrived in the capital on May 9. Elements of JG 300 - attempting to fall back to Prague from southern Germany - were caught up in the fighting during the uprising. This particular Dora was on strength with Stab./JG 300 and photographed in Prague in June 1945. Kommodore Günther Rall's Geschwaderstab had re-equipped with the Dora in late April 1945. It is unlikely that the former JG 52 ace ever flew a combat sortie in a D-9 during his brief tenure of JG 300. Given the shortages of fuel in the last weeks of the war, sorties flown by JG 300 Doras comprised a handful of training circuits and strafing missions against US spearheads pressing into southern Germany. 'Black <4' displays a representative 211xxx series camouflage finish with a solid RLM 83 dark green engine cowling and an over-painted area of RLM 75 on the rear fuselage, with wing upper-surfaces finished in the standard 75/83 Focke Wulf scheme.