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Fw 190 A-3
Production of the A-2 began by August 1941 at the Ago Factory Oschersleben parallel to the
A-1 production at Focke Wulf Bremen.
One of the first things to be criticised by the pilots was the comparably weak firepower of
the Fw 190 A-1. This was addressed for the A-2 by replacing the wing root machine guns
with a pair of Mauser MG 151/20 20mm cannons.
The outboard wing’s MG FF cannons were from now on optional as a Rüstsatz, but were
delivered with every aircraft.
The A-2 received the improved BMW801C-2 engine rated at 1600 PS / 1578 hp at takeoff. To
improve the thermal difficulties with the 801 the series also saw the addition of fixed
cooling slots just aft of the left and right exhaust stacks. The electrical gear motor was
replaced with a more powerful type and the wingspan was increased to 10.51 m / 34.48 ft
and remained unchanged until the last reincarnation of the line entered service, the Ta152.
As the A-2 entered production a new improved engine became available, the BMW 801 D-2,
rated at 1730 PS / 1706 hp at takeoff.
The implementation of the engine led to the parallel production of both the A-2 with the C-
2 engine and the Fw 190 A-3 with the D-2 engine.
Both aircraft were otherwise identical so that a distinction of both types from photographs
can’t be reliably performed unless the production number of the aircraft is known.
However persisting problems with overheating D-2 engines forced the Luftwaffe to lock
manifold pressure to 1.32ata so that the Fw 190 A-3 initially flew approximately 200 horse
powers short of it's potential.
Some A-2s were eventually renamed to A-3s after repair and engine replacement with
the D-2 aggregate.
The BMW 801 slowly left the teething problems behind and reached an average operational
life of about 120 hours.
A total of approximately 909 Fw 190 A-2 and A-3 was produced between August 1941 and
September 1942 at the Focke Wulf plants Bremen and Marienburg, Ago Oschersleben,
Arado Warnemünde and Fieseler Kassel.
The Fw 190 now served with JG 1, JG 2, JG 5 “Eismeer”, JG 26, JG 51, SG 1 and SG 2.
Armin Faber’s Fw 190 A-3
By mid 1942 the moral of the Royal Air Force pilots was seriously affected by the success
of the new German fighter.
A desperate commando raid on a German airfield in France was planned with the goal to
hijack an intact example of this wonder weapon. However, luck was with the British when
Oberleutnant Armin Faber of Stab III./JG 2 landed his Fw 190 A-3, Werknummer 313 in
error at Pembrey South Wales on 23. June 1942 after combat with Spitfires.
The Fw 190 was immediately disassembled and transferred to the Royal Aircraft
Establishment where it was closely examined under the foreign equipment registration
MP 499.
In about 9 flying hours the machine was explored before it was handed over to the Air
Fighting Unit by 13.7.1942 for tactical trials.
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