Focke Wulf Fw 190A-8

Plane: Focke Wulf Fw 190A-8

Weight (Empty/Loaded/Max): 7,652lb / 9,100lb / 10,800lb

Wing Area: 197 sq ft

Wing Loading: 38.8lb/sq ft / 46.2lb/sq ft / 54.8lb/sq ft

Length: 29'

Span: 34' 6"

Wing Aspect Ratio: 6.0

Engine: 1,700hp BMW 801 D Radial

Flaps: 5 settings

Visibility:

• Front: (Uses Fw 190A-4 art)
• Sides:
• Rear:

Control Feel:

• Slow: Excellent
• Near Sustained: Excellent
• Fast: Excellent

Stall Speed 1k (No Flaps/Full Flaps) 105/95mph

Guns:

Interestingly enough, the Fw 190A-8 contains 25% more ammunition for the inboard 20mm MG 151/20 cannon, yet has the exact same firing time! Either the MG 151/20 was improved in firing rate, or one of the two planes have incorrect ammunition loadouts in the Warbirds Help file. This gun was synchronized with the propeller, and thus may explain the discrepancies (Focke Wulfe may have tinkered with the synchronization timing and/or increased the engine RPMs). The FW 190D9 also fires her 20mm cannon in the same time as her FW siblings, with the same ammunition loadout as the FW 190A8. Another interesting effect of the synchronization is the fact the FW 190 A-8's outer guns fire in the same time as other MG 151/20s loaded on other planes (Bf 109 series) where synchronization is not needed, and this rate is 15-20% faster than the inboard synchronized guns.

Ordnance:
0: none
1: 2xRockets
2: 1x500lb bomb
3: 1x1,000lb bomb

Fuel Time/Percent: 37 seconds/percent

Power/weight (Empty/Loaded/Max): 4.5lb/hp / 5.4lb/hp / 6.4lb/hp

Corner Velocity: 310mph

Durability: Good

WEP time: 10 minutes

Maximum Angle-of-Attack (no flaps/full flaps): 18.5/18 degrees

Wing Incidence Angle (no flaps/full flaps): 2.5/3 degrees

Accleleration:

Climb:
1k-5k: 50s
5k-10k: 86s
10k-15k: 102s

Zoom Climb:
1k 400mph: +5,400ft
1k 300mph: +3,600ft

Dive:

Max Speed

Turn Performance

Corner Speed and Radii (1,000ft):

Speed: 310mph
Radius: 700ft
Sustained Turn Speed: 190mph
Sustained Turn Radius: 1,033ft
Full Flaps Speed: 140mph
Full Flaps Radius: 755ft

Roll Rate:
150mph: 4.8s
200mph: 3.6s
250mph: 2.9s
300mph: 3.3s
350mph: 3.8s
400mph: 4.6s

Minimum Full-Flaps Full-Power Split-S altitude:
150mph: 1500ft
200mph: 1400ft
250mph: 1400ft
300mph: 1500ft

Hoof's Tips and Opinions:

The Focke Wulf was for the early years of the war considered Germany's "other iron in the fire" as far as the Luftwaffe was concerned. At the time, the Bf 109 was the primary German fighter, and had proven itself quite capable, until the Battle of Britain. In Barbarossa, and along the east front for most of the war, the Bf 109 was quite a capable plane. But as time would tell, overall, the Fw 190 would prove itself a superior fighter and rightfully the successor to the Bf 109 throne.

The Fw 190 was the brainchild of Kurt Tank, a brilliant fighter designer working for Focke Wulf. As the inline liquid-cooled engines were scarce, being used in the Bf 109 fighter series and other planes, Kurt Tank designed the Fw 190 around a radial engine design, the BMW 801 radial. Teething problems, mostly involving inadequate cooling of the engine and sealing of engine fumes from the engine into the cockpit caused no end of trouble, but when a Fw 190A-3 went over to England on a very successful sortie, Germany knew she had a fine plane at her disposal.

The Fw 190A-8 was the last of the A series Focke Wulf 190 (mass produced). There would be later designs such as the F series for fighter-bombers, and the Ta 152 for high altitude work as well as the powerful D series powered by a Jumo inline engine, but for the typical radial air-superiority fighter, the Fw 190A-8 was the last. Bolstered firepower over the A-4 version means this bird can sneeze on planes and they will explode. Her firepower is the best in the game, her four cannon able to spew out 44 20mm shells a second (the modern M61 cannon used on fighters like the F15 and F16 can spit out 100 rounds/second). Consider that the rule of thumb used in WWII for downing a B17 was 20 20mm rounds, this bird has the best chance of downing a B17 before Otto can get his radar-guided laser-rangefinding targeting system on you and put a dozen bullets between your eyes.

Unfortunately, in the late planes arena, the A-8 only best asset is the firepower. Her diving ability is good as is her rolling ability (especially at speed). But her turning is poorer than the A-4 series, and her vertical performance isn't too good, especially since it is hampered by poor low-speed characteristics which make reversals after a zoom agonizingly slow. She can be outturned by virtually every plane, and she can't run from a good deal of them.

Like her A-4 sibling, she does well up to about 6,000ft. Then the plane has a dead spot between 7,000ft and 11,000ft where her performance drops of rapidly. Beyond this the performance degradation resumes to normal levels.

Beware encountering another Focke-Wulf in this bird. In an A-4, you can outturn the other Fws, and in the Dora you can outclimb/dive/run the other Fws. With the A-8 you will find that an A-4 will outturn ya, and run you down, while the Dora will BnZ you to death. The best bet is to use the spray 'n' pray ability, because if you can score a ping, you will land 5-6 shells on some critical part of the other plane (and WB doesn't divide up damage between sections, all damage from a ping seems to be registered on the hit site, so ping an elevator with this bird, and WB models 6 20mm shells hitting it).

See the Fw 190A-4 write-up on this plane for more tips on being effective in the A-8.

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