Gondor44 Posted September 27, 2020 Share Posted September 27, 2020 I am looking for what appears to be elusive information. I have found plans which show what the various G versions were like physically, but almost nothing about the colour schemes or even operators of the aircraft. I am assuming that this is in part to a lack of information from the time the aircraft was in operation and the fact that the G was so like the A & F versions that it is almost impossible to determine which aircraft was which version from contemporize pictures. Is there anyone out there that can provide me with definitive information or where such information may be, e.g. books etc? Gondor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDriskill Posted September 27, 2020 Share Posted September 27, 2020 Well this is only an indirect answer, as I don't know of anything that lays "G" schemes out per se. But of course the best way to identify the variant is by serial number. According to the books I have, the G-3 series (based on A-5 airframes I think) were all built by Focke-Wulf, and have 6-digit serials beginning with "16." The later G-8 series, based on the A-8, were also all FW-built and have serials beginning with "19." You are correct that there is much confusion between these attack variants; sometimes they were built in small batches, or modified in the field, for specific unit requests, etc. I have read there was a batch of F's sent to the Eastern front plumbed for wing drop tanks (normally a G hallmark), and a small number of G's with nose machine guns (which they usually omitted). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jure Miljevic Posted September 27, 2020 Share Posted September 27, 2020 (edited) Hello Off the top of my head some of the units would be SKG 10 and SG 4: The photo shows one of the 10/SKG 10 aircraft, and this particular Fw 190 G-3 W. Nr. 160022 was captured intact on Montecorvino airfield near Salerno, Sicily. I found the photo on Asbiz page here. It is a rather poor reproduction with distorted colours, and despite her appearance, this plane was painted in standard RLM 74/75/76 scheme. As you noted Gondor, photos of G version are difficult to find. Some of them (three or four, I think) can be found, along with a few colour profiles, in Fw 190 JaBos, special edition of French Aero Journal magazine. Cheers Jure Edited September 27, 2020 by Jure Miljevic new info added Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gondor44 Posted September 27, 2020 Author Share Posted September 27, 2020 3 hours ago, MDriskill said: Well this is only an indirect answer, as I don't know of anything that lays "G" schemes out per se. But of course the best way to identify the variant is by serial number. According to the books I have, the G-3 series (based on A-5 airframes I think) were all built by Focke-Wulf, and have 6-digit serials beginning with "16." The later G-8 series, based on the A-8, were also all FW-built and have serials beginning with "19." You are correct that there is much confusion between these attack variants; sometimes they were built in small batches, or modified in the field, for specific unit requests, etc. I have read there was a batch of F's sent to the Eastern front plumbed for wing drop tanks (normally a G hallmark), and a small number of G's with nose machine guns (which they usually omitted). Thanks for that. Knowing the serial numbers will be a help 👍 3 hours ago, Jure Miljevic said: Hello Off the top of my head some of the units would be SKG 10 and SG 4: The photo shows one of the 10/SKG 10 aircraft, and this particular Fw 190 G-3 W. Nr. 160022 was captured intact on Montecorvino airfield near Salerno, Sicily. I found the photo on Asbiz page here. It is a rather poor reproduction with distorted colours, and despite her appearance, this plane was painted in standard RLM 74/75/76 scheme. As you noted Gondor, photos of G version are difficult to find. Some of them (three or four, I think) can be found, along with a few colour profiles, in Fw 190 JaBos, special edition of French Aero Journal magazine. Cheers Jure Thamks for that information, very usefull knowing at least two of the operators. Gondor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G.R.Morrison Posted September 28, 2020 Share Posted September 28, 2020 To address 'the operators' of Fw 190G aircraft: The first losses, in August 1943, were from the II/SKG 10. The photo provided by Mr. Miljevic, "DN+FV", WNr.160022, was abandoned 9.Sept. 1943 (there's no way of determining a Staffel assignment, the captioning on the 'asisbiz' site is not always accurate). On the airfields of Monte Corvino and Capua the III/SKG 10 'wrote off' nineteen Fw 190Gs on that date. Their Stammkennzeichen were in the DN+F_, DP+H_, and CL+W_ ranges. Another user of numerous Fw 190Gs was the II/SG 4. The delivery pilots of the Flzg. Überführungs Geschwader 1 had their fair share of accidents. A few were attached to the test unit, Erprobungskommando 25, and some fighter units had the occasional Fw 190G on strength (3./JG 1, 1./JG 11, II/JG 300). GRM 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDriskill Posted September 28, 2020 Share Posted September 28, 2020 12 hours ago, G.R.Morrison said: To address 'the operators' of Fw 190G aircraft: The first losses, in August 1943, were from the II/SKG 10. The photo provided by Mr. Miljevic, "DN+FV", WNr.160022, was abandoned 9.Sept. 1943 (there's no way of determining a Staffel assignment, the captioning on the 'asisbiz' site is not always accurate). On the airfields of Monte Corvino and Capua the III/SKG 10 'wrote off' nineteen Fw 190Gs on that date. Their Stammkennzeichen were in the DN+F_, DP+H_, and CL+W_ ranges. Another user of numerous Fw 190Gs was the II/SG 4. The delivery pilots of the Flzg. Überführungs Geschwader 1 had their fair share of accidents. A few were attached to the test unit, Erprobungskommando 25, and some fighter units had the occasional Fw 190G on strength (3./JG 1, 1./JG 11, II/JG 300). GRM Thank you, very interesting! I would add that the two books by Arthy and Jensen, "The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 in North Africa," and "Focke-Wulf Fw 190 in the Battle for Sicily," have a great deal of info on early Jabo 190's in the Med. The authors reprised some of this material for the excellent three Classic Publications volumes on the 190. Many of these early Jabo 190's were A-5/U3 (centerline bomb rack) and A-5/U-8 (centerline rack plus wing tanks) variants. The diff between the A-5/U8 and G-3 is a little fuzzy to me, and may have more to do with where the work was done, i.e. original factory standard, or a post-factory kit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gondor44 Posted September 28, 2020 Author Share Posted September 28, 2020 4 hours ago, MDriskill said: Many of these early Jabo 190's were A-5/U3 (centerline bomb rack) and A-5/U-8 (centerline rack plus wing tanks) variants. The diff between the A-5/U8 and G-3 is a little fuzzy to me, and may have more to do with where the work was done, i.e. original factory standard, or a post-factory kit. From the books I have the main difference between the A-5/U8 and the G-3 is that the A-5/U8 has two part undercarriage doors and the G-3 has single peice undercarriage doors and MG151/20 cannon bulges on the wings. Gondor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDriskill Posted September 30, 2020 Share Posted September 30, 2020 (edited) On 9/28/2020 at 4:31 PM, Gondor44 said: From the books I have the main difference between the A-5/U8 and the G-3 is that the A-5/U8 has two part undercarriage doors and the G-3 has single peice undercarriage doors and MG151/20 cannon bulges on the wings. Gondor If you are referring to the "flat bulge" on TOP of the wing, I'm pretty sure that is NOT correct for the G-3. This bulge is NOT required to fit the MG FF (used on A-2/3/4/5), or MG 151 (A-6/7/8/9). It IS required to fit the 30mm MK 108 (A-7/8/9).This feature was introduced on "Sturmbock" A-7's modified to carry the MK 108, then became universally used during A-8 production, whose wings were modified to easily fit either the MG 151 or MK 108. The section sketches below illustrate this point - MG 151 on the left, MK 108 on the right. The upper-surface bulge covered a hole in the upper wing skin required for the MK 108 (and thus remained even on late ground attack variants that did not carry an outboard gun - the F-8, F-9, and G-8). Frustratingly, the upper-surface bulge has been incorrectly assigned to earlier variants in a couple of recently-published books, causing a lot of confusion for modelers. Edited October 2, 2020 by MDriskill 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gondor44 Posted September 30, 2020 Author Share Posted September 30, 2020 1 hour ago, MDriskill said: If you are referring to the "flat bulge" on TOP of the wing, I'm pretty sure that is NOT correct for the G-3. This bulge is NOT required to fit the MG FF (used on A-2/3/4/5), or MG 151 (A-6/7/8/9). It IS required to fit the 30mm MK 108 (A-7/8/9).This feature was introduced on "Sturmbock" A-7's modified to carry the MK 108, then became universally used during A-8 production, whose wings were modified to easily fit either the MG 151 or MK 108. The section sketches below illustrate this point - MG 151 on the left, MK 108 on the right. The upper-surface bulge covered a hole in the upper wing skin required for the MK 108 (and so was seen even on late ground attack variants that did not carry an outboard cannon - the F-8, F-9, and G-8). Frustratingly, this has been incorrectly represented in a couple of recently-published books and caused a lot of confusion for modelers. That's great information. 👍 I suppose that the Valiant Wings book I have on the Fw 190 would be one of those recently published books then. Ho hum Gondor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDriskill Posted September 30, 2020 Share Posted September 30, 2020 (edited) Thanks, and I should have mentioned that the nifty sketches came from the German book, "Focke Wulf Jagdflugzeug," by Peter Rodeike. In my opinion - yes, Valiant could have done a better job on this one bit, but still it's quite a remarkable book overall, and great value-for-money. You'd be hard-pressed to squeeze more good Fw 190 info between two covers (and for the stuff that didn't fit, there's a download supplement on their web site). Edited September 30, 2020 by MDriskill Compulsive personality Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gondor44 Posted September 30, 2020 Author Share Posted September 30, 2020 37 minutes ago, MDriskill said: Thanks, and I should have mentioned that the nifty sketches came from the German book, "Focke Wulf Jagdflugzeug," by Peter Rodeike. In my opinion - yes, Valiant could have done a better job on this one bit, but still it's quite a remarkable book overall, and great value-for-money. You'd be hard-pressed to squeeze more good Fw 190 info between two covers (and for the stuff that didn't fit, there's a download supplement on their web site). Didn't know about the supliment as all I have been doing realy is brousing the book. Will put that german book on my to buy list 👍 Would the fact my version of the Valiant Wings publication is the second edition mean that the download is not on the site any more as I can't find it Gondor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDriskill Posted September 30, 2020 Share Posted September 30, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, Gondor44 said: Didn't know about the supliment as all I have been doing realy is brousing the book. Will put that german book on my to buy list 👍 Would the fact my version of the Valiant Wings publication is the second edition mean that the download is not on the site any more as I can't find it Gondor My apologies, it's been a long time since I did the download. Don't recall the logistical details, and it may have been only a limited-time thing for the first edition. It was a 24-page list of kits and accessories, plus some reviews of older kits, for which there had not been room in the book. There were no additional real-aircraft details. Based on the description of the second edition, much of that info must now be included. Edited September 30, 2020 by MDriskill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gondor44 Posted September 30, 2020 Author Share Posted September 30, 2020 1 hour ago, MDriskill said: My apologies, it's been a long time since I did the download. Don't recall the logistical details, and it may have been only a limited-time thing for the first edition. It was a 24-page list of kits and accessories, plus some reviews of older kits, for which there had not been room in the book. There were no additional real-aircraft details. Based on the description of the second edition, much of that info must now be included. Not a problem. I tend to use Scalemates and Hannants to find kits, acessories can be a bit hit and miss such as trying to find the correct flaired wing tanks used by both the Ju87 and the Fw 190 G. Does anyone know anything about Pendinghouse decals as they aparantly do some G version sets? All I can find is pictures of the decal sheet but no instructions or colour schemes. Gondor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torqueofthedevil Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 On 9/27/2020 at 6:01 PM, Gondor44 said: I am looking for what appears to be elusive information. I have found plans which show what the various G versions were like physically, but almost nothing about the colour schemes or even operators of the aircraft. I am assuming that this is in part to a lack of information from the time the aircraft was in operation and the fact that the G was so like the A & F versions that it is almost impossible to determine which aircraft was which version from contemporize pictures. Is there anyone out there that can provide me with definitive information or where such information may be, e.g. books etc? Gondor Histoire et Collections Planes and Pilots Vol 9 (ie the one about the Fw 190) has four colour profiles of 190Gs. One is the aircraft shown in the colour pic above, another one also in 74/75/76, and two are in winter schemes. The units are SG 2, SG 4, SG 10 and SKG 10. No idea how accurate any of this is! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gondor44 Posted October 7, 2020 Author Share Posted October 7, 2020 Picked up from my local Post Office as I wasn't in to creceive it from Parcle Force 1 x 1/72 Hasegawa Focke-Wulf Fw190G Ground Attacker I never knew they did this version untill recently. It's a G-8 so based on the A/F-8 airframe and contains a few parts in white metal to make it the G version. Box number AP175 This will be inn the second option in the box for a G-8 of II/SG2 (II Gruppr Schlachtgeschwader 2) acording to the instructions Gondor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingerbob Posted October 12, 2020 Share Posted October 12, 2020 On 9/30/2020 at 5:28 PM, Gondor44 said: Does anyone know anything about Pendinghouse decals... I have no experience with them myself, but the comments I have seen have not been very favourable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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