# wreck fw190



## piet (Oct 24, 2009)

its an old one, fw190 wreck in a forest in russia ,my favorite wreck video on the net most of you all ready seen it.


_View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwZk7NtQMbI_

fw190 under restoraition, liked it better in the state it was found..... original rlm colours


----------



## Colin1 (Oct 24, 2009)

I haven't 
what became of it, is it still there?


----------



## imalko (Oct 24, 2009)

Cool video. I haven't seen it either.


----------



## gepp (Oct 24, 2009)

Colin1 said:


> I haven't
> what became of it, is it still there?


The aircraft was discovered in the late 1988 i think. It's now in Paul Allen's collection undergoing restoration, hopefully to flying condition.Fw 190 came from Russia, where it had laid for decades, upright and relatively undamaged, in a remote forest east of Leningrad (St. Petersburg today). What was an aeroplane doing deep in a forest? The answer, deduced from the damage to the leading edges of the wings, was that it had crashed among poplar saplings only a few feet tall. The forest had grown up around it.
July 19, 1943. Two Fw -190s were attacking a Russian supply train bound for Leningrad when the engine of one quit. The pilot, Sergeant Paul Rätz, glided to a safe landing. He left his flying cap on the seat but took the aeroplane's panel clock with him. Trying to make his way back to German lines, he was captured a few miles away and remained imprisoned in Russia for 16 years before finally returning to Germany. In 1988, a collector found the Focke-Wulf where Rätz had left it, his helmet still resting on the seat. Rätz died in 1989, never having learned that his aeroplane had been recovered. But his family did—and, it turns out, they still have the clock.
A Vintage Wings technician dismantling the 190's BMW 801 engine found a clod of dirt in an oil line downstream from the oil filter. This had evidently been the reason for the forced landing: Lack of lubrication had caused an internal shaft to overheat and fail, disabling the fuel and oil pumps. But how had the dirt—not engine dirt, but soil, earth—gotten there? Says Jeff Thomas, "BMW's policy on major engine maintenance was to insist that the whole 'power egg'—the engine and all of its plumbing and equipment and mounting hardware—just be taken off and sent back to the factory rather than repaired in the field." As a result, all engine assembly was done in Germany, some of it by slave labourers. The theory is that one of those labourers had packed dirt or a rag into the oil line to sabotage the engine, the engine had then been shipped to Russia and installed on the aeroplane at the front, and within a few minutes after take off the defiant act of the distant and anonymous captive had done its work."

hope that helped you guys


----------



## gepp (Oct 24, 2009)

i havent heard anything about it since.


----------



## diddyriddick (Oct 24, 2009)

It looks remarkably well preserved, all things considered. I checked Allen's Flying Heritage Collection website, and found nothing.


----------



## gepp (Oct 24, 2009)

diddyriddick said:


> It looks remarkably well preserved, all things considered. I checked Allen's Flying Heritage Collection website, and found nothing.



i had a look there as well nothing but all other places that iv looked say the say thing but i did found this its the same Fw-190 1 pic of it getting restored in 05 when it was no longer a secret why it was a secreti have no idea
http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/armour-weapons-aircraft/fw-190-a-4754/


----------



## vikingBerserker (Oct 24, 2009)

Wow, that is truly amazing.


----------



## gepp (Oct 24, 2009)

> fw190 under restoraition, liked it better in the state it was found..... original rlm colours



think of the end product if they put original markings back on it will be unreal.


----------



## gepp (Oct 27, 2009)

another view of it


----------



## sunny91 (Oct 27, 2009)

Thanks for sharing,


----------



## Messy1 (Oct 27, 2009)

Man, I cannot believe it sat on the ground in a forest unmolested for 50 years. I find that amazing.


----------



## Junkers88A1 (Oct 27, 2009)

its under restoration at Gosshawk in USA at the moment. some problems occured when the engine was shipped ( it tipped over and got damaged ) but its not allowed to take any pictures in the resturationshop at gosshawk ltd. for some reasons
but they are doing a great job ( the restoration was stopped in england and it was shipped to USA )


----------



## vikingBerserker (Oct 27, 2009)

Thanks for the update!


----------



## Aaron Brooks Wolters (Oct 27, 2009)

Very cool Piet, Thank you for sharing the info everyone!


----------



## gepp (Nov 30, 2009)

here is the vid to that fw-190 first being discovered footage is very 80's. i had the vid somewhere on my pc but its easier to look on youtube lol

_View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jueDXiuU6aM_


----------



## beaupower32 (Nov 30, 2009)

This Focke-wulf 190 was manufactured in April 1943, originally as an A-5 variant and supplied with the full work number 0151227. It was the 415th A-5 constructed from batch 0150812 - 0151793 and manufactured by the parent factory of Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau GmbH at Bremen. 
Interestingly, W.Nr 1227, seems not to have been manufactured as a straight A5 variant. A standard A-5 was fitted with outer MG/FF 20mm cannons and was completed with the central wheel well covers. On W.Nr 1227, the outer MG/FF cannons had not been fitted on the production line, the central wheel well covers had also been removed and in its place a central ETC501 bomb rack had been fitted. 
By April 1943 production Focke-wulf were still behind in the production of the F-2 variant. Focke-wulf therefore continued to factory modify A-5 variants to accommodate the slipping production schedule. Focke-wulf 190 A-5, W.Nr 1227 is seen generally as being originally manufactured as an A-5, but became a factory modified example and so making it a Fw190 A-5/U3. 
If it had been constructed on its own production run, the completed W.Nr 1227 would have been known as a F-2 variant; a total of 271 F-2's and F-2/tp's were produced upto May 1943. 
On reaching the end of its production run, W.Nr 1227 was painted with the individual Stammkennzeichen (RLM block codes) of DG+HO. 

Movements 
In 1942 the German High command had the idea of rotating units in the Eastern Front with those in the Western Front. With this idea, the original plan was to rotate the whole of JG54 in the East with JG26 in the West in early 1943. The first and only units to return were 4./JG54 of the II Gruppe and the whole of III/JG54 who returned to France in mid February. In return I/JG26 and 7./JG26 of the III/JG26 went to Russia where JG26 operated for a while under the command of JG54. 
The 4./JG54 pilots and ground crew returned West to act as a nucleus to help build up the new IV/JG54, whilst pulling in resources from other units. Due to a shortage of Fw190's, the 10, 11 12 staffeln of the new IV Gruppe were worked up with new Bf109 G-3 and G-4. At the end of April the task for 4./JG54 was complete and with a build up of Russian forces around Leningrad, 4./JG54 were on their way back to the Northern Front to join the rest of the II Gruppe again. 
W.Nr 1227 was flown via several bases from an aircraft pool and most probably delivered fresh to JG54 by a new squadron pilot. Around mid May she arrived at the former Russian airbase of Siwerskaja to join the ranks of other Fw190's being operated by I and II Gruppes of JG54. 
Although the yellow theatre markings might have been painted prior to delivery to 4./JG54, the original camouflage was painted over. It was standard procedure to paint over the factory finished colours of RLM74 Gray Green and RLM75 Gray Violet which covered the top surface. The sides on this A5 which had a base of RLM02 gray with mottling of RLM74 and RLM75 going down to the RLM76 Light Blue to the underside. As these colours were unsuitable for the Leningrad area of the Russian Front, JG54 applied a unique three colour combination. JG54 were known to experiment with different colour combinations. The colour combination generally followed the original demarcation lines and consisted of a dark green, brown violet and tan (sand) which was more suited to the forests areas of Northern Russia. ('new' colours as listed in Ken Merricks book). 
To this was applied yellow theatre bands to the underside of the wing tips, outside of the lower cross, to the lower quadrant of the rudder, around the fuselage cross and to the lower engine cowlings. The last area to be touch up was to the underside blue to hide the last two remaining letters of the factory codes (the others were under the yellow wing tips) and to apply the tactical letter of a 'White A'. 
To say this marking was unusual would be correct. No surviving JG54 pilots can recall flying with letter markings, having always recorded numbers within the log books. During the summer of 1943, no horizontal band denoting the II Gruppe was added to aircraft of 4./JG54 either. 
At the beginning of July 1943, 4./JG54 were back in operations. At the same time, IV/JG54 had moved to Jesau on there way to Northern Russia. When the new IV Gruppe reached Russia in the middle of July, the 4./JG54 were again subordinated to the new Gruppe. As the 10 staffel of the IV Gruppe carried white numbers, white letters seem to have been applied to the 4./JG54 who were acting as a semi autonomous ground attack unit. 

The loss of Fw190 A5/U3 W.Nr 1227. 
On Monday 19th July 1943 Fw190 A-5 W.Nr 1227 'White A' went on a mission carrying a SC250 (550Ib) bomb. Taking off from Siwerskaja, on what was probably a hot summer day, 'White A' headed for the Front line which was only fifteen or so minutes flight time away. Crossing the front line over the Dvina River, the Fw190, flying with another crossed it and headed East. Whilst behind enemy lines, in an area called Voibakala, the 'Rotte' attacked an armoured train and reportedly suffered damage from flak. The loss report indicates the Fw190 crash landed due to this damage, although none was located on the airframe. It Fw190 suffered a catastrophic failure of the BMW801, caused by a rag -sabotage is suspeced as it was a new engine was fitted a few days before). The Fw190 was recorded as being 100% lost in the map reference co-ordinates of Pl.Qu.20124. This grid system based on 1:200,000 maps was used to identify crash sites, possibly for salvage, recovery of missing pilots or as the best way of identifying an area consisting of unpronounceable Russian towns, villages and large areas of forests and lakes. The more numbers the Pl.Qu. reference gives, the smaller the area of the location. A key to this 'code', would help identify literally dozens of possible recoveries within Russia!! 
The pilot Feldwebel Paul Rätz survived the crash landed behind enemy lines. He removed his leather flying helmet and retrieved the first air kit from the rear fuselage and is thought to have headed West back to the front line only a dozen or so miles from the crash site. He was undoubtedly captured by the Russians and interned although the Luftwaffe loss report still class him as 'Vermißt' (missing) in action. 

Notes 
The fourth Staffeln of Jagdgeschwader 54 'Grunherz' only seemed to have carried this unusual white letter combination for a few months through the summer and autumn of 1943. On returning to join the II Gruppe again, the staffel reverted to the number system again. There are only two other known 4/JG54 loses where Fw190's have been recorded as lost with these distinctive markings. 

• On 8th July 1943 the relatively new Fw190 A-5, W.Nr 1520 'White D' was 100% crashed whilst taking off with the pilot killed. 
• On 23rd August 1943 Fw190 A-4, W.Nr 5808 'White B' was classed as 100% lost when it crash landed due to flak damage at location Pl.Qu.18212. The pilot was injured but returned safely to his unit. 

Found in silver birch forest 1989. Recovered 1991. Doug/David Arnold and now Paul Allen. 

This is a very high % original aircraft. 
Everything that could be reused has been reused. 
The original 6 spoke sand cast wheels are a site to see.


----------



## Muskrat (Mar 29, 2012)

Any more detailed close in pictures of it post rebuild.

Great story


----------



## Muskrat (Mar 29, 2012)

Found it White 1 Restoration


----------



## Muskrat (Mar 29, 2012)

Oops - no this is one from Norway.


----------



## A4K (Mar 29, 2012)

Seen that before, but great to see again - thanks Piet!

I too would have liked to see atleast one 190 remain as found, especially in such condition - much more valuable as a historical artifact for original colouring that another airshow act.


----------



## beaupower32 (Mar 29, 2012)

Old post, but i would imagine A4K that there are a few more out there like this one ready to be discovered....


----------



## A4K (Mar 30, 2012)

I hope you're right mate, but even if so, these will no doubt be restored too someday. 
Not against restoration, but would just like to atleast see one example preserved in original condition for historical reference.


----------

