Dreaded Focke-Wulf Fw190 Rüstsätze kits!

[weinace]

William Green in his 'Warplanes of the Third Reich' shows line drawings of a Rüstsätze 2, which is a 30mm MK108 cannon in an underwing pod. I can find NO other references did this version exist and are there any photographs?
Rüstsätze 3 the 30mm Mk103 in underwing pods; apart from the protoype did this actually fly??
Thanks,
Weinace

 

[Erich]

throw his book away or use it for a doorstop. R2 is for the 3cm in the wing standard fit on the Sturmböcke.

externally for experimentation only there was talk of the use of the weapons system on the Fw 190A-7/N for night work , didn't achieve the result needed

 

[GrauGeist]

The only gun/cannon pod for the '190 I am aware of, was the dual MG 151 20mm.

 

[Erich]

the MK 103 was also tested with the same nasty results. the twin 2cm waffen pods were used operationally on the Fw 190A-5/U12 the a/c was flown by a friend in the Familie serving in JG 11 in 1943

 

[A4K]

According to 'Squadron/ Signal No.19: Focke-Wulf Fw 190 in action' :

Rüstsaetze (Field conversion kits)

R1: One WB151/ 20 gun pack under each wing (Fw 190A-6/R1, Fw 190A-7/R1, Fw 190A-8/R1) - also A-5/U-12 (2 versuch aircraft, not mentioned in the Squadron book);
R2: One MK108 30-mm cannon under each wing (Fw 190A-6/R2, Fw 190A-7/R2, Fw 190A-8/R2);
R3: One MK103 30-mm cannon under each wing (Fw 190A-6/R3, Fw 190A-8/R3).

I have a few photos and drawings of these arrangements, drop us your address in a PM and I'll post them to ya.

Evan

 

[Erich]

R 3 did not exist; there were no MK 103's flown operationaly on any variant.

there was no A-6/R2 the nomenclature should read A-7/MK not R2. the A-8/R2 was the standard Sturm Fw along with R8 variant in late 44. And I will repeat this hopefully for the last time. NO UNDERWING 3cm WEAPONS flown on ops.

 

[A4K]

Cheers Erich! You know your stuff so I believe you... wish authors would get their facts straight before printing crap though.

 

[Erich]

there are at least 6-10 known pics of the factory test piece with the long rod MK 103 3cm cannon. why oh why have authors stated it was a production variant is beyond me, it was enver accepted by any JG unit for service.

I have several of the pics and have to admit the A/C looks quite mean but every time the cannons were fired the flight characteristics were thrown off this was also the way it was for outboard MK 108's, re: to have them inboard with enclosed ammo bins

 

[A4K]

Ju 87G Stukas must have suffered huge performance losses for the same reason then I guess, with those bloody great cannons hanging under the wings...

 

[weinace]

Thanks to all for replies not least Eric - a font of all knowledge!!! Am I now correct in thinking the following
R2 = 30mm cannon plus R7 armour
R8 =BMW 800TU/TS with heavier headrest
R2/R8 = R2 plus BMW 800TU/TS
R7 = armour kit with strenghtened wing leading edge?
Will keep William Green's book for sentimenatl purposes!!!Am trying to source Peter Roideke's publication - though' ich spreche kein Deutsch'!! Any other good FW190 books!!!
regards,
weinace

 

[A4K]

Alot of us here can speak German to various degrees...if you need anything translated just post it!

As for the Rüstsaetze, I'll go along with anything Erich says, he has a VAST knowledge on these matters.