Focke Wulf 190A-5u16 Mission Objective?

[Rivet]

Two FW 190 A-5's were modified as torpedo carriers, with the modification catalouged as Umrust Bausatz 14. Bausatzen 15 and 16 also had the aim of using the FW 190 A-5 as torpedo/heavy bomb carriers. Does anyone know of any primary documentation outlining the proposed mission this modification was to fullfill? Regards

 

[davebender]

Torpedo bombers are useless for anything except attacking ships.

 

[bobbysocks]

that would be a given. but what ships or which ship in particular is where i think he was going. was it for a specific mission or a brainstorming for a shift in strategy? was this done in response the success the japs had with torpedo planes? was this to augment or take the place of the U-boat fleet? its interesting...i would like to know more myself.

 

[davebender]

By 1942 German and Italian torpedo bombers were probably sinking more enemy shipping then Japanese torpedo bombers.

I think experiments with the Fw-190 for torpedo bombing boiled down to economics. The Fw-190 cost about half as much as a Ju-88A17 torpedo bomber. So it would be a good thing for Germany if the Fw-190 could replace the Ju-88 in the torpedo bomber role.

 

[Rivet]

Given the timing of the conversion of the two A-5's to torpedo carriers I believe the successful British attack on the Italian naval port of Taranto, utilizing air launched torpedoes, was an influence. Not much to go on here with all the players gone. Regards

 

[davebender]

I don't think so.

Taranto is within SM.79, He-111, Ju-88 and G4M range of Malta. The smaller Fw-190 would never make that distance while carrying an aerial torpedo. So IMO the main lesson of Taranto is that long range aircraft largely negate the need to operate expensive and vulnerable aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean. A lesson which Germany validated with the Ju-88 attack on the Italian Port of Bari during 1943.

 

[Lighthunmust]

Torpedo bombers are useless for anything except attacking ships.

I think the U.S. attacked some dams in Korea with torpedos. I don't know if any dams were attacked in WW2.

 

[Rivet]

I don't get your drift, Davebender. I mention the British attack on Taranto as an influencing factor in German weapons procurement, not that the Germans would be using the modified FW 190A-5 to attack one of their allies ports.(?) The Taranto attack was an influence in Japanese planning of the Pearl Harbor Operation Z attack of 12/07/41.

What I wish to understand by my line of enquiry is what specific mission the developers had in mind when modifiying the FW 190 as a torpedo carrier. Perhaps raids on British Ports or in support of Operation Silver Fox in Russia. The development of the FW 190 as an naval weapon did not progress beyond a few prototypes, but the fact that it made it that far implies a mission objective that might be in records somewhere. Regards

 

[davebender]

"The Day of Battle" by Rick Atkinson mentions Fw-190s used against shipping at Salerno and Anzio. Torpedoes could supplement skip bombing for such missions.