Focke Wulf Ta.154

[Piaggio108]

I am building a model of the Focke Wulf Ta.154 A-0 TQ-XE. I have found several photos of it but I have one question. In the attached photo the tail is a diferent color, could it have been damaged and then patched? Does anyone have any other ideas as to what hapened?

 

[cheddar cheese]

I would think thats the case - in other pictures ive seen it looks different. BTW the picture says a Ta-154A-0, I thought that was the V3? I dont know.

Oh, whilst looking this up i found this cutaway, dont know if you have it or not but it may help. Good luck with the model! 8)

 

[Concorde247]

Nice cutaway pic CC 8)

 

[Piaggio108]

Thanks for the opinion and the cutaway. TQ-XE was originaly V15 and was converted to A-0 and later A-4.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

It is a V-3, and the first "Moskito" to be fitted with radar. The A-0 actually came before the V-3, however the A-0 was not fitted with Radar. The only A-0 built was later converted to an A-4 so even if this was an A-0 then it still is labled wrong.

Chronology of the TA 154 "Moskito"
August 1942 RLM establishes the requirement under Milch's instructions.
March 1943 The TA 154 is compared at Rechling with the Ju 388 and the He 219 for Luftwaffe evaluation purposes.
1 July 1943 First flight of TA 154 V1 with Flugkapitän Sander in the controls, at Hannover Langenhagen airfield.
31 July 1943 V1 crashes due to undercarriage failure.
September 1943 in Erfurt begins the A0 series production.
25 November 1943 Speed test with A0/U1 aeroplane; it reaches 620 km/h fully armed.
25 November 1943 First flight of the first fully armed TA 154, the V3.
22 December 1943 EKD 154 is established as troop testing unit of the "Moskito".
18 February 1944 V4 crashes due to undercarriage failure.
28 February 1944 V8 crashes due to undercarriage failure.
7 April 1944 V5 crashes due to undercarriage failure.
18 April 1944 V9 and V12 crashes due to undercarriage failure.
28 June 1944 Cancellation of the entire production.
Autumn 1944 Some "Mistel" combinations with Fw 190 over a TA 154's are built in central Germany. They are intended to be used against American B-17 formations. None of them goes to action.
30 April 1945 An experimental re-adapted TA 154 with mid-wing antennae and angled wing tips crashes at Stade. Last crashing of TA 154.

There were however 8 production Ta-154A-1 which were later converted to other standards.

 

[Erich]

NJG 3 tested the wooden garbage crate..............it failed miserably with the wing assembly seperating on every bird they possessed

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Yeap that is what every source tells me also.

Almost every aircraft crashed because of undercarraige failure or the wings littlerally disintigrating from the aircraft. The wings seperated and disintigrated because the manufacturer switched to a different glue for the wooden wings that was lighter and cheaper to use. The glue actually ate through the wood and eventually at some point in flight the wings fell apart.

By June 1944 the Jumo 213 was finally arriving in some numbers, and a small run of 154A-1's were completed with these engines. Just prior to delivery the only factory making Tego-Film was bombed out, and the plywood glue had to be switched to one that was not as strong. In July several A-1's crashed due to wing failure. Not only was the glue not as strong, but it turned out to react chemically with the wood and the plywood delaminated.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focke-Wulf_Ta_154

 

[Piaggio108]

Sorry for the late reply, I didn't notice the new posts.

Are you sure it is a V-3? warbirdsresourcegroup and airwar.ru both seem to agree that TQ+XE was V15. Here is a bablefish translation of the relevant text from airwar.ru:

"V -11, V -12 and V -13 were the gliders without the engines, intended for the static tests, and V -15 (ser. of?00yshch, code TQ+.XE) - to the first of the prototypes, was obtained new front landing gear strut with the fork for the suppression of fluctuations of the type remote forward by lshimmi?."

Not very clear, but it seems to say that it is V15.

http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/ta154bar.html
http://airwar.ru/enc/fww2/ta154.html

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[Smokey]

The luftwaffe could have had a mosquito before the de havilland aircraft even flew;

Henschel Hs127

Henschel Hs127
http://www.luftarchiv.de/flugzeuge/henschel/hs127.htm

Developed to compete against the Ju 88, the Hs 127 proved to be a respectable opponent. Strong political support for the Junkers design led to the Hs 127 being passed over for production

http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/hs127.html

First Flight: V1: Late 1937, V2: Spring 1938

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

As far as I know from everything that I have read it was a V-3.

As for the Hs-127 it was comparible to a Ju-88 so it would not have been as good as a De Havilland Mosquito.

Hs-127

The Henschel Hs 127 was a German bomber aircraft that was built as two prototypes, but cancelled without entering mass production.

In 1935, the RLM (Reichsluftfahrtministerium - German Ministry of Aviation) published requests for a fast tactical bomber. Junkers, Focke-Wulf, Messerschmitt and Henschel all submitted designs.

According to RLM specifications, the plane was to be able to maintain a speed of 500 km/h (313 mph) for 30 minutes, take-off to a height of 20 metres (65 ft) in not more than 750 metres (2,460 ft), and carry one defensive machine gun and 500-800 kg (1,100-1,760 lb) of bombs. The crew was to consist of a pilot, a bombardier/navigator and a gunner.

Focke-Wulf soon withdrew from participation and three projects were presented: the future Hs 127, the Junkers Ju 88 and the Messerschmitt Bf 162. Prototypes were ordered of all three, with new Daimler-Benz DB 600 engines to be installed on all planes.

The maiden flight of the Hs 127 V1 was at the end of 1937. The plane was smaller and lighter than the Ju 88 and had a very good top speed of 565 km/h (353 mph), but the Ju 88 was chosen because of its bigger bomb load.

In May, 1938, the contract for Hs 127 development was cancelled by the RLM and the third prototype was not finished.

The Hs 127 was a low-wing monoplane with monocoque fuselage. Its two-spar wing had an all=metal covering and was equipped with flaps. Its retractable gear had shock-absorbers to facilitate operations from poor airstrips. All 3 crew members sat in the nose.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henschel_Hs_127

The aircraft would have no where near as good as a British Mosquito.

 

[Smokey]

According to
http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/hs127.html
http://mitglied.lycos.de/lastdingo/

the Henschel Hs 127 had these stats

Maximum Speed (Unconfirmed): 354 mph (570 kph)

Engine:
Daimler-Benz DB 600D inverted liquid-cooled V12
Horsepower: 850hp
Number: 2

The Mosquito prototype reached 392mph, using 2 1,185hp Merlin XXs. Thats 38 mph faster with a total of 670hp extra.
http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-air-support/ww2-allied/mosquito.htm

If the Henschel Hs 127 had been fitted with 1100 hp DB601s in 1939 it may have equalled the performance of the Mosquito.

As for maneuvrability, who knows.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Yes but could the airframe have handled a more powerful engine?