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I'll look up the passage in the book tonight and see if I can get the date and description exactly as he describes it. Mr. Johnson wrote his book 15 years after then end of WWII so I suspect he may have got things mixed up a bit.
Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought that aircraft makers could not have the same number in Germany. For instance there already was a Ju 290, so there could not be an Me 290 or a Fw 290.
Almost certainly a misidentification. My guess is that Johnson saw Bf109's.
Allied intelligence was well aware of the development of the Fw 190C from the beginning. In Hermann's book of Fw190D there is a very accurate Allied sketch of "Fw190 with DB603 engine". So it is possible that this plane was dubbed as Fw290 by some intelligence officer.
But I'm quite sure that this plane , or any other Fw190 prototype was not what Johnson saw. They were far too valuable to be used in combat.
Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought that aircraft makers could not have the same number in Germany. For instance there already was a Ju 290, so there could not be an Me 290 or a Fw 290.
I'm with Timpa on this; it's simply a misidentification. They were not uncommon at the time. I believe the unit Intelligence Officers probably requested that pilots keep their eyes open for new variants and pilots saw what they expected to see. This applies to both RAF and USAAF.
AFDU Tactical Trials such as this one from April 1944 noted "It is anticipated that the new FW.190 (DB.603)…
Here's Johnson's report on that encounter:
And the Encounter Report from 1st Lt. Joe Powers who shot down the 190:
It's great to read these. Thanks a million.
However, it seems non of them was Jumo powered.