FW-290?

[GrauGeist]

Please read the account attached to the Centauro's image, on this Green the pilot hwo kill Bonet (G55 pilot) in fact had the same confussion

That's not a Luftwaffe G.55, though.

And during the BoB, RAF pilots claimed to have shot down Heinkel He113 fighters, too.

In regards to a Fw290, there is no such thing. The first clue would be the "290" which was already in use as the Ju290...the RLM did not allow duplicates except on very rare occasions, like the case of "162" (Bf162/He162).

 

[Clayton Magnet]

hate to say it, but he may have misidentified some P-51's, and attacked them. Wouldn't have been the first time it happened, and certainly not the last.
And it wasn't unheard of for Mustangs to be mistaken for 109's

 

[KiwiBiggles]

That's not a Luftwaffe G.55, though.

And during the BoB, RAF pilots claimed to have shot down Heinkel He113 fighters, too.

In regards to a Fw290, there is no such thing. The first clue would be the "290" which was already in use as the Ju290...the RLM did not allow duplicates except on very rare occasions, like the case of "162" (Bf162/He162).

Given the Germans' established pattern of adding 100 to type numbers for further developed versions (e.g Ju 88, Ju 188, Ju 288), is it possible that 'Fw 290' was just a guess at the name of the Fw 190D when it first appeared?

 

[GrauGeist]

Given the Germans' established pattern of adding 100 to type numbers for further developed versions (e.g Ju 88, Ju 188, Ju 288), is it possible that 'Fw 290' was just a guess at the name of the Fw 190D when it first appeared?

That would indeed make sense, but as mentioned, the Ju290 prevented that, so the Fw190 ended up with a "D" variant instead of a new designation.

But again, there's still some question as to what really was encountered.
Like I posted earlier, RAF pilots were claiming He113s during the Battle of Britain and there's a USAAF action report where a pilot claimed an He280.
During a an air raid over Sophia, Bulgaria, the Royal Bulgarian Air Force intercepted a flight of US bombers and they spotted a flight of inbound fighters and welcomed their approach, as they saw them to be Bf109s.
They were wrong, this inbound flight were P-51Bs and it was almost a fatal mistake...

 

[KiwiBiggles]

That would indeed make sense, but as mentioned, the Ju290 prevented that, so the Fw190 ended up with a "D" variant instead of a new designation.

But again, there's still some question as to what really was encountered.
Like I posted earlier, RAF pilots were claiming He113s during the Battle of Britain and there's a USAAF action report where a pilot claimed an He280.
During a an air raid over Sophia, Bulgaria, the Royal Bulgarian Air Force intercepted a flight of US bombers and they spotted a flight of inbound fighters and welcomed their approach, as they saw them to be Bf109s.
They were wrong, this inbound flight were P-51Bs and it was almost a fatal mistake...

I want suggesting that 290 was the actual designation; just that it might have been British Intelligence's first guess at a name for the new type. I don't suppose they were on the Luftwaffe's internal mailing list when designations were finalized.

 

[GrauGeist]

Allies had fairly good intel, though and were aware of the Fw190C project and V17 didn't fly until Spring of 1944, the other prototypes flying soon after.

And in regards to Johnson's report, he stated that the two fighters that were attacking a lone bomber had the outline of a Fw190 from a distance but had a pointed nose with an inline engine.
While this might sound like an Fw190D, his encounter was in January 1943...the Fw190D went operational in September '44.