"Navalized" FW190
Discussion in the Mk. II Torpedo thread got me to wondering: How effective a carrier-based aircraft would the FW190 have been?
Looking at the variants list for it, one could have _Graf Zeppelin_'s (or someone else's) air wing consisting entirely of -190 variants -- some fighters, some torpedo-bombers, some dive-bombers....
So, one more reason to get back on the Graf Zeppelin aircraft carrier project! Too bad I haven't recently done some work with foam board . . . : )
Many,many years ago I bought the plans of the Graf Zeppelin. It was a full hull floating model, can't remember the actual scale but it was fairly big. Never got started on the build and what happened to the blueprint is anybody's guess!Originally Posted by clipper1801
Quim sent me a great link to a very accurate card model at 1/200" scale and I printed it out onto foam board, it resides in the elve's realm, helms deep garage . . .
Some experiments were carried out with the Fw-190 as a torpedo carrier.
I'm sorry. Google made me do it!
Mike
"Flying is learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss" Douglas Adams
"Wings of Glory won't skin your elbows and knees while practicing." OldGuy59
Okay, I'll byte. Do what then?
Link: WW1 Mk II Torpedo - Post #30
Mike
"Flying is learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss" Douglas Adams
"Wings of Glory won't skin your elbows and knees while practicing." OldGuy59
A "torpedo with wings and rudders" i'd like to see more, I did that for a Zeppelin once, biplane glider torpedo . . . A little history repeating itself then, cool!
To bad the Germans wanted planes to do things other then what they were good at. I saw a show about German megabuildings and they talked about the He 177. When first designed it was a 4 engine long range bomber but no it had to be a dive bomber also. Well that ended the long range bomber. I wonder why they never put more into the Condor as it was a long range plane.
Since the Condor was designed strictly as an airliner (as opposed to the He.111 which was a bomber disguised as an airliner), it wasn't able to handle the stresses of war use. That it did as well as it did, was amazing. They would have done better to have re-engined the Do.19 with some later engines. In any case, Germany's industry really wasn't up to building and maintaining a large strategic bomber force.
Karl
It is impossible for a man to begin to learn what he thinks he knows. -- Epictetus
While the Fw-190 carried warloads of 2200#s, it would certainly affect it's performance. And then you have the shorter range it had compared to contemporary naval aircraft. Plus high wingloading (I'd have to dig out my FW-190 books to find takeoff lengths).
It might be an interesting what-if with a later start to the war, but unless the Germans managed to avoid war with the USA in '41, it's unlikely they could have gotten the GZ in the war.
It might cause some problems if the UK fought it out alone (well with the USSR too), and had only their own FAA aircraft.
Karl
It is impossible for a man to begin to learn what he thinks he knows. -- Epictetus
I'm back..... Hitler didn't really like the naval force. It was under funded in so many ways. The u-boats and Doenitz was in its self a force to be recognized. He didn't want to have a warship on the high seas that could be a moral distroyer that he believed the german navy was against the might of the royal naval power that was to believed at that time...... Hitler was a infantry soldier in the first world war so he didn't understand (or he refused to understand) the concept of naval war. U-boats worked. .. admiral doenitz pushed for a force in the Atlantic as early as 1935.. . The graf spay (if it ever got launched ( which was ever a doubtful move as Hitler was never a naval fan ) and doenitz and goring both ) would have have completed the trials to reach operational standards......
The lessons learnt with the Bismarck and tirpitz never made the graf spay a reality. Shame though.
As for maritime torpedo bombers. Condors and ju-88s were the main axis aircraft of use. But if we were in the realm of what it's then what about a variant of the arado 196.. ??? A floatplane already in service... I say this cos the stringbags and walruses of the the royal navy were to be seen up to 1944. If the royal navy ( playing catchup with the RAF at that time) was underfunded ( and Hitler's big mistrust of anything naval)would the german navy field anything stronger than 2nd line aircraft???.to me the argument is a lame duck Hitler didn't really like the naval ideal(or didn't trust it) ... worry. My take on hi
... too many books on the german naval side..
Last edited by Tristan; 09-26-2017 at 16:04.
Admittedly, the -190 had some problems for CV use, a long takeoff run being one of them. _GZ_ had a catapult system, but IIRC it was a little more complicated than Western designs; not sure if it would have worked. Maybe some leading-edge slats and/or better flaps?
Range was also a problem, but sacrificing a couple of guns could fix that (tho' now one has the problem of being undergunned).
Here's an illustration of why the FW-200 wasn't exactly a genius choice for the heavy-bomber role:
https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7165/6...d806d2e9_b.jpg .
Dear Old Uncle Adi was the ultimate exponent of what some folk I know call "Infantrytards" -- the sort who see anything more complicated than a machine gun as "secondary to the main effort of the Infantry"....
Of the two single-seat fighter types available, the Fw-190 had the better undercarriage for carrier landings.
By a wide margin -- the Spitfire also had a narrow-track like the -109 did; but the Spit's legs were straight, while the -109's were splayed a bit, and that side-load was enough to cause failure during a CV-style "landing". The -190 had straight legs, and was designed for rougher fields.
The -190s' main drawback is the wings vs. the weight -- for comparison, I use Japan's A6M carrier fighter: The A6M's wing loading was only 22 lb/ft^2, while the -190 is 49.4; the A6M has a greater wing area (241.5 ft^2, vs. 196.99) at 2/3 the weight (~6,000 lbs. vs. ~9,000 loaded).
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