Fw 190D-9 named Gloria
Fw 190V53
Fw 190D “blue 12” of the JG 6 at Furth
Fw 190D-9 nose
Fw 190D-9 of the JG 26
Wreck of Fw 190D-9 “black 18” of JG 2
Fw190 D-9/R1 170003
Fw190 D-9 “Dora”
Fw 190 D-13 836017 ” Yellow 10″ of Stab/JG 26
“Dora” W.Nr. 631444
Fw 190D 61 of the f Verbandsfuhrerschule des Generals der Jagdflieger
Fw 190D “Langnasen-Dora”
“Dora” of the Papagei Staffel
Captured Fw 190D-9 211934 of II/JG 6
Fw 190D-9 170003
Captured Fw 190D
The arrival of the Spitfire IX in Fighter Command and its threat to combat domination by the Fw 190A led to the development of the Fw 190B series with GM-1 power-boosted BMW 801D-2 engine and pressure cabin, but trouble with the latter led to the abandonment of this version after only a few prototypes had been produced. The Fw 190C series, of which five prototypes were completed with DB603 inline engines, annular radiators, Hirth 9-2281 superchargers and four-bladed propellers, was also abandoned early in 1944.
The Fw 190D, with 1,770hp Junkers Jumo 213A-1 engine and annular radiator in a much-lengthened nose (necessitating increased fin and rudder area), proved very successful after it had first flown at Langenhagen in May 1944. The first production Fw 190D-9s (so termed because they followed the Fw 190A-8s at the factories, and widely known as ‘Dora-Nines’ in the Luftwaffe) joined IIL/JG 54 in September 1944 to defend the jet base of Kommando Nowotny. Among the sub-variants of the Fw 190D series was the Fw 190D-10 with a single 30-mm MK 108 cannon located between the engine cylinder banks and firing through the propeller hub. The Fw 190D-12/R21, a ground-attack version of the hub-gunned Fw190D-10 and power-boosted with MW50 water-methanol injection, was almost certainly the fastest of all Fw 190s with a top speed of 730 km/h at 11000 m. Dora equipped most of the Luftwaffe’s fighter units during the last fateful months of the Third Reich, but in combat with the Allies – particularly their P-51s and Spitfire XIVs – they were frequently overwhelmed. The Luftwaffe’s problems centred on a shortage of fuel, which allowed only small formations of fighters, and of battle-hardened veteran pilots. For instance, when JG 6 (commanded by Major Gerhard Barkhom, the German pilot who had a combat record of 301 air victories) in April 1945 took delivery of 150 brand-new Dora-Nines, it could only fly patrols by four aircraft at a time against massed wings of Allied fighters.
Source:
David Donald: Fighters of World War II