Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Pt. 1, design philosophy and features.

A lot of the characteristics that make the 190 a deadly fighter are difficult to quantify. It's not the planes speed, maneuverability or any other easy to measure performance standard. In fact, for most of the war, it's performance was only about average as compared with other front line fighters. What made the 190 special was the designer Kurt Tank's design philosophy which was unusual at the time, and that's the subject of this video.

As usual, I got a bit side tracked at a couple points, thus we cover some He 112 and Spitfire wing development history stuff.

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Sources:

Focke Wulf: FW 190 in Combat: Alfred Price

Spitfire Story (2nd Revised edition) Alfred Price

Journal of Aeronautical History Paper 2013/02 "The Spitfire Wing Planform: A Suggestion

Focke-Wulf Fw 190: Workhorse of the Luftwaffe.: Jay. Spenser

Butcher Bird: The Focke-Wulf FW190 Edward Shacklady

Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge

Aerodynamics for Naval Aviators

NACA report 487 Tests of three tapered airfoils based on the N.A.C.A. 2200, the N.A.C.A.-M6, and the Clark Y sections

[elrjames]

This is the type of gentle and obviously historically informed American accent that British people like me love.

[andypaine]

I absolutely love the analogy of a racing horse and a cavalry horse. Having spent some quality time living on a tank in combat I gained a great appreciation for machines that are simple to maintain/repair, have redundant capabilities, and are generally overbuilt. It's one thing to say something has great capabilities; it is an entirely different thing when it has to work all day, everyday. I'll take the latter every time.

[TPath]

This is the best airplane analysis I have yet to hear. There is much 'feeling' to what the airplane represents, it's design philosophy and the minute description of really vitals for an aircraft, a very balanced approach between detail, focus and general characteristics. Hopefully part two will be of a similar quality.

[walteralter]

The FW 190's silhouette has the most beautiful form follows function feel to it than any other fighter of the war. Even standing still, the thing screams "attack!"

[PaddyPatrone]

Again thanks for the shout-out and giving proper credit. If you have trouble with downloading footage, let me know. I could just send you some raw footage if needed.

[nateweter]

This aircraft, and my grandfathers description of it flying past his ball turret (B-17G), are one of many things that inspired me to become a pilot. This is one of the finest, if not the finest material on the 190 I’ve come across. Great work.

[jameshajjar]

As a licensed A&P mechanic in my mid-sixties, I really appreciate this video. My father, a B-17F ball turret gunner in 43-44, shot one down. Thanks!!

[MostlyPennyCat]

That he111 masquerading as an airliner.
For one row of long thin people.
Who exit via the belly.

Classic airliner design...

[cparedes]

The FW190 has always been my favorite German WW2 Fighter!
Many thanks for posting this video and I am looking forward for part 2.
Greetings from Guatemala!

[garynew]

Shared this with my girlfriend(biology and high school maths teacher.) She was fascinated and impressed with delivery and content.

[stevepodleski]

Prandtl is famous in fluid dynamics and aerodynamics and his contributions are well known in academia and the aircraft industry. His other contribution is the introduction of the concept of boundary layer theory which is used to estimate drag.

[arthurvilain]

Kurt Tank's philosophy is the reason why the FW-190 is my favorite ride in WW2 flight sims. The Spitfire and BF-109 may have been an engineer's pride, but the FW-190 was designed from the ground up to be a pilot's joy.

[uha]

Only just started watching Greg's work, and this is *really* good stuff.

Top notch content produced here.

[daszieher]

I was flabbergasted by the speed at which the 38 minutes passed.

[BrockvsTV]

I’m just finishing up A&P Schwerin and working as a mechanic. I love these videos because of all the similarities I see in general aviation aircraft. Thank you Greg

[jeffussery]

Kurt Tank was a common sense designer. He used what materials that were afforded to him such as the BMW engine, and sub contracting the airplanes components to be built by different manufacturers. He came up with one of the wars best fighters, and was a vary good multi roll aircraft also. It didn't get the nickname Butcher bird by being a slouch. Once again thanks for the great video, I think it's great how you go into such great detail about the subject at hand. I can't wait for part 2.

[myth-termoth]

Very good to hear about the mindset and intentions of the designer, one of the more interesting and oft neglected aspects of design.

[rileydavis]

Man this guy should have a podcast just like his channel, this stuff is so in depth, keep up the good work dude.

[GrowlingSidewinder]

awesome video greg, learned a lot man thanks for your work on it.

[mibfox]

Awesome video with technical details. I love it! Thank you very much. Loving fw190-D