Focke Wulf Fw190a4

Plane: Focke Wulf Fw190a4

Mass: 3983kg

Engine: 1700hp BMW 801D Radial

Horsepower:  1700 crankshaft / 1600hp max brake horsepower

Wing Area: 18.3 meters^2

Weapons:

Ammo Belting:

MG 17: ap, ap, ap, ap, ap, tracer

MG 151/20: ap, mine, hei (tracer), mine, hei (tracer)

MG FF: hei (tracer), mine, hei (tracer), mine, ap

Stall Speed: 165kph clean/145kph dirty

Best Climb Speed IAS: 299kph IAS

Maximum Reasonable AoA: 13.0 degrees

Top Speed Chart:

WEP Top Speed: 575kph

Climb Rate chart:

Roll Rate:

Turn Rate: (sustained) Flaps Up:   225kph, 197m radius, 19 deg/sec

Turn Rate: (sustained) Flaps Down: 190kph, 137m radius, 22 deg/sec

Visibility:  Excellent all around. 

Control Feel vs Speed:  Excellent at all speeds

WEP power boost percent: 8%

Safe WEP time: Greater than 10 minutes

General Comments:

The Focke Wulf Fw190a4 "Butcher Bird" is the best LuftWaffe figher in the game.  Its the fastest plane, has some of the best high speed maneuverability characteristics of all the fighters, and carries the most potent weapons package in the game.  Awarded in 1938 the task of building a Bf109 successor that was superior to both the Bf109 and the Spitfire, Kurt Tank produced one of his most successful airplanes of his long design career.  One of the interesting choices for this plane was the engine, which was driven by the fact that with Bf109/110 production in full swing, using an engine not used in those planes was highly desirable.  The BMW 801 radial engine was chosen, and proved highly successful.  However, it did not have the high altitude performance that the DB600 series had, meaning that the FW excelled primarily below 8km or so.  This was eventually fixed in the Fw190D series with the inline Jumo engines, but that was years away at this point in the war.  This plane was so effective in early combat that the British were forced to rush out the Spitfire Mk 9 with the Merlin 66/70 engine to counter it, rather than holding off and focusing on the newer Griffon engine for the later versions of the Spitfire.

The Fw190a4 epitomizes Boom and Zoom fighting.  In Boom and Zoom fighting, the fighter starts out above his opponent, and dives on the prospective target.  Some maneuvering at high speed is often done to acquire a shot, then if the shot is made or blown, the plane then zooms back up to its original altitude.  This type of combat is best done with an airplane that is very fast, and handles well at high speeds.  The fighter should have as powerful a weapons package as possible, to maximize the damage the short firing windows allow.

The key to fighting in the Fw190a4 is to get fast and stay fast.  Due to it's high sustained speed limit, and due to the nature of high speed maneuvering, the 190 is able to do rather radical maneuvering at high speeds without slowing down much.  This, combined with its excellent roll rate, makes it the best high speed airplane in WW2OL.  At 400kph it can reverse direction in just over a second.

What the Fw190a4 does not do well is low speed stallfighting.  Although it has a decent turn rate (20 degrees per second sustained), its high wing loading makes its turn radius huge, meaning tighter turning planes are much harder to shoot (due to geometry), and have an easier time shooting at the 190.  Dropping flaps will tighten the turn radius considerably, but that misses the point of this aircraft. Don't stallfight the 190.

Try to avoid going below 400-450kph below 2km altitude.  If you adhere to this limit, you always have a way to escape.  This plane has the highest sustained on-the-deck speed of any WW2OL plane, and dives like a brick.  Plus, you can do low-g roll-jinks and ruin the pursuer's shot while you pull away.  The only problem planes are the Spit9, the P38, and the P39.  The H81 might keep up with you in the dive, but when you level off it should fall behind as your 80kph top seed advantage kicks in.  The p38 is trouble, as it has excellent guns for pursuit, and is only 10kph slower on the deck than you, however, it's unlikely the FAF will research this plane until very late in the campaign.  The Spit9 can be trouble, but has a substantially slower roll rate than the 190, and a good escape maneuver is described below for this situation.

Take head-on shots if the enemy goes after you.  Your engine/airframe is tough (but not indestructible), and you have a huge firepower advantage.  Only the suicidal would want to head-on a 190, and it's up to the 190 drivers to reinforce this principal.

Use WEP liberally in this plane.  I have yet to overheat a 190 with WEP, although I'd recommend turning it off when you don't need it.  It gives you an extra 8% power, which can be really useful in zooms.  Always use WEP when running away, especially if you suspect you're being followed.

This plane is particularly well suited for wingman tactics.  With a wingman, the altitude and turning restrictions can be considerably relaxed, since the 190 has the excellent ability to stay alive with a bandit on his six (due to its good rolling ability).  This allows the 2nd 190 lots of time to tear that pursuer apart with its firepower.  If someone gets on your six, head to your wingman.  The Thach weave was used by US fighters to deal with the turnfighting disadvantage the US had vs Japanese fighters, and to take advantage of their durability and firepower advantage.  Basically it involves each fighter in turn dragging his pursuer to his wingman and then vice versa.  Two (or more) 190s doing this are very tough to beat except with a lucky hit.

Do not get low and slow in a 190 except to land and take-off.  Trust in your ride's ability to outrun the bad guys, and head to the nearest friendly flak trap if you get in trouble.  Even if you do take hits, do not turn.  Roll.  Roll harder if you get more hits.  Turning slows you down and makes it easier for the enemy to catch you and subsequently shoot you down.  Rolling makes it harder to shoot you down, and doesn't slow you down nearly as much.  You can't turn with them anyway, so why let them catch up?

The fighter motto "Speed is Life" seems custom made for the Fw190.  Live by it and you will live to fight another day.

One note of caution:  This plane requires a lengthy takeoff run.  If you attempt to take off from the spawn location, you will end up in the hanger across the field.  Taxi to a corner and take off along the airfield diagonal to avoid any chance of running out of room.

Specific Matchup Comments:

Fw190a4 vs D520:  An interesting matchup.  The D520 is like a Fw190a4 without all the heavy guns and much much slower.  This plane is one of the few planes that can roll as well as a Fw190, so you won't find yourself able to scissors one that's on your tail as easily as other planes.  Keep your speed up and make passes on this plane, and otherwise treat it like you do all the earlier allied planes.

Fw190a4 vs H81:  Treat this similar to the 520.  Again, the 190 is faster, climbs better, has more firepower, rolls better below 450kph.  Keep in mind that this ride can keep up with a 190 in a dive, and can outroll you beyond 460kph (although both plane's roll rates are obscene at these speeds, so it isn't that big a deal).  It's biggest drawback vs the 190 is the 80kph slower level speed on the deck.

Fw190a4 vs Hurricane:  It is easy to get overconfident vs the Hurricane.  However, at this point most hurricanes are probably the Mk2 variety with the four deadly cannon.  Those cannon can easily ruin your day.  They are also piloted by the better pilots as they know the LW outclasses them and they fly accordingly.  You will rarely find these at higher altitudes (smile and kill them if you do), but they are very nimble, and can crank their rides around *tight*.  If one starts to turn hard, abort the pass and go vertical.

Fw190a4 vs P38:  Quite possibly the worst threat the FW190 will face with the current planeset.  The reason for this is it's high speed (only 10kph slower than the 190 at WEP on the deck).  The P38 is the fastest ride the Allies have, 20kph faster on the deck vs the Spit9.  The chart above is misleading with respect to top speeds, since the P38 has a 24% power increase from WEP, which gives it an about 45kph speed boost on the deck.  Running away from a P38 is a bad idea unless he's out of position to pursue you, or you have good confidence in your rolling evasives while extending.  The P38 dives better than the 190, and has that notorious nose-gun suite.  It may not be able to roll with you at 700kph, but it can yaw and pitch that nose around, and spray away until the cows come home (and your plane falls apart).  This forces you to start adding G to your evasive maneuvers which slows you down and  lets his slower friends catch up.  Fortunately the P38 turns almost as poorly as the Fw190, but again, you really don't want to start turning as that gets you low/slow.  Also, the FAF is unlikely to RDP this plane until very late, esp. since the 109F does very well vs the P38.  Try to fly with 109s or with a wingman if you suspect P38s will be in the area.  If you must turn with a P38, make sure to drop flaps.  P38 drivers are obsessed with their fowler flaps, and will drop them any chance they get.  If you do not match them by dropping your flaps, you will lose angles rapidly.  Flaps down, the 190 can almost match a P38, it has a slightly larger turn radius, but a roughly equal turn rate to the P38.

Fw190a4 vs P39:  Treat this like a poor-man's P38.  The only faster allied fighter on the deck are the P38 and the Spit9.  This plane dives like a brick, and has very good high speed handling.  It turns slightly worse than the P38, thus it is not likely to be seen in air-to-air combat, due to the presence of 109s.

Fw190a4 vs Spit5:  Here is where you learn why the British rushed the Spit9 into service.  The Fw190 truly dominates the Spit5.  It is much faster (95kph on the deck at WEP, climbs as good under 2km, accelerates better, and outrolls it.  As long as you don't try to turn with one, and aren't low/slow when one shows up, you should do ok vs the Spit5.  BnZ these guys into the ground.  It's biggest asset is that you can't tell it's not a Spit9 until you get close.

Fw190a4 vs Spit9:  This is the British's rushed answer to the 190.  The British always had an advantage over the Germans in engine building, and they managed to squeeze 1700hp out of a Merlin engine by raising the manifold pressure in excess of 2 atmospheres (specifically, all the way up to 18lbs of boost above sea-level pressure).  The Germans didn't come close until the end of the war.  What this meant was that they had a Spitfire that had a huge reserve of power.  In particular, it had a 120hp advantage over the 190, and weighed 550kg less.  With it's bigger wing, this translates into a plane that can outclimb the 190 by over 5m/s below 4km, and has a thrust/weight ratio advantage of 26% at 300kph on the deck.  In game terms this means that the Spit9 will do to the 190 what the 109F does to the H81, except the Spit9 can turn.  You will be outclimbed, outaccelerated, and outturned.  However, you can outdive the Spit9, and your rolling ability is vastly superior.  Do not fight Spit9s that are co-e or worse, run away from these guys.  If you obeyed the 2km rule mentioned above, you can get away from  a Spit9.  Dive to the deck.  Roll one way and start turning with some G's.  The idea is to get the Spit9 to commit to turning in that direction.  After a little bit (when you feel he's committed), reverse and turn 90 degrees in the other direction.  The time it takes him to reverse directions at 600-700kph means you will gain significant separation (Spit9 at 700kph takes 6 seconds to reverse direction vs 1.8 second for 190)  This should allow you to use your higher sustained speed to escape.  The down-side to this is you cannot see if he fell into your trap until you see tracers going by.  Either way, do a rolling straight-line egress to the nearest AAA trap or friendly aircraft, and don't turn hard until you're sure it's safe.  His #1 goal is to get you to turn hard.  If you do (to avoid being shot down), you will slow down, and you will die.  You might also want to evade Spitfires in a head-on situation, because unless you land a good hit, if he hits you with his 20mm, he's gonna damage your aerodynamics which will slow you down if you try to run.  Treat Spit9s with the respect they deserve.  There's a reason they have a 1.04 kill/loss ratio over the 190.