FW-190A4 in combat PDF

[6S.Manu]

Originally Posted by Igo kyu

Not by design perhaps, but I agree with 6S.Manu that it's all relative.


That does sound about right for the Bf109F, but the Bf109E was more heavily armed, and rolled faster than the Spitfire, so in that context, was the energy fighter of those two.

We can say that FW190 was built for speed, so been faster than his opponents in '42 makes it a energy fighter.

About the weapons: 190 was designed with a couple of light MGs plus 2 heavy MG. No cannons.

[Paul]

A prototype is a testbed and uses what is available because you can't power an aircraft or arm it with blueprints You also can't do your initial designs with fantasy weaponry.

The A2 production series had 4 mg and 2 20mm cannon - this is the 'service prototype' aircraft - not one designed for flying around a test aerodrome. The only reason it did not have 4 cannon was simply due to availability of the weapon. As more became available the wing mg's were replaced with cannon and later as better cannon became available they started replacing the existing sets.

While a fast aircraft can use energy tactics it might not be able do it effectively. Lack of high speed elevator authority (in the case of most turn fighters), lack of high speed roll rate (once again common to turn fighters) and lack of armament that can take an aircraft out in one pass will all reduce the aircraft's effectiveness. The 109 series suffered from the roll and elevator problems but had sufficient armament to allow some energy tactics to be used but it never was the aircraft's forte. It was simply not maneouvrable enough at high speed.

The 190 was designed for the energy fight right from scratch and suffered none of the above problems.

The most common mistake people make when talking about energy fighters is equating 'fast' to being 'fast and at its most manoeuvrable at high speed'.