Fw190A-8 question

[MiloMorai]

Does anyone know what modifications were done to the early Fw190A-8/R6s without the outer wing cannons that allowed them to fly when the R6 was not attached to the a/c?

[badatflyski]

"R6" designation means it's a kit mounted in the field. what means a A8/R6 is a standard A8 where the outer guns were removed, the underside gun panels were changed to the ones were the wg21 tube could be attached. electrical system for all R-kits was already mounted in factory. plug and play.
when the wg21 were not used, tha mg151 were mounted back on the plane.
Offiical FW documentation does not allow the A8 to be flown without the outer guns in a clean configuration.BUT Field modifications always happened, what means if you remove the outer mg151, you have to compensate the CG with ballast, anyway that wasn't allowed officialy by FW. Try to find the A8's load chart and calculate the weight and the place for the ballast. anyway, it's rather stupid as the weight of the plane will be the same if you compensate with ballast placed in the fuselage, you'll only will a few degress in Rollrate acceleration because of the wing's lower weight.

[MiloMorai]

So how did the mechanics re-install the outer cannons when the a/c was in the air after it had fired off the missiles and jettisoned the tubes?

[badatflyski]

OMG

it wasn't the goal to jetisson the tubes after firing them.
that's for an emergency case. you'll be always able to fly the plane with a CG slightly moved but you have to trim much more than usual, at least if you have to escape you do not have any draggy "air brakes tubes" slowing you down. Just the same for the BK75 in the HS129, it wasn't the goal to drop it after firing the shells

[MiloMorai]

Who said it was the goal to jettison the tubes?

[Treetop64]

Originally Posted by MiloMorai

Who said it was the goal to jettison the tubes?

Lol, you said the tubes were jettisoned after their use (which they were not). Anyway, that's not the point.

Either the wg21 tubes or the outer wing guns were installed to the aircraft, depending on the mission requirements, not both. However, the cowling machine guns and wing-root cannon were retained and could be used when the rocket tubes were installed.

[MiloMorai]

If you comprehension is not so good, I guess you would reach such a conclusion.

Treetop, late models of the Fw190A-8/R6 kept the outer cannons.

Without the outer cannons installed the a/c was unflyable as noted by so called Fw190 expert.

[Treetop64]

Originally Posted by MiloMorai

If you comprehension is not so good, I guess you would reach such a conclusion.

Yeah, allright buddy.

You *did* say the tubes jettison, so I'm not sure what the hell that was supposed to mean...