Focke-Wulf Fw 190: The A-G Series

Published on
Review Author(s)
Book Author(s)
Martin Derry and Neil Robinson
ISBN
9781399067997
Other Publication Information
96 pages, portrait orientation
50 color illustrations, 75 black and white illustrations; English language
MSRP
$34.95
Product / Stock #
Flightcraft #2
Provided by: Pen and Sword Books Ltd - Website: Visit Site

From the Pen and Sword Books website:

The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 was arguably the Luftwaffe’s most outstanding piston-engine fighter of the Second World War, virtually dominating the skies over Europe for more than a year after its initial introduction into service in the summer of 1941. Continual developments and improvements then kept it at the forefront of operations in the theaters of Northern Europe, the Mediterranean and the Eastern Front for the remainder of the war, while maintaining a competitive edge over many other types as well as gaining and retaining the grudging respect of those Allied pilots who faced it in combat.

Despite being designed as a fighter, the BMW 801-powered Fw 190 subtyped performed practically every role possible for a single-engine, single-seat aircraft – including offensive and defensive day fighter, day and night fighter-bomber, ground attack, reconnaissance platform, night-fighter and trainer.

The Fw 190A also served in the Hungarian Air Force during the later stages of the Second World War, the Turkish Air Force from mid-1942 to 1948, and post-war with the French, where the SNCAC aircraft company re-built over fifty Fw 190A-5/A-6s under the designation NC 900 for service with the new Armée de l’Air.

Despite having standard factory-applied camouflage and markings schemes, many Fw 190s were also finished in a variety of ‘on unit’ and ‘seasonal’ and/or 'operational theater' schemes, which add to the aircraft’s story.

The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 The A-G Series book by Martin Derry and Neil Robinson is a nice summary of the A through G variants. The book lists the following chapters:

  • Introduction 1
  • Design, development & prototypes 2
  • Into service 7
  • Developing the type 36
  • Service on all fronts 40
  • Fighters and Ground attack 52
  • Schlachtflieger – dedicated ground attack 68
  • Mistel and Trainers 76
  • The Fw 190 in captivity 78

A few observations:

This was my first book from the Pen and Sword Books, and I was pleasantly surprised and delighted by the content and the wealth of information and illustrations. I highly recommend this book to readers of the history and modeling community. I am looking forward to seeing more topics from this author and Pen and Sword Books.

My sincere thanks go to Flight Craft / Pen and Sword Books for providing this copy for a review and IPMS USA for allowing me to review it. I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the content of this book.

Book Cover

Reviewer Bio

Tomasz Menert

I grew up in Poland and immigrated to the US 35 years ago when I was in my twenties. Ironically, I majored in English here, but I have fond memories related to my interest in aviation. What spiked my interest in reviewing items were the books on some familiar subjects. For example, I received a glider pilot license in Poland and one of the books Pablo Bouleo mentioned in the 'stash' is from MMP (PZL-104 Wilga 35A, Single No. 46). In my glider training, the plane towing us was the PZL-104 Wilga! So, anything around Polish subjects like PZL Combat Fighters, etc., would land you a quick and thorough review just because I had an exposure to some of the topics. Not to mention an uncle who flew a total of over 4000 hours in Mig-21s. Therefore, I want to thank you both for giving me the opportunity to join this review. group.