Luftwaffe FW190T, Carrier Graf Zeppelin, October 1943

[nönöbär]

Focke Wolf FW 190T

The Plane:

When the aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin was put into service in  mid 1942 (http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,37705.0.html), it was  equipped with Me 109T, Ju 87T and Fi 167.
In the following six months those aircraft showed that they were not optimal for this usage: The Me 109T, based on the Me 109E showed lack of performance compared to allied fighter planes. And its narrow landing gear made it hard to land on the carrier.
The slow Ju 87 had prooven its vulnerability during the Battle of Britain, but there was no real replacement available. Similar could be said for the Fi 167: despite its good slow flying capabilities, lack of defensive armament and slow cruising speed made those torpedo bombers very vulnerable.

As a replacement, the FW190T was introduced in October 1943, at the same time when the captured Corsairs were put on board of the Graf Zeppelin (https://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php/topic,36256.msg582333.html).
Based on the FW 190V14, the FW190T was able to carry a single torpedo, but could also be used as a fighter after it has dropped its payload. Altough the range was slower than the one of the Fi 167, the much higher speed of the FW 190T was a huge improvement. However, during the final approach on the target, the plane was more difficult to control than the Fi 167.

The FW190T were used on the Graf Zeppelin until the end of the war, abut their number were reduced in late 1944 as torpedo planes were of not such a big usage for the mission profile in the Baltic Sea.   


The model shows a FW-190T on the Graf Zeppelin in October 1943, stationed in Trondheim.






Collection of Graf Zeppelin WW2 aircraft so far


The Model:
It is a MPM 1/72 scale model of the FW 190V14. Basically an Academy kit, it contains additional parts like the torpedo, and a modified hull (which was not used for the model as those parts were damaged too much).
Painted in a four color camo scheme, it was build out-of-the-box, the only addition was the arrestor hook. I used the decals of the MPM model which were quite ok.

[NARSES2]

That is very neat  . I'm building a land based torpedo carrying Fw 190 at the moment

[Glenn Gilbertson]

That looks really impressive in that colour scheme!

[Captain Canada]

Nice one ! What a tough looking bird....love the camo and the paintwork looks perfect. Nice looking trio as well !

[dumaniac]

nice build