Nice gallery. Here I found a footage of Fw-190 sturm commanded by the Walther Dahl. It seems to this a/c were returning from a combat mission.
And by the way i know that you have some strong opinions about Dahl s claims and literature :twisted: , if you could post some comment something in here. thanks.
are you sure you want me to get started on this funny duck ? Personally his kills in III./JG 3 as Kommanduer are suspect as well as his Stab./JG 300 ones via his funny book he printed. There is no doubt that he was an able Kammandeur and pushed his men as they needed to be facing the overwhelming odds of 4-engines and Allied escorts, but to claim that “his” JG 300 faired the better and destroyed most of the B-24’s on the Blitzschalacht über Oschersleben on 7-7-44 is utter nonsense. IV.Sturm/JG 3 was the instigator of that action and was ruthless in pursuit of the 492nd and other B-24 formations with JG 300 playing a lighter role. funny about that action is that after the 8th AF headed back to England the Italien based 15th AF bomber formations came into the general area south and were assaulted by the two SturmFw gruppen and JG 300 109G-6 plus ZG’s Me 410 with rockets. Quite a killing day for both sides really, some 56 US bombers destroyed confirmed !
sorry a bit off the subject at hand 
are you sure you want me to get started on this funny duck ? Personally his kills in III./JG 3 as Kommanduer are suspect as well as his Stab./JG 300 ones via his funny book he printed.
:rolleyes: Thanks for your comments, the book is really funny, what about his “battlecry” a word like “rabazanella” or something.
Aniway here a pic of a newspaper reporting on the Sturm pilots.
Great information Panzerknacker, keep it coming!
BTW…I pity the men on the receiving end of the Fw190’s tremendous firepower!
Great information Panzerknacker, keep it coming!
Danke ¡¡.
Fw-190 G3.
FW-190 strafing allied forces in Normandy.
http://video.google.es/videoplay?docid=-7268755420049018869&q=guncam
Indeed magnificent exploratory work, honorable gentlemen. Please, proceed with this definitely fascinating and highly edifying employment. 
In the meantime here is my humble factographic contribution: another scan of previously publicly unnoticed photograph that was erstwhile officially published some 60 years ago. Of course, this snapshot is most directly connected with FW 190 history and originates from famous German war-time magazine “Signal”. Unfortunately, the concomitant text is completely non-descriptive, thus accurate identification of the Luftwaffe unit is – alas! – impossible. However, it is absolutely known that this photograph was taken back in 1943, and more than reticent text is mentioning flight-preparations prior to combat activity above the sea. All things considered… perhaps we are watching some pre-flight preparations of JG 26. :-?
Startbereit! – “Signal”, U/Nr. 8-43, photo taken by PK Genzler
Nice picture, is funny the diferences in wardrobe. 
Yes, I do agree with you, my dear Mr. Pnzerknacker. It seems to me that sunbathing was some kind of a… very popular activity among German soldiers in WW II. Of course, there are some other, more formal color photographs about flight preparations of the Luftwaffe, but unfortunately they are not connected with FW 190.
In the meantime I shall present those accompanying photographs that were included in that bulky, but uninformative article about the Jagdflieger pre-flight preparations. All inscriptions are direct translations of the original citations inside the previously mentioned article.
“The chronograph watch is an essential component of any fighter pilot’s equipment, but [i]Armbandkompass /i is even more indispensable!”
“Flare pistol is also a required piece of equipment, and it is carried in the fitted holster in ‘channel trousers’ together with 10 red and white flares, as well as with two smoke-cartridges, and is secured by a rope lanyard.”
“A water-proof tin of Scho-Ka-Kola ‘Fliegerschokolade’ (pilot’s-chocolate) completes the flyer’s equipment. It is an essential survival-requisite in a crash-landing case.”
(Believe it or not, honorable ladies and gentlemen, but that sweet, high-caffeine content nicety still exists today and is produced by Stollwerk AG Köln)
“Finally, fighter pilot’s Netzkopfhaube (flying helmet), fitted with (Mi4b) microphones as well as with (Auer) oxygen mask and flying goggles completes the obligatory equipment for today’s aerial battles, which are commonly carried out above 7000 meters.”
Well, that’s all for today. I think that very soon I will be able to post some new factographic material in our previous thread about the Ju 87 Stuka dive-bomber. Till then – all the best!
Beautiful scans Librarian, I am always puzzled by the large amount of flares the some german pilots carried in his mission, check this drawing of a FW pilot in 1942 and note circular magazine in hins anklet.
Believe it or not, honorable ladies and gentlemen, but that sweet, high-caffeine content nicety still exists today and is produced by Stollwerk AG Köln
I guess tha the content of cocoa wasnt much in that wartimes.
Thank you, my dear Mr. Panzerknacker. Main reason for that previous post of mine was factual absence of personal equipment oriented factographic material.
On the other hand that question about factual cocoa content in that Scho-ka-kola delicacy is hardly definitely answerable. Factual pre WW2 cocoa-bean stocks in Germany are still unknown, as well as those captured lots in occupied countries, especially those in Holland. Furthermore, there is still not so well explored case of German blockade runner consignments, not even to mention those Hilfskreuzer (auxiliary cruisers) achievements that were capable to provide (at least temporarily, mainly before 1942) purveyance of some really scarce natural materials. Some successfully captured allied liners (for example SS Spaybank, a 5.154-ton British freighter) were loaded with highly scarce material, namely with a cargo of manganese ore, carpets, tea (first grade natural source of caffeine!) and shellac. Of course, precise and detailed cargo lists are still missing, therefore absolutely clear-cut evaluation is – unfortunately – impossible.
On the other hand, it has to be emphasized that back there in late thirties German chemists were the champions of organic synthesis, and from strictly technological point of view there was a real possibility for a wholly different chocolate production course, that – if truth is to be said - has never been officially pursued in the peacetime.
Basicly, my dear Mr. Panzerknacker, chocolate is only a solidified complex mix of chocolate liquor, sugar, hydrogenated vegetable oil and milk solids, as well as some emulsifiers, like lecithin. However, such a product is not strictly obliged to contain factual cocoa solids (just remember even today popular white chocolate!). Completely edible and highly nutritive “chocolate” is producible by exclusion of natural cocoa liquor via substitution of previously mentioned ingredient with different forms of highly emulsified and enriched caramel, enhanced with some emulsifying natural ingredients (alginic acid + fucoidin), as well as with some artificial colorants and flavoring agents (ethyl vanilline + benzene acetaldehyde, Alpha-[3-Methylbutylidene]).
Bearing on mind scientifically proven fact that our mostly Scho-ka-kola highlighted substance - 1,3,7-Trimetilxantin - (read: Caffeine), as well as 3,7-Dimetilxantin (read: Theobromine) was successfully synthesized by German chemist E. Fischer back there in 1895, I am really unable to see any technological obstacle for implementation of highly synthetic, semi-organic based production of war-time chocolate. After all, German war-time ice-cream has been reportedly produced in a similar way…
Of course, all this is nothing more than a purely speculative theoretical excursion.
BTW - for additional, quite reliable information about highly interesting, non-standard, completely abundant, and still insufficiently used natural nutrient and chemical industry resources, please consult the following resource:
T. S. Douglas, “The Wealth of Sea”, John Gifford Limited, London, 1946.
I have to confess that I was highly impressed with information presented on page 107 that German engineers intended to use in 1944 seaweeds Ascophyllum Nodosum and Chondrus Crispus to produce Hexanitromannitol! Just imagine a new generation of Panzerblitz rockets filled with that stuff…
And now back to hard historiographic facts. As you know, BMW 801 is essential part of the FW 190 story. So here you have not very well known picture of BMW 801 production line. I think that I will be able to provide some additional material connected with this issue.
In the meantime – all the best!
Very nice information Librarian, I like your “Chocolate analisis”
FW-190s are the best 1 of my fav planes
Oh, thank you, my dear Mr. Panzerknacker. That tiny essay was only a cerebral amusement. However, subsequent treatise hopefully will be a piece of usable information for all our FW 190 enthusiasts. So – here we go…
As previously promised, honorable ladies and gentlemen, I was able to find some new elements connected with the B.M.W. 801 story. I hope that presented information will be useful for all WW2 airplane devotees.
It is generally known that the construction of the BMW 801 engine has started in 1938 under the direction of capable and experienced engineer Duckstein. The first experimental engine was ready for testing in April of 1939, and official approval for the beginning of serialized production has arrived in December, although the engine was not yet completely developed. From the middle of 1940 the first standard-built serial engines were delivered to the aircraft industry.
Although the matchmarks of the BMW 801 construction-range are reaching almost the whole alphabet, from 22 construction patterns only 11 were actually produced, 4 have remained in a stadium of a strictly experimental engine, and 7 amongst them only existed as blueprints.
BMW 801 – lateral view
The BMW 801 was a 14-cylinder, air-cooled, 2-row radial, mechanically supercharged gasoline engine, equipped with a direct fuel injection system, and also fitted with a high-geared (0.542 : 1) cooling fan in front of the cylinder banks. The engine featured silumin-alloy cylinder heads, 1 intake valve and 1 exhaust valve per cylinder (both sodium-cooled and actuated by push-rods), equipped with a gear-driven 2-speed supercharger with automatic variable boost pressure regulator.
BMW 801 – rear-view
To the end of the war more then 21000 different versions of BMW 801 engines were produced, and one indeed very interesting advancement and a specific characteristic deserves a special attention. It is quite unknown that RLM has demanded so called “encapsulated” delivery of completely assembled airplane powerplants, starting from 1942 on. Consequently, an engine unit (Motorenanlage) actually consisted of the very motor, outfitted with all auxiliary devices - the cooling fan with guiding plates, the exhaust, all seals and the aerodynamic cowling of the engine, as well as with all conductors and joints. Only still missing, manually afterward added components of the engine, were the exhaust system, as well as the controls and fixture assemblage.
BMW 801 – Motorenanlage (completed engine-unit)
Another extraordinary characteristic of this engine was the control unit (Kommandogerät). The illustration of the glowing necessity for installation of this piece of equipment was described by these words: “What a pilot will be able to produce if he has to adjust all motor-functions individually, in addition, within an multi-engine machine, and especially if he is suddenly enforced to stop the operation of one unit. The only answer can be: an error!”
BMW 801 Kommandogerät
Scheme overtaken from the www.focke-wulf190.com
With this control unit (sort of a mechanical computer, more precisely a mechanical multi-function integrator) the following functions were steered at the same time with only one, single lever: Load pressure control, automatically connected with and completely dependable by number of motor revolutions; regulation of gasoline-air mixture; ignition, loader drive-gear; dive-release function; fuel pump pressure regulation; starter-assistance and the propeller pitch.
To be continued…
The Kommando Gerat must be one of the best gadget ever aplied to a ww2 aircraft, it relieve the work of the pilot in a great level. Just flew and combat, no need of manually changes in mixture , proppeler pitch, etc.
A very rare pic, Erwin Rommel taking close look to a Fw-190A-8 of JG26 owned by Pips Priller, the pilot who strafed Juno Beach in June 6th, this ace will achieved his 100th victory ( a B-24) in the days after the allied landings.
I always thought Rommel was a pilot at heart. He often would talk about wishing to fly. After all, he had his own Fisler Storch.
really? at what age did he became a pilot?
I am not sure if he had formal training as a pilot, I think not.
Indeed excellent snapshot, my dear Mr. Panzerknacker! I really do appreciate your constant efforts toward factographic originality. Your devotion is truly inspirable, so keep up the good work!
And yes – I completely do agree with you. That device was not only capable to disencumber that poor aviator in a chaotic and frequently dangerous situations, but even to achieve significant improvement in the tractive quality of the engine, and thermodynamic efficiency of a Otto-cycle motor by successful inauguration of surplus-air combustion and the elimination of throttling losses as well.
You know, when I call to my mind this almost unbelievable fact that direct-injection Otto-cycle engines were completely available back there in mid-thirties, some kind of a eerie feeling is starting to beset me… 
…After all, he had his own Fisler Storch.
Oh yes, he had – but it seems to me that his intrinsic affection was somehow shared with another famous airplane types. Yes, I know that this statement of mine is a little bit strange, but… Could you guess who this rearward-facing JU 87 gunner / radio operator is?
Erwin Rommel, preparations for flight in the Ju 87 Stuka – November, 1942
This is the only original photo I was able to find, but who knows – perhaps someone else will be able to find another factographic rarity. As we all know, honorable ladies and gentlemen, approx.70% of the entire graphic material already deposited in archives, libraries and museums worldwide still is undigitalized.
I am still collecting those sorrowfully dispersed pictures about BMW 801, but I think that very soon I will be able to post here something about that specific theme.
In the meantime – all the best!
Great pic!
As posted before, here are two photos taken by Rommel:
1.)
This is his personal Storch.
2.)
Rommel either took this picture himself or that is him sitting in the back. I can’t confirm, but Rommel was involved with this photo somehow.