The Focke-Wulf Ta152H-1

Although not strictly part of the Fw 190 series the Ta 152 series has obvious ties to the 190 series. The TA 152 series can be seen as further developments of the Fw 190D high altitude fighter with structural and aerodynamic enhancements and new power plants. The designation change from Fw to TA was to honor Kurt Tank who had designed the extremely successful Fw 190 series.

As the war was coming to an end for Germany and the plight of the Japanese armed forces grew ever bleaker, a very large influx of the latest aviation technology Germany had to offer was given to or bought by the Japanese air forces in the hopes that it would stem the tide of defeats and ever increasing pressure to put up superior aircraft to battle the newest airplanes the allies were putting into the field. One such German aircraft was the Focke-Wulf TA 152, whose blueprints were purchased by the Japanese in April of 1945.

The development of the TA 152 came about as the Luftwaffe saw the threat of high-altitude bombers and reconnaissance aircraft which could be fielded by the allies and which would prove difficult, if not impossible, by current Luftwaffe interceptors to engage. Thus, even before high-flying allied bombers began operations over Europe, the German aviation industry was hard at work exploring pressurized cockpits and cabins, turbo-superchargers, and other means to enhance engine performance at high altitude. Focke-Wulf was one of the major players who put great effort into these studies. Work began using the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 ( the B, C, and D models ), generating various schemes using pressure cabins, different engine types, and injection/supercharger methods. The work with the Fw 190B model proved fruitless and was dropped while the Fw 190C work proved much more successful but it was the Fw 190D which would provide the basis for the TA 152 series.

As the Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortress" began appearing in the skies and provided the Luftwaffe with intercept difficulties, German intelligence learned of the even more superior Boeing B-29 "Superfortress" and, even though the B-29 was never deployed to the European combat theater, it proved a motivater to the Luftwaffe to come up with an answer for it. Both Focke-Wulf and Messerschmitt were asked to put forth proposals. Focke-Wulf offered the Fw 190 Ra-2 and Fw 190 Ra-3 while Messerschmitt put forth the Me 109H series. In the end, the Me 109H became a loser to the soon-to-be called TA 152. Kurt Tank was an influential and respected aircraft designer. Such was Tank's sway that he was able to go around the usual aircraft naming scheme and his two models, the Ra-2 and the Ra-3, became the TA 152B and the TA 152H respectively. The basis of the TA 152 was the Fw 190D airframe and throughout the life of the aircraft's evolution, various styles of wing, engine, weapons, and other changes were made to it. Common features included a pressure cabin for the pilot, provision for the GM 1 ( nitrous oxide injection ) kit or the MW50 ( methanol-water injection ) kit, hydraulic flap and undercarriage actuation, lengthened fuselage for increased internal capacity, enlarged tail surfaces, and a moved cockpit area to maintain the center of gravity.

The TA 153 was a test bed aircraft originally called the Fw 190 Ra-4D and was the plane which initially tested the long-spanned wing which would be used in the TA 152H. This wing featured a very simple manufacturing process and offered a much greater internal volume for fuel as well as being a marked improvement over other wing ideas for the TA 152. It was standardized for the TA 152 series, in part because it offered the potential to better handle the North American P-51 "Mustang". Work began on a pre-production TA 152H-0 at Sorau while the assembly line for production TA 152H aircraft was readied at Cottbus. The first TA 152H, the TA 152H V1 and the second, V2, were completed in June and July of 1944 and the former sent to Langenhagen for testing, the other to Rechlin for official evaluation beginning in August. The first TA 152 series aircraft that left the production line at Cottbus were part of a batch of 20 pre-production TA 152H-0s. These were delivered in October and November of 1944 to Erprobungskommando TA 152, commanded by Hauptmann Bruno Stolle and based at Rechlin, which would service test the airplanes. At the close of November, the TA 152H-1 began to roll off the lines, 34 being completed by year's end. It was not until January 27, 1945 that the first TA 152 H models begin to trickle into Luftwaffe service. Production being severely hampered by the rapid advance of the Soviets who ultimately overran the Cottbus facility.

Both the TA 152H-0 and TA 152H-1 were similar, the former having no wing tankage. Both used the Jumo 213E-1 engine, had an engine mounted 30mm MK 108 cannon, a 20mm MK 151 cannon in each wing root ( Revi 16b gun sight used, later to have the EZ 42 aiming system with automatic lead computing installed ), 330lbs. of armor protection for the engine and pilot, FuG 16ZY and FuG 25a radio equipment, and later TA 152s were fitted with Rustsatze ( field conversion kits ) in the factory with FuG 125 Hermine D/F for navigation and blind landing, LGW-Siemens K 23 autopilot, and a heated armorglass windscreen for bad-weather operations. The pilot's cockpit was pressurized, the rivets around the cockpit skinning being sealed with DHK 8800 paste, the sliding canopy hood sealed via a circular tube filled with foam rubber which was inflated by a compressed air bottle, while the engine compartment was also sealed with a foam rubber ring. A Knorr 300/10 air compressor provided the pressure, maintaining the cockpit pressure at .36 atmospheres above 8,000 meters. To prevent fogging, the windscreen was of a double-pane style with an 8mm thick outer pane and a 3mm inner pane with a 6mm gap between the two with silica-gel capsules, eight in all. The MW 50 injection system was standard with the GM 1 method planned for future incorporation. Total tankage of fuel was 595 liters for the H-0 model with the option of a 300 liter, underbelly drop tank. The H-1 model had even more fuel in six unprotected bag tanks in the wings, totaling 470 liters, of which one of the tanks served as the MW 50 injection tank. The H-1 could use the 300 liter drop tank as well as a 600 liter drop tank Weapon fits, in addition to the above, could include unguided rockets, such as the R&M, mounted under the wings. Free-fall bombs, however, could not be used given the mission of the TA 152H series.

The pilots who flew the TA 152 H in battle were very pleased with it. The aircraft was well able to battle the P-51D "Mustang" as well as the British Hawker "Tempest", several of these allied aircraft falling to the guns of the TA 152. Despite the fact the TA 152 H was meant to combat high-altitude allied bombers, almost no missions of this type were flown by those units who operated the aircraft ( notably, III/JG 301 and Stab JG 301 ). The first mission undertaken by III/JG 301 on March 2, 1945 was to intercept U.S. bombers heading for the Bohlen chemical plant near Leuna. It ended when pilots of a group of Messerschmitt BF 109s mistook the new German aircraft for the enemy and engaged them. No losses were incurred and the superior climbing and agility of the TA 152 H allowed them to evade all of the "attackers". Following this, most of III/JG 301 was involved with battling allied fighters, not bombers. The final victims of the TA 152s guns being Russian Yakolev Yak-9s during the final days of battle around Berlin on April 30, 1945.

Armament and Fuel Tank arrangement of the Ta152H-1