The Fw 190D-9 -- the 'long-nosed' Dora -- represented the cutting
edge and pinnacle of wartime Germany's piston-engine aviation
development. This new history by leading German aviation specialist
Robert Forsyth reveals what it was like to pilot her in combat as
Germany desperately battled to remain in the war.
Arguably one of the finest piston-engined fighters ever built, the
Focke-Wulf Fw 190D-9 raised the bar in terms of aircraft design and
operational capability during World War II. Designed by Kurt Tank, the
'long-nosed' Fw 190D9 'Dora' bettered most of the fighters that the
Allied and Soviet air forces could field when it first appeared in the
skies over the Western and Eastern Fronts in 1944. Indeed, with
experienced German pilots at the controls it proved to be an immediate
match for even the later-mark Griffon Spitfire and the P-51D/K.
Well-armed, with two 13mm machine guns and two 20mm cannon, the D-9
began to equip Luftwaffe units from August 1944. Later on in the war,
one of the key missions of the D-9 was to provide top cover for Me 262
jet fighters when they were at their most vulnerable during take-off and
landing.
Featuring first-hand accounts, photographs, artwork, and innovative and
colorful 3D ribbon diagrams, this fascinating volume portrays what it
was like to fly the superlative Fw 190D-9 in combat, providing a
realistic insight in to how German pilots used the superb Focke-Wulf
aircraft in combat against American, British, and Russian fighters in
the Defense of the Reich in 1944-45.
