EVERETT — Paul Allen’s Flying Heritage Collection pulled the wraps off another acquisition, a Focke-Wulf Fw-190 fighter that was a workhorse for Nazi Germany’s fearsome Luftwaffe in World War II.
The Fw-190 was the most advanced radial-engine fighter in the world when it entered combat
service in 1941. This Fw-190 is the only one in flying condition, said Flying Heritage Collection military aviation curator Cory Graff.
“This plane is special because it’s so rare now,” Graff said.
The Flying Heritage Collection has another Fw-190 on display, but it was restored to near flying condition.
The collection’s latest Fw-190 was shot down in 1943 outside Leningrad in the Soviet Union, Graff said. The pilot glided it into a soft, marshy area filled with saplings and the plane lay undiscovered until 1989, Graff said.
A group of British aviation enthusiasts recovered the Fw-190 in 1991 and began a restoration effort. The Flying Heritage Collection bought the dismantled plane in February 1999 and completed the restoration.
The plane was “shockingly intact” considering how it landed in a forest and how long it sat, Graff said, but the landing in the trees bent the propeller and damaged every leading edge of the wings and fuselage. The radial engine was seized and there was considerable damage from exposure to the elements.
Getting the plane’s complex BMW engine in running condition was a challenge since none of its type had been flown since the late 1950s.
Once the restoration was complete, Flying Heritage Collection pilots conducted test flights in Arizona, Graff said. It was disassembled and trucked to the museum’s hangar at Paine Field, where the wheels, wings and propeller were reattached April 21.
The Fw-190 will join its fighter counterpart, the Messerschmitt Bf 109, on display. These two aircraft are widely recognized as the backbone of the German Luftwaffe.
The Fw-190 will begin test flights at Paine Field in late May, Graff said. It will make its public debut from noon to 1 p.m. June 18 during the collection’s Free Fly Day as part of the Collings Foundation’s Wings of Freedom Tour, which features aircraft from WWII.
The Fw-190 is scheduled to fly again Aug. 6 for Luftwaffe Day, joining the Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter and Fieseler Fi 156 C-2 reconnaissance plane.
On the Web
Read descriptions of all the planes in the Flying Heritage Collection at www.flyingheritage.com.
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