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Info Eduard - July 2010
the fall of 1944, these glass components began to be
removed. Their function was naturally to protect the
pilot’s head from the sides, when a Sturmjäger was
in the process of penetrating a formation of heavy
bombers, and right under the nose of defensive gunners.
By the end of the summer and beginning of fall, 1944,
these glass plates were beginning to be frowned upon.
The thin space between the plexiglass of the canopy and
the armor piece would condense and freeze up, severely
affecting visibility on which the pilot so depended on.
An added benefit of removing the glass was a weight
of some 40 kg. A need to remove these glass panels
must have been an unpleasant reality to the Sturmbock
pilots who were sacrificing protection. Photographic
evidence of Sturmbocks with removed armor glass
plates appears between October and December, 1944
(with individual machines in certain units even sooner).
For a longer period, from May to October, 1944, these
aircraft flew with the glass panels in place (same as with
earlier modifications to the A-6 and A-7). Because these
armored glass panels are visually the main recognition
feature of the Sturmbock, and so from a modeling point of
view very significant, a closer look is warranted.
Scheuklappen
As pointed out earlier, the armor glass was put
in place to protect the pilot from the sides during attacks
on bomber formations to which the pilot of the Sturmbock
needed to get very close.
Their thickness was 30mm, and were glued in three
segments from a material called Thorax-Panzerglass.
The side panels were accompanied be triangular
panels that were attached to the sides of the windscreen.
These were placed inside a metal frame with flattened
and lengthened edges, which was mounted under the
standard frame, where there was only the plexiglass.
The front edge of the front segment of the screen was
at 50mm, standard for the Fw 190. Together with a 5mm
armor plate on the sides of the cockpit, and additional
armor behind the engine, and the ‘panzerglass’ the
pilot was afforded complete protection from the front
hemisphere of his aircraft.
The side armor glass plates were nicknamed
‘Scheuklappen’ by pilots, which was the German term for
eye shields worn by puller horses. These were intended
to limit the peripheral vision of the horses, and limit
anxiousness. Perhaps, given the problems that limited
visibility for the pilot, the nickname is accurate for other,
more sarcastic reasons.
The basic shape of the panels can be determined from
photographs, but not so well known is their construction,
mainly that of the frames, and their attachment to the
standard canopy of the Fw 190. There are wartime
references that cite ‘wooden frames’ and in one period
technical journal dated April 18, 1944, ‘primitive wooden
frames’. The question then becomes the method
of fastening some 20kg of armored glass into a wooden
frame, and, above all, the attaching of such a frame to the
standard canopy in such a way as to have the assembly
stay in place despite vibrations, and anything else that
could conceivably occur during their use.
Until recently, I had the opportunity to examine
Scheuklappen only once, within the exhibits at the
aviation museum in Hannover, whose examples were
rescued from a crashed Sturmbock in a bog. Although
the glass is largely intact, it is not possible to completely
study their interior structure. Light on the subject has
been cast by the discovery of frames from both armored
windows at the crash site of Fw 190A-8/R2 W.Nr. 681456,
with which Uffz. Karl Eilmes of II.(Sturm)/JG 4 perished
on September 11th, 1944.
This discovery was important for another reason too.
Up to now, we weren’t certain if JG 4 used the armored
glass on its Sturmbocks on their first combat sorties, on
that particular date. Earlier, we were able to find a piece
of a wooden frame at the crash site of Fw 190A-8/R2
White ‘5’ W.Nr. 681355 flown by Uffz. Siegfried Zuber
of 5.Stafel/JG 4, September 11th, 1944, but could not
be positive of the identification of the wooden artifact
(both noted examples are exhibited at the Museum of the
Battle over the Ore Mountains, September 11th, 1944, CZ).
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The frames of the armored glass panels from the Sturmbock flown by Uffz. Eilmes
of II.(Sturm)/JG 4, shortly after its discovery. Karl Eilmes, buried not far from this
spot, in Mildenau, died here on September 11th, 1944. The glass parts were
buried in a furrow, and excavated on May 1st, 2010.
Jan Jelinek, one of the Museum of the Air Battle Over the Ore Mountains
on September 11 1944, volunteers, with the first of the excavated pieces.
For more pictures of the wreckage excavation process, visit
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4473375&id=195962885355
HISTORIE