Page 17
Eduard Info 2010 page 17
History
1944, with production starting at Sorau (today Zarow
in Poland). Sorau was captured by the Red Army
in mid February, 1945. It´s possible that production
continued at Focke-Wulf at Cottbus, before even this
town fell to the enemy in the latter half of April.
It has been widely reported that there were about
twenty D-11s produced, but this number is evidently
higher. This notion is supported by two period do-
cuments. In the records of Jumo-Aussendienst
(service outsourcing) we can conclude that at Sorau,
there were forty powerplants installed in D-11s. And
just to complicated the matter, these were supposed
to be the more modern Jumo 213F-1. This, of course,
doesn’t con rm that all forty birds reached combat
units. A number of these could have been in various
states of completeness, could’ve been destroyed
in the ghting for the town, and they could’ve also
been captured by the Soviets. The second document
from mid-February, 1945, suggests that parts in short
supply for forty aircraft being assembled at Sorau
and Cottbus were to be supplied by Arado in Prague.
Current information states that Focke-Wulf had,
in preparation, fty Fw 190 D-9s and one-hundred
Fw 190 D-11s (bringing the total count of D-11s to
140).
These elegant machines were then equipped with
a version of the Jumo 213 F (incorrectly identi ed as
the Jumo 213 E in the Eduard instructions) but carried
no armament in the fuselage. The wings gained two
30 mm MK 108 cannon in the outboard wing gun
bays to go with the two 20 mm cannon already
present. The MK 108s could also have been substi-
tuted by a pair of 20 mm MG 151 weapons. From
period records, we know that fteen Fw 190 D-11s
were delivered to units by the end of March, and that
four of these were equipped with the EZ 42 gyrosco-
pic gunsight. There were teething problems with the
Jumo 213 F, and ying this aircraft was probably not
for greenhorns. So far, there have been three units
identi ed that ew this unique aircraft.
VERBANDSFÜHRERSCHULE DES GENERALS
DER JAGDFLIEGER (VFS des G.d.J.)
This training unit was formed in September, 1944,
at Königsberg-Neumark (today Chojna in western
Poland). The unit primarily used the Messerschmitt
Bf 109 G-6 and Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-8, but from the
beginning of 1945, began to also use the Bf 109 G-14
and Fw 190 F-8. The unit answered to the ‘General of
Fighter Units’ (General der Jagd ieger), who at this
time was Adolf Galland, and its purpose was to train
unit COs in combat tactics against waves of four-en-
gined bombers. Talented young ghter pilots passed
through the training facility, as well as unit comman-
ders that were to improve de ciencies in combat
tactics against four-engined heavy bombers, and to
train their units accordingly to be successful against
the Americans. A third group of “students” were
commanders of bomber units that were supposed
to convert their units to ghter aircraft.
The training was completed by such pilots as Werner
Schroer (114 victories), better known for his service
in the MTO with JG 27. He was there for about three
months, and ew around 30 training ights. Most
often, he ew Fw 190 As with the fuselage markings
‘< 75’ and ‘<58’ (not to be confused with Fw 190 D-11
‘<58’!). Two digit numerals with the chevron were cha-
racteristic markings of this unit. In February, 1945,
Schroer became Kommodore of Jagdgeschwader
3 ‘Udet’, and successfully took the unit into combat
on the Eastern Front. This was, however, the excep-
tion, rather than the rule. In the opinion of Günther
Rall (275 victories), who commanded the training unit
from November, 1944, the majority of the comman-
ders to come through the school lacked quick reac-
tion times, advantageous exibility and initiative.
Fw 190 D-11, W.Nr. 220 009 with Verbandsführerschule des Generals der Jagd ieger at Bad Wöorishofen. This aircraft may have been test
own by the CO of this unit, Gunther Rall. (JaPo)