Rico's rants: FW190 found outside of Leningrad

20 January 2016

FW190 found outside of Leningrad

War History Online has an article about a long-lost Focke-Wulf:

A FW190 (above) was found in a silver birch forest 1989, near St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad), Russia. It was recovered by helicopter in 1991. The current owners are the Flying Heritage Collection, operated by Paul Allen.
Information from researchers involved with the restoration confirms that the pilot of the Fw190, Paul Rätz, became a POW and was repatriated to Germany in 1949. He passed away in 1989; his son aided in the research for the restoration.
Paul Rätz was a ground crew member before becoming a pilot with 1./JG54 in 1942 and 1943. He had several air victories and survived three crash landings. He was best known as a ground attack pilot and transferred to 4./JG54 on 9 July 1943. Ten days later, on 19 July 1943, he crashed with this plane during a mission to attack a train.
This Focke-Wulf 190 was manufactured in April of 1943, originally as an A-5 variant supplied with the work number 0151227 by the parent factory of Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau GmbH at Bremen, Germany.
On 19 July 1943, Fw190 A-5 W.Nr 1227 ‘White A’ went on a mission carrying a five hundred pound bomb. Taking off from Siwerskaja on what was probably a hot summer day, ‘White A’ headed for the front line, only fifteen or so minutes flight time away. Crossing the front line over the Dvina River, the Fw190, flying with another (a Rotte, in German), crossed it, and headed East.
Behind enemy lines, in an area called Voibakala, the ‘Rotte’ attacked an armored train and reportedly suffered damage from flak. The loss report indicates the Fw190 crash-landed due to this damage, although none was located on the airframe. The Fw190 suffered a catastrophic failure of its BMW801 engine, caused by a rag; sabotage is suspected, as it was a new engine, fitted a few days before.
The Fw190 was recorded as being lost in the map reference co-ordinates of Pl.Qu.20124. This grid system based on 1:200,000 maps, was used to identify crash sites, possibly for salvage, recovery of missing pilots, or as the best way of identifying an area consisting of unpronounceable Russian towns, villages, and large areas of forests and lakes. The more numbers the Pl.Qu reference gives, the smaller the area of the location.
The pilot, Feldwebel Paul Rätz survived the crash. He removed his leather flying helmet and retrieved the first aid kit from the rear fuselage and is thought to have headed West, back to the front line, only a dozen or so miles from the crash site. He was undoubtedly captured by the Russians and interned, although the Luftwaffe loss report still have him as missing in action.
The restoration revealed that this FW190 most likely crashed from engine sabotage. The engine was newly installed and the oil lines were found to be blocked. The engine factories often used prisoner labor, so sabotage sometimes happened.
A partial restoration was started in the early 1990s, then the plane was sold to the Flying Heritage Collection. Much of the restoration was competed in the UK, and the rest has been completed in the US.
Today, the plane is the only original flyable Focke-Wulf 190A fighter to take to the skies with a genuine BMW 801 engine.