Focke-Wulf FW 190

Capt. Eric Brown, Royal Navy, Retired

The FW cockpit was narrow, but I was pleasantly surprised to find the forward view better than the Bf 109, Mustang, or Spitfire. The controls were easy to handle and the general cockpit layout was good, but the layout of the flight instruments was not as good as in the Bf 109. The really interesting thing in the FW 190 was the ingenious Kommandgerat or “brain box.” This relieved the pilot of having to control the airscrew, pitch, mixture, boost, and rpm when moving the throttle forward or back. This cut the pilot’s workload considerably and was a great asset, especially in combat.