Saga of a Survivor: The Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum’s Collection’s Fw 190A-5
The Flying Heritage Collection (FHC) Focke-Wulf (based in Everett, Washington) is a Fw 190A-5 built in April 1943 as part of a batch of 981 aircraft at the F-W factory in Bremen. The FHC aircraft left the factory with the Stammkennzeichen (factory code) of DG+HO. It was probably test-flown at the factory and assigned to the reserve pool before being flown to the Eastern front via Jesau in midMay 1943. It was assigned to 4./JG 54—Jagdgeschwader 54 (fighter wing 54) , Staffel 4 (squadron 4) at Siverskiy just to the south-southwest of Leningrad in June or early July. It is not clear when the FHC aircraft first saw action in the period from late May to early July 1943. However, Feldwebel (Fw., or sergeant) Paul Ratz joined 4./JG 54 on July 9, 1943 and flew the FHC aircraft on the day it was lost. Fw. Ratz, as flight leader, and his wingman were on a “free hunt” mission over the “Corridor of Death” on July 19, 1943. The detailed Luftwaffe loss report indicates the two pilots encountered heavy anti-aircraft fire from a train they targeted, and that Fw. Ratz reported engine trouble and the need to make an emergency landing during the pullout. The wingman reported seeing Fw. Ratz’s plane for the last time just to the west of Volkhov. Fw. Ratz was listed as missing in action and, in fact, spent some six or seven years as a POW in Russia. The FHC aircraft lay virtually untouched in a swampy forest for over 45 years … Ratz’s flying helmet placed neatly on the pilot’s seat. It was “discovered” around 1989, when Rupert Wilbraham of the Soviet British Creative Association led an effort to locate war wrecks. It appears as though Fw. Ratz piloted his powerless Fw 190 to a perfect belly landing in a swampy area forested with very small saplings. The wing leading edges showed evidence of having smashed through the saplings that later grew back and concealed the aircraft. The major focus of restoration in the early years was the wing. The restorers found a number of field repairs and component wear including a crack in the wing spar under the fuselage, a crease in the starboard wing and repair work to the edge of the horizontal stabilizer—all indicating that the plane was in heavy use for the short period of its operational life. It was readily apparent at the time of recovery that Fw. Ratz and his Fw 190 were not downed by anti-aircraft fire; there was no damage from enemy fire. The engine had, in fact, overheated and seized. Sabotage is alleged and, interestingly, the date “5.7.43” (5 July 1943) was painted in yellow on the hub indicating an engine change 14 days prior to the aircraft going down. The FHC purchased the aircraft in 1999, and it was imported into the U.S. in September 2006, where it was completed at GossHawk Unlimited in Casa Grande, Arizona. In April 2011, the plane was delivered to the FHC and became the first Fw 190 to take to the air since shortly after WW II. The museum’s Fw 190 is still operational and continues to wow aviation enthusiasts who visit the museum from all over the world.