Kurt Tank's design team prepared two proposals; one based upon the use of the Daimler-Benz DB601 liquid-cooled engine and the other upon the use of the BMW 801 air-cooled radial engine. At that time the radial engine was not favored as a fighter power plant owing to its drag and the restrictions that its bulk placed upon forward view during taking-off and landing, and, in consequence, General Ernst Udet's decision to proceed with the development of the radial-engined fighter came as a profound surprise to Tank and his colleagues.

Test pilots had objected to proximity of the engine to the cockpit which resulted in extremely high cabin temperatures, sometimes reaching 55øC. (131øF.), which, as Sander said, felt as though he had his "feet in the fireplace."

In addition, exhaust gases found their way into the cockpit and necessitated the continuous use of an oxygen mask. Therefore in the next prototypes the cockpit was relocated further aft, a move also suggested by the c.g. problems presented by the heavier engine.

By the end of the war, more than 20,000 Fw 190s had been built; about one-third as fighter bombers. A nice figure if you consider the plane was a second "iron in the fire" as it was referred to when the first order in 1937 was placed.

More:

http://www.aviation-history.com/focke-wulf/fw190.html

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Some Pics of the Focke Wulf FW-190

Enjoy....

Page 1-
http://www.luftwaffepics.com/lfw1901.htm
Page 2-
http://www.luftwaffepics.com/lfw1902.htm
Page 3-
http://www.luftwaffepics.com/lfw1903.htm
Page 4-
http://www.luftwaffepics.com/lfw1904.htm
Page5-
http://www.luftwaffepics.com/lfw1905.htm

Regards,
MARNE

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"ROCK OF THE MARNE"
Sgt. James Dunigan III
Able Co., U.S. 30th Infantry Regiment
U.S. 3rd Infantry Division(Reenacted)

I am sure the 131 degree temperture felt really good after a cold night on the Russian front.

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Work Harder ! Millions on welfare are depending on you.

I was thinking and it occured to me the FW-190 was the only fighter that used both aircooled and watercooled engines during WWII.

The Halifax and Lancaster also used both types. Can you think of others ?

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Work Harder ! Millions on welfare are depending on you.

The Tony became the KI 100. Tony had liquid cooled, 100 had radial. Same fuselage.

Very Good ! You win a new Toyota.

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Work Harder ! Millions on welfare are depending on you.

Just read an article about a KI 100 being restored. It was not correctly labelled & bounced around the globe & not until recently was it correctly identified & given a correct overhaul & correct paint scheme etc. Hope it flies so we can see with current eyes how good it was, or perhaps wasn't.

I just read an interview from 1975 with Kurt Tank. He stated that a radial engine was the choice from the beginning, but the original radial had problems with two of the back row pistons overheating. The radial was chosen because being air cooled, it could be hit and not lose the entire engine.

Other indications of the foresight used in its design; from the beginning, they realized that the overall weight would climb drastically, so they designed the landing gear for twice the original loading.

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Lord, let me be the person my dog thinks I am.

At least one Mark of Beaufighter used Merlins, IIRC.

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Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website

The later versions of the Beaufighter were designed to allow interchangable engines between the Bristol radials and Rolls Royce inlines in what the British termed "power eggs." It was just the shortage of Merlins coupled with the nominally better performance they gave that kept them from being more widely used on this aircraft.

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Truth is stranger than bullshit!

There are alot of aircraft that could use both inline and radial engines. The Wellington, Lancaster, Halifax, the Fw-190, The P-36 and P-40 were mostly the same airframe, and they tried a version of the B-17 with Allison engines but it was not put into production. After the war Argentina built a version of the Mosquito with radial engines. There was a version of the Ki-61 Tony with a radial engine as stated above and I am sure I am missing alot more.

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Work Harder ! Millions on welfare are depending on you.

The original FW 190 was designed with a rotating cowl that was designed to take in air and force it over the engine to improve cooling. It was found that the cowl gave only marginal improvement, and was not worth the added complexity.

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Lord, let me be the person my dog thinks I am.