Focke-Wulf 190, In romanian air force

Acording to the Osprey Combat Aircraft no 74 Ju 87 Stuckageshwader of the russian front , it states that romanian group 3 Picaj was to reequip with focke-wulf 190. To quote the book :
"But then
in mid-August, reflecting current Luftwaffe policy of completely re-equipping its erstwhile Stuka arm, the pilots of Grupul3 were ordered to leave their Ju 87s and proceed to
Lugoj for retraining on Fw 190 ground-attack aircraft."
And it continues with :
"The Rumanians were still waitingfor the promised Focke-Wulfs when the Soviet offensive began. Hastily recalled from Lugoj to Husi, Grupul 3'spilots were in action dive-bombingand strafing "
Now my question on the matter is what are the sources for this statement ? Is it true that the romanian groups were to be reequiped with fw 190F ?
Anny details are welcome !

Yes, it is true. Lugoj is also the location where training was suppose to happen.

Another group of pilots were trained to fly the Fw 190s in Germany in the Summer of 1944. However, I have no info on the school's location.

Gen. Dénes

But was the fw 190 better suited for bombing actions ? As far as a I know the ju 87 was a dive bomber while the fw 190f was a fighter bomber . The concept was differnt concerning the two tipes , one being that ju 87 was developed as an close support aircraft while the fw 190 was a fighter . So my opinion is that ju 87 was better suited for the front needs , especially at the moment , because soviets were on the offensive.
Do you have any ideea why the change was neded ?

The FW190 was faster and could carry a similar load.

As you said, by that stage of the war, the frontline requirements had changed. The Russians were enjoying relative aerial superiority and in such circumstances comparatively slow/lumbering Ju87s were an easy prey. Dive-bombers worked well during the Blitzkrieg but only in conditions of air superirity, but when the enemy had air superiorty, they were dead ducks - this weakness became apparent during the Battle of Britain. Dive bombers were particulalrly vulnerable during the dive and recovery - that was why Ju87 were increasinly stripped of air brakes and were used to do vertical drops or "turnip lobs" rather than dives. In the absence of air superiority, Ju87 needed to be escorted by fighters for protection. At that rate, it made more sense to put bombs on the fighters themselves and save on fuel, firepower and manpower.
But by then, the Ju87 role already changed and they were mostly used as tank hunters armed with cannons.

Anyway, there was nothing about the FW190 that limited it to being a "fighter" only. The FW190 was very versatile and powerful. It had the ability to carry bombs, rockets, cannon pods and even torpedoes and indeed it did so with relative effectiveness.

adu

Thank you for the answers. As an conclusion it wold have been better for the two group to pass on fw and leaving the close support role to 8th asalt group , while they swiched to fighter bomber role .

This post has been edited by ovichelu on January 26, 2012 03:03 pm

Radu pointed the difference between the two planes.

But in a simple way of thinking a fighter -bomber is better than a bomber just by the fact that after realesing the load the plane could fight and defend like a fighter plane.
The first units of FW 190 used as fighter- bombers were the so called JaBo units ( Jagd Bomber) operating over the english channel in 1942.

http://www.worldwar2.ro/forum/index.php?showtopic=6205

Thanks, Petre, for the pointer.

Gen. Dénes

The Fw-190F was specifically developed as a ground attack variant, with increased armor, bomb racks etc. His advantage to the Ju87 in survability was it`s speed and the fact he could defend itself against enemy fighters.

http://www.cartula.ro/forum/topic/361-fw-190-romanesc/

From the attached jpg_file :

After The 56. Fighter Squadron was dismantled, they gave to Gavriliu Vasile the mission (...) from spring of 1945, to transfere by air way of 8 FW-190s aircraft, from the Turnisor-Sibiu airfield to the IAR factory of Brasov.
The transport of these airplanes, with an advanced state of wear, lasted several months, because each flight had to be approved by Soviet Command Bucuresti. If the planned flight could not execute that day, the planning and the approval procedure was resumed and that meant 1-2 weeks.
The FW-190s aircraft, because they had spent outdoors all the winter with no care, were in a deplorable state.
Before the flight only the engine was check and if OK, you had to go.

This post has been edited by Petre on May 04, 2012 11:13 am

Victory List for the Luftwaffe Against Rumanian FW 190s
Date Pilot: Tally Unit Type Location: Altitude Time
26.08.44 Uffz. Schatermann: 1 3./T.G. 5 FW 190 35 km N.W. Otopeni: - 08:19

http://fw190.hobbyvista.com/foreign.htm

3./T.G. 5 Transportgeschwader

Probably was a Me 323 or Ju 52 from that transport unit used oround Otopeni after 23 august 44 to counterattack romanians.
Schatermann could be a gunner on the plane ? If so mayby was not so good in romanian plane ID. Could mistake IAR 80 with FW 190 like US pilots did.
I will check if any romanian IAR 80 were hit during that days.

This post has been edited by Cantacuzino on January 10, 2013 07:24 am

On 26 august 44, Adj av Bouru Alexandru, Gr 4Vt ( IAR 80) take off from Geamana Pitesti to intercept two german transport planes. Near Buftea village, Bouru score hits at one of the german plane but was also hit by german gunners and was forced to land near Poienari-Vulpesti.


The position 35 Km NW of Otopeni (from the german report ) match with the position of the village Buftea and Poenari-Vulpesti.

This post has been edited by Cantacuzino on January 10, 2013 07:49 am

It appears the two descriptions match.
Good detective work!

Gen. Dénes

The plane was IAR 81C nr 391. From other source ( the book Vanatorul Iar- 80) Adj. Bouru take off from Boteni and attacked german planes Me 323 Gigant