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Post by Gavin Conroy on May 5, 2013 10:01:54 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 5, 2013 14:11:18 GMT 12
Awesome!
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Post by ngatimozart on May 5, 2013 19:22:18 GMT 12
Awesome, just pure awesome.
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 5, 2013 19:28:36 GMT 12
It seems to have worn at least three colour schemes in NZ so far? Or variations thereof.
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Post by Gavin Conroy on May 5, 2013 19:44:28 GMT 12
It seems to have worn at least three colour schemes in NZ so far? Or variations thereof. It arrived in its overall scheme as seen in the first lot of air to air photos and has been altered a couple of time since to represent an aircraft flown by Erich Rudorffer who shot down 222 aircraft during WW2. Erich Rudorffer is still alive and was presented with a couple of large photos from the fourth air to air flight with the aeroplane. His surname is where "RFR" comes from in the aeroplanes registration. |
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Post by baz62 on May 6, 2013 12:49:20 GMT 12
It seems to have worn at least three colour schemes in NZ so far? Or variations thereof. It arrived in its overall scheme as seen in the first lot of air to air photos and has been altered a couple of time since to represent an aircraft flown by Erich Rudorffer who shot down 222 aircraft during WW2. Erich Rudorffer is still alive and was presented with a couple of large photos from the fourth air to air flight with the aeroplane. His surname is where "RFR" comes from in the aeroplanes registration. Ahhh Marty seems to think it stands for "Radials Flippin' Rule"! (This is the PC version you understand) He's got a photo up on Facebook of the FW190 on the tail of Doug's Tr9 saying this. He's a naughty man isn't he boys and girls? |
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Post by No longer identifiable on May 6, 2013 21:08:09 GMT 12
At first I thought this was a typo, but it's not. I read Frank Parker's article in "Kiwi Flyer" describing Erich Rudorffer, and a very good article it is! In my mind it makes the FW 190 just a bit more special than it already was. You can enjoy the same article here: www.kiwiflyer.co.nz/KiwiFlyer-Issue-17-Erich-Rudorffer.pdf
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Post by ngatimozart on May 6, 2013 22:10:18 GMT 12
Good article. 13 kills in 17 minutes then later 9 kills in 10 minutes. That is one very impressive fighter pilot.
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Post by Gavin Conroy on May 7, 2013 20:49:57 GMT 12
It arrived in its overall scheme as seen in the first lot of air to air photos and has been altered a couple of time since to represent an aircraft flown by Erich Rudorffer who shot down 222 aircraft during WW2. Erich Rudorffer is still alive and was presented with a couple of large photos from the fourth air to air flight with the aeroplane. His surname is where "RFR" comes from in the aeroplanes registration. Ahhh Marty seems to think it stands for "Radials Flippin' Rule"! (This is the PC version you understand) He's got a photo up on Facebook of the FW190 on the tail of Doug's Tr9 saying this. He's a naughty man isn't he boys and girls? Yeah well that's Marty for you. Would not have mattered what rego was chosen, he would have come up with something a bit different  |
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Post by steveh on May 8, 2013 19:22:58 GMT 12
That is a stunning record of this plane Gavin, many thanks. Has anything been written on this forum or elsewhere which gives the history /provence of this colour scheme, is it known how accurate it is for Rudorffer's aircraft? I'd be a bit keen to model it.
Steve.
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Post by nuuumannn on May 14, 2013 13:30:39 GMT 12
Terrific thread, Gavin; very, very nice to see this.
Just a wee thing about German aces and their kills. They achieved extremely high numbers of kills because of their service on the Russian front, Rudorffer is apparently the seventh highest scoring ace of all time (!), but the Germans had different systems for recording kills, to the RAF at least. The actual number of aircraft each ace shot down would have actually been less than the total; not by much, which still means that what these guys did was still remarkable, but different units recorded kills differently. In many cases, aircraft destroyed on the ground were also counted, whereas the British didn't do this. I also remember reading about one particular unit whose senior experten would guide the lesser experienced pilots into a kill, shoot at it to disable it, then allow the younger guys to attack (Johnny Johnson also used to do this). The kill was then 'credited' to all of them; not like in the RAF where if four claimed the same aeroplane it was a quarter of a kill, but each pilot who attacked would get a full 'kill'. I don't think this was standard, but at least one lot I read about did this.
Rudorffer had a remarkable career and 136 of his victories were claimed in the Fw 190, with 12 of his kills in Me 262 jet fighters.
Hi Steve, if you look around on the net, there might be photos of Rudorffer's aeroplane. A bit about the markings. The yellow band, lower cowl, wing tips and rudder were theatre markings, but were not universally applied among JG 54 aircraft; early on in the campaign, the Germans sprayed a white distemper all over their aircraft, often covering unit and rank markings as well, as the winter set in, but gradually as the seasons changed this disappeared altogether. Some JG 54 Fw 190s went to green camouflage around spring, summer 1943 as well as the grey that Rudorffer's machine wears. I've seen illustrations of his aircraft in 1944 wearing nothing but rank insignia; no squadron markings at all, but it looks much more colourful and interesting with full regalia on show.
The aircraft is depicted in the markings of II./JG 54 or II Gruppe, Jagdgeschwader 54; JG 54 was commonly known as 'Grunherz' or Green Heart; after the unit's commander Hannes Trautloft introduced it on his own aeroplane, it was adopted by the other airmen on their machines.
The II Gruppe element is displayed by the shield on the left side of the nose and the bar aft of the fuselage cross. The shield is the coat-of-arms of the City of Vienna, with the Lion of Aspern represented in it (if you are modelling it, for accuracy, the background behind the Lion was yellow); I Gruppe displayed the coat-of-arms of Nuremburg and III Gruppe was Jesau.
Rudorffer's personal name for the aeroplane was "Stahlgewitter", which means Steel Storm - very Teutonic, which can be seen either side of the upper cowl. The triangular marking forward of the fuselage cross is the Kommandeur Double Chevron. Rudorffer was JG 54's third highest scoring ace.
I hope this is of use.
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davem2
Flight Lieutenant
Posts: 97
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Post by davem2 on May 14, 2013 19:30:42 GMT 12
Grant
As far as I am aware the Luftwaffe did not count ground victories, I believe this was only true of the Americans. Of course with the tremendous and accurate AA put up by the Germans, attacking an airfield was often more dangerous than air to air combat.
Luftwaffe pilots flew and fought until they died- no rotation or Tour of Ops - which meant a lot of combat time compared with the Allies.
Stahlgewitter is a nickname thought up by the owner, and nothing to do with Rudorffer.
regards
Dave
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Post by nuuumannn on May 14, 2013 23:16:13 GMT 12
Hi Dave, looks like you're right, although I remember reading something about that by a unit operating in Russia - possibly an isolated thing; cannot remember where I read it though. As for Stahlgewitter, oops, didn't know that - interesting. Thanks for the info.
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Post by planecrazy on May 14, 2013 23:44:01 GMT 12
Wow there are some great photos there, bit off topic can someone tell me what was the advantage/reason for such a broad chord to the propeller, seems only Focke Wulfs had these or did other types as well?
Thank you so much for sharing these great pictures!
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Post by flyjoe180 on May 15, 2013 15:10:17 GMT 12
Wow there are some great photos there, bit off topic can someone tell me what was the advantage/reason for such a broad chord to the propeller, seems only Focke Wulfs had these or did other types as well? Thank you so much for sharing these great pictures! The wide chord blades increase power absorption and propeller solidity. Basically there are many ways to increase propeller solidity. You can increase the length of blades, increase their chord/width, or add more blades. You can also change the shape of the blades, or angle of the blades in the case of a constant speed unit. If you look at an example of a classic propeller driven aeroplane such as the Spitfire for example, which developed with increasingly more powerful engines, you would see the early ones equipped with two or three bladed propellers, and the last ones with six, or even two rows of blades (contra-rotating propellers). The Germans obviously favoured increasing propeller chords over adding more blades. Similarly, wide-chord blades were also used on later models of the Bf109 (see the difference between the early models and a later war version). |
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Post by steveh on May 22, 2013 20:24:51 GMT 12
Thanks Dave & Grant, useful info. I've googled for Rudorffer, as far as I can see, his mount was an A-5 rather than an A-8 & although I'd have expected the A-5 to update later in the war, maybe he went onto the Me262 before this happened. A toss up whether or not to do an A-5 as he flew it or an A-8 as the show machine, with suitable mods for the oil cooler etc. I've a Hobbyboss A-8 which was boxed as an A-6 which I could sacrifice to this. With the decals that Dave Lochead is talking about it would be a natural & gosh, what a lot of reference photos I've got thanks to Gavin.  Steve. |
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