FW 190 D restauration project at Gatow, Berlin
Being a member of IPMS-Deutschland entails certain privileges. One of them is being taken on a tour through the restoration workshop at the Luftwaffenmuseum in Gatow, just outside Berlin. This takes place during IPMS-Deutschlands annual modeling exhibition at Gatow.
Head restorer Stabsfeldwebel Enrico Schade told us about his present project, collecting parts for the restoration of a FW 190D, (Dora) of which very few have been preserved. Unfortunately, the policy of the museum has changed. The present policy is to exhibit the preserved parts rather than fitting them together into a complete aircraft.
Needless to say, Schade is very disappointed that he doesn't get to rebuild the Dora and to exhibit it next to his recently restored FW 190 A8. These two beside one another would make a unique exhibition.
His disappointment is shared by many modelers and aircraft enthusiasts, and we can only hope that the museum changes its policy.
Meanwhile enjoy the pictures and take your time to appreciate the skill and patience of the people restoring these aircraft. I've included some pictures of the material with which they start their projects.
Thank you very much for posting these photos. I agree with you...it would be nice if they changed their policy and allowed these planes to be fully assembled.
I never realized they used roller rocker arms and camshafts in these engines. I thought this was a fairly recent development, but I was definitely mistaken ! These engineers were years ahead of the automotive industry... The same goes with fuel injection...
I have enjoyed these recent postings of yours tremendously. Please don't hesitate to post up anything else you may have from the museum...
Thanks again !
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I'm glad you appreciated my posts. I don't know much about the camshafts and rocker arms, but I'm still fascinated by this stuff, and by the skills of those who restore these aircraft.
Great post Ulf, thanks a lot for this one!
Thanks for posting all of these, Ulf! It's sad to see that the PC Bullsh .. is alive and well over there. I'm sorry that the wonderful Germans (I really mean that) ... I really enjoyed the many Germans I came to know in my years in Germany ... don't want to remember that part of World History, but just like so MUCH PC BS over here, the loud minority who doesn't care to remember the 'not-so-good' history gets what they want and they seem to over there, too. Bah humbug! It's like trying to "gloss over" slavery here in America and other places. Certainly it's terrible! But if it is all "covered up" as unpleasantness, it just might happen again! Humanity has a terrible habit of repeating things over time ... good AND bad!
The decision to not restore the aircraft is not inspired by some effort to "gloss over" the unpleasant parts of German history. Germany has dealt with the dirty parts of its history better than most countries. Here in Berlin, there are a number of museums and memorials dedicated to keeping the memory of the nazi atrocities alive, and to make sure that they are not repeated. (This goes for the DDR period too by the way.)
It is rather an effort to not look as if this period is being glorified and to not provide those few who sympathize with the nazis with an object of devotion.
This is an understandable stance, knowing the history of the country, but in this case I think we can agree that the official German policy is over sensitive.
Great post, Ulf - thanks so much for sharing - it would certainly look sensational next to the 190A!
Totally agree Jeff. In the end this machine is an historic piece of engineering - merely metal, wood and glass (give or take). Yes 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it', but restoring this won't inspire any 'nasties' and will educate many interested students and history fans. Especially since the methods and transformations achieved are just fantastic!
See my reply to Jeff above.
I wonder how hard it would be to convert one of the Flugwerk airframes into a D-9. The tail looks like it just added a plug just in front of the vertical to lengthen it. It looks like the museum has most of the parts (and probably access to drawings) needed to fabricate new parts for the new nose. As far as I know Flying Heritage has the only complete Dora and as it is the only one they don't fly it. Still, I'd like to see one in the air and a faithful replica is just fine in my book! (IIRC the Flugwerk planes aren't even considered replicas as the have continuation serial numbers.) Thanks for the photos Ulf!
Disappointing, but in the meantime we are all downloading the photos of the parts you took 🙂