Tamiya 1/48 Focke-Wulf Fw 190A-3 (Aa-3)
by Kursad Albayraktar
(petaflops@yahoo.com)


 This is my 1/48 Tamiya Focke-Wulf Fw 190A-3, depicting an aircraft in Turkish Air Force 
service during 1943-1944.
 
 The strange fact Turkey operated both the Fw 190 and Spitfire Mk.V in the same air base
during 1943-1945 never fails to amaze modelers and history buffs who had not heard this
tidbit before. More than anything, it helps to highlight how well Turkey played the 
neutrality game during WWII.

 It's no secret that Turkey was being courted by both sides during WWII to join World 
War II on their side. By 1943, Britain's efforts have expanded, and the the Allies seemed 
to have the upper hand in the game to get Turkey to join their cause. Even then,
Germany had an interest in keeping the trade channels with Turkey open, since Turkey 
was an important supplier of goods like chromium ore and tobacco. For this reason,
Germany sold brand-new Fw.190's to Turkey even though the war was in full swing.(and
even opened a credit line to Turkey for paying for these aircraft!)  

 The Fw.190As delivered to Turkey were essentially slighty downgraded Fw.190A-3s equipped 
with a less sophisticated radio transmitter/receiver set. The inboard 20mm cannons were
removed. The "Aa-3" designation does not seem to be widely used in Turkish sources.

 Turkish Fw 190s were operated in the same fighter regiment at Bursa alongside Spitfire Mk.Vbs, and later Tomahawk Mk.IIs. (The regiment also used Miles Master Mk.IIs for target towing purposes.) The type was well liked by the pilots, and despite serious spares shortages, Fw 190 was kept in service until November 1947. Some spares parts like the tailwheel assembly were copied and produced in Turkey. It is not known whether the Turkish Fw 190 fleet benefited from spares parts donations from Britain, which previously provided Turkey with spares parts recovered from Heinkel He-111 wrecks. (Turkey also operated a fleet of 20 Heinkel He-111F-0 throughout the war, alongside the Bristol Blenheims and interred B-24Ds!)

 Unfortunately, no Turkish Fw 190s survive today.

The Model:

 Tamiya's Fw 190A-3 is a great kit, and I built it mostly out of the box with the addition
of seat belts from paper tape. The inboard cannons were deleted, but frankly I did not 
bother removing the cannons completely from the landing gear wells. 

 I used Polly Scale acrylic paints to paint my Fw 190 in RLM74/75/76. Although the exact
colors used on Turkish Fw 190s can not precisely be determined from the surviving photos,
I had no reason to believe that anything other than the most common factory paint scheme
would have been used, and I used the RLM 74/75/76 scheme suggested by many references and
photographs.

 At least one aftermarket sheet with markings for a Turkish Fw 190 exists: Three Guys 
Replicas TGR48008 includes markings for a "40", and the national markings are very 
well printed. Unfortunately the serial number in the sheet is wrong: The numbers 
should have been black instead of red. In any case, I wanted to build a Fw 190 with 
a yellow spinner, and wasn't going to be using the numbers on the sheet anyway. 
I used Luftwaffe fighter serials from the Aeromaster Luftwaffe numerals sheet. 
The national markings and the flag are from the Three Guys Replicas sheet.

 Although most photos show that the Turkish Fw.190s did not carry wing walkway stencils,
or they were painted over, I have seen at least one photo that showed these. 
I like the look of these stencils, and applied them even though I don't know for sure 
if "01" ever carried them. I applied other stencilling if I could verify them in the 
photographs I had.
 
 The finished model depicts the "Saribas"("Yellowhead") Fw.190Aa-3 "01" 
(Turkish Air Force serial number "2901" ) of the 4th Alay based at 
Bursa(in western Turkey) during October 1943.