FW 190D-9 skinpack by Emel, July 2010.

'Negus' and Tanzer - FW 190D-9s flown by Ofw. Heinz Marquardt and Lt. Kurt Tanzer

Among JG 52 and JG 54, JG 51 was one of the 'pure' eastern front Geschwaders which served its entire military career in the east. The unit served with the Army group Centre. It had seen much action from the harsh winter conditions in 1941 to the heavy defensive fighting in the central sector, and finally taking part in the withdrawal battles when the German Wehrmacht was gradually being pushed back westward by the victorious Red Army. It had seen the rise and fall of many of its pilots and experten during its stay in the east. By 1945 the remnants of the unit fought doggedly at the outskirts of Berlin, when the final battle began on 16 April 1945, and continued to do so to the very last. Both Heinz Marquardt and Kurt Tanzer took part in the desperate last stand fighting trying to stop the Red Army troops from overunning the nations capital.

In the chaotic last weeks of the war IV./JG 51 received a few of what arguably was the finest piston engined fighter in the Luftwaffe. The Focke Wulf FW 190D-9. What ever the number of these fighters which found their way to IV./JG 51 was, it is believed that they were distributed between the 13., 14. and 15. Staffel.

Like with the 'Prenzlau-Dora's', the theme for the FW 190 Dora's of this skin-project revolves with the few known variants. This time the two Dora 9s flown by the two JG 51 pilots Ofw. Marquardt and Lt. Tanzer from Eggersdorf airfield in April 1945. The skins are mostly based on colour profile art by 'Kagero publishing' and the Jagdwaffe series 'War in the East 1944-1945 by Christer Bergstrm and Martin Pegg', but also a photograph was used as reference (the unpainted cannon hatch on the right side wing root is the result of the study from this photograph). And as by custom, these publications held varying interpretations of what these machines looked like. Again I picked up the best from the available information, combined them and worked from there. And, so the skins you see here are the result of the combining-method. Again, the aim was not so much to recreate 100 percent historically accurate replicas of aircraft as it was an attempt to revive a few selected aircraft which have until now been in existence only in old photographs. I find it very facinating that we have the ability to revive these old flying machines from the photos this way, and put them back to the air flying like they once did 70 years ago.

I hope you find these skins enjoyable when next time taking off with the fearsome 'long nose' 190.  

Negus & Tanzer Dora's:
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1. FW 190D-9, 213097 'White 11', flown by Ofw. Heinz Marquardt of 13./JG 51, Eggersdorf, April 1945.*

2. FW 190D-9, (serial unknown) 'White 1', flown by Lt. Kurt Tanzer, Staffelkapitn of 13./JG 51, Eggersdorf, April 1945.**

*It is believed Marquardt flew this plane at some point, but certainly was flying a different machine on his last mission when shot down.

**This aircraft is purely based on colour profile art and I have some doubt's that Tanzer's aircraft actually had an elaborate camouflage pattern like this version has. It more likely looked similar to Marquardt's Dora. But at least it was fun to skin ;) 


Heinz Marquardt

In early December 1944, Marquardt was temporarily assigned to the recently formed 15./JG 51. He returned to 13./JG 51 on 1 April 1945. Marquardt claimed 23 victories in April, several while flying Fw 190 D-9 White 11 (W.Nr. 213 097), including his 100th on 14 April and four enemy aircraft shot down on each of the days 18 April (106-109) and 24 April. Marquardt led a formation of six Fw 190 D-9 fighters as top cover for 12 Fw 190 F-8 ground-attack aircraft that were due to land at Schwerin airfield on 1 May 1945. Having taken-off from Neu Redlin, the formation was flying over Lake Schwerin when it was intercepted by six Spitfire XIV of 41 Sqn, RAF. In the subsequent aerial combat Marquardt shot down a Spitfire for his 121st, and last, victory but then he was shot down, baling out wounded. This had been the last of eight occasions on which he had been shot down during his combat career. He landed in the grounds of a hospital where he was able to receive immediate medical attention. A week later, still hospitalised, the war ended and Marquardt became an American prisoner of war. He was transferred to a hospital at Gppingen, near Stuttgart, from where he was discharged 23 August 1945. In 1947, Marquardt left Germany for Switzerland, where he became a flying instructor. He joined the Bundesluftwaffe, with the rank of Leutnant, on its formation in 1956. Over the next 13 years, he fulfilled various posts, including that of Staffelkapitn of JG 73. He retired on 30 September 1973, having risen to the rank of Oberstleutnant. From February 1974 until October 1983, he worked for Condor, a subsidiary airline of Lufthansa. He now lives in retirement in Frankfurt. 
    
Negus Marquardt achieved 121 aerial victories in 320 combat missions. In addition he claimed 16 victories that remained unconfirmed. but one of his 
victories were claimed over the Eastern Front and include at least 27 Il-2 Sturmovik ground-attack aircraft.


Kurt Tanzer

Kurt Tanzer was born on 1 November 1920 at Moscow in Russia. Tanzer was transferred from Ergnzungsgruppe/JG 51 to 12./JG 51, based on the Eastern front, on 18 March 1942. He claimed his 35th victory on 5 May 1943. The next day, Russian Il-2 Sturmovik ground-attack aircraft attacked the airfield at which Tanzer was stationed. He managed to scramble and shot down two of the attacking aircraft. Tanzer was wounded in this combat but continued attacking the raiding Russian aircraft shooting down a further two Il-2s. Russian fighters then intervened and Tange* was further wounded. Despite severe wounds to his right hand and blood loss, Tanzer managed to land his badly damaged Fw 190 A-4 (W.Nr. 7161) Blue 7 at his base airfield. Oberfeldwebel Tange was awarded the Ritterkreuz on 5 December for 39 victories. Following his recovery from the wounds received in May 1943, Tanzer returned to JG 51 and front line duty on 4 November. He was assigned to the Geschwaderstab of JG 51, with whom he flew many successful fighter-bomber missions while also increasing his tally of aerial victories. In June 1944, Tanzer accompanied Karl-Gottfried Nordmann (78 victories, RK-EL), Kommodore of JG 51, to the staff of Jagdfliegerfhrer

*Tanzer?

Notes on the skins & template:
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This pack includes 6 skins. 2 fully marked, 2 swastika and 2 blank skins. Slip the BMP files into the FW-190D-9 folder in your Il-2 Sturmovik/Paintschemes/Skins folder. The skins should work the next time you start the game. 

The FW 190D-9 template was converted from one of my older FW 190A-8 templates. Also introducing new mechanical set by Jesters Ink from the new void.  
 
All written historical facts based on information by Jagdwaffe series, 'War in the East 1944-1945 by Christer Bergstrm and Martin Pegg' and Kacha's Luftwaffe page - WWW.luftwaffe.cz.   

These skins are not to be uploaded further without my permission. You are permitted to use and publish the skins in this pack with IL-2 Sturmovik missions & campaigns, also you may rework these skins for your private use. No commercial use in any form is permitted with my Il-2 Sturmovik skins. Please do not remove credits. Thank you for downloading these skins and happy flying.

Emel

Contact me by PM at A&A Paintworks, or M4T 