The Focke-Wulf FW 190's Combat Debut on the Eastern Front After some earlier, small scale testing operations, the FW 190 made its 'real' combat debut on the Eastern Front with Hauptmann Heinrich Krafft s I./JG 51. In early September 1942, this unit arrived at Lyuban Airdrome, south of Leningrad, with its new FW 190s. The appearance of the heavily armed FW 190s was a cause of great concern to the Soviets. It is quite ironic that the first FW 190 that was claimed shot down by Soviet fighters appear to have been the case of a mistaken aircraft identity. When six I-16s of the Soviet naval Guards fighter aviation regiment 4 GvIAP/VVS-KBF, led by the 1st Eskadrilya's (squadron's) ace Kapitan Ovchinnikov, attempted to intercept a formation of Ju 88s over the Gulf of Finland on October 21, 1942, the Soviets came under attack by two "finger-four groups" of "air-cooled-engined fighters"--identified as FW 190s. Ovchinnikov was hit and barely managed to withdraw from the combat with severe wounds. Two of the enemy fighters immediately pursued his Ishak. Kapitan Petr Kozhanov and his wingman immediately turned to Ovchinnikov s assistance. Kozhanov aimed carefully and fired all his six RS-rockets at the enemy aircraft. The explosion threw the leading "FW 190" into a spin, and the triumphant Soviet pilot saw it crash into the water. The confusion among the surviving Axis fighters enabled the I-16s--including Ovchinnikov s--to withdraw and return to base. No such loss can be found in the German records for this date. One possibility is that the aircraft downed by Kapitan Kozhanov in fact was a Finnish Brewster Buffalo (BW-376). On October 30, 1942, Sergeant P. Tolonen of 1/HleLv 24 was killed in combat as his BW-376 was shot down. ------------------ -illo-
Late answer...yes A-3 was first 190 variant to arrive east. JG51 and JG54 got it first. Soviet first report of shot down 190 was actually finnish brewster, big loss to finnish airforce.
interesting illo! i want to see those in FH! but why did u post this in general forum? this could be interesting to all, and its in english.
nicae, i really dont know..mb by mistake..i posted it in last summer. Btw. Finnish sources talk about death of . Kersantti P. Tolonen in same way AFAIK. He crashed in water after being hit by rocket. I think Hans Wind saw this incident...im not sure tho.
oh lol didnt notice it was an old thread! btw, im moderator of international forum. i cant access admin powers here. sry
