1/72 IBG Model FOCKE-WULF FW 190D-13 Nordenham Production 72535

TheFocke-Wulf Fw 190Dwas the final mass-produced development of the Fw 190 fighter line. Although often seen as a late-war innovation, its origins trace back to 1941, when Germany sought fighters capable of meeting high-altitude, turbocharged Allied bombers. Early attempts at high-altitude versions—the turbocharged, radial-engineFw 190Band the inline-engineFw 190C (DB 603)—suffered from technical problems and remained prototypes.

Progress came with the improvedJumo 213inline engine. The first prototype with this engine appeared in 1942 but proved unstable because the new powerplant moved the center of gravity forward. To fix this with minimal redesign, engineerslengthened the fuselageandenlarged the vertical tail. After extended testing and discarding early D-series configurations (D-0, D-1, D-2), the refinedFw 190D-9with the Jumo 213A entered mass production in August 1944.

Late-war development accelerated, producing additional variants. TheD-11andD-13reached limited production, featuring the more powerfulJumo 213Fwith a two-stage, three-speed supercharger. The final planned model, theD-15with a DB 603 engine, was built only as a single prototype before the war ended.

In total, an estimated1,500–1,700Fw 190D aircraft were built. About 900 were officially taken into Luftwaffe inventory, though many never reached combat units due to Germany’s collapsing wartime logistics.