On January 1, 1945 several Fw 190 D-9 'Doras' of 3./JG 2 attacked Zutendaal airfield, then occupied by Allied forces, as part of Operation Bodenplatte. One particular aircraft, Werk Nummer presently unknown, was shot down and crashed near the small town of Asch (now called 'As'). Approximately 50 years later the site was discovered and excavated. Over the course of the last few months parts of this aircraft found their way into my upstairs 'relic room':
There wasn't much to go on when it came time for me to paint this aircraft, so I opted to portray it in action against RAF Lancasters during a different operation. I suppose it's debatable when or if JG 2 took to the skies in night operations at the time, but Berlin had ordered day fighters into night bomber interdiction ops during 1944 and 1945 - orders which were sometimes ignored, sometimes cleverly dodged. In any case it made for a dramatic composition:
Once I had my painting completed, the next step was to reformat it to be displayed with parts from the Bodenplatte excavation, which were very well preserved in spite of a high impact crash:
I'd sure like to put the word out there about this aircraft, as I'd love to uncover its possible Werk Nummer or anything more than I already have about its markings and possible pilot. I'm still in touch with the former head of that excavation, but his information does not go much beyond what I have described here.
Thanks!
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