Hello,

I recently rea a story about this Focke-Wulf Fw 190A-8/R2 (Gefreiter Walter Wagner, of the 5./JG4 catched by the allied during Bodenplatte Raid near St Trond the 1.1.1945).
The plane was catched and repainted in red (marqued 00-L of the 404th Fighter group).

Does anybody know if it has ever fly in US colors, or if it was dammaged before?

Happy New Year !

Marcus

On January 1st 1945 the Germans fighter bombed the allies as part of Operation Bodenplatte. One FW190 aircraft, flown by Gefreiter Walter Wagner apparently mistook his intended target of LeCulot and attacked either/both St Trond and American ground forces around Bastogne, and then force landed at St Trond thinking it was LeCulot.

Wagners plane was retrieved with only light damage by the 404th FG who put it back into flying conditions, with the apparent intent of flying it, escorted by two P-47s. To distinguish it from a real FW190 it was painted in an overall bright orange red and marked with a false code 1-1-45 (its date of capture), the mock unit/aircraft markings OO*L and on the port cowl there remained what looks like a Luftwaffe unit crest, presumably JG4.

In the end the aircraft was never flown and was left behind when the 404th left St Trond.
The aircraft carried the star and bars on the upper left wing, lower right and both sides of the rear fuselage. It had the code OO - L on the side of the fuselage painted black. It had a the code 1-1-45 on the vertical fin. There is a color picture of this aircraft somewhere on the net but I could not find it.

Cheers,

CDT Reimund Manneck
U.S. Army ROTC

This is a picture of the aircraft after it had crash landed atSt.Trond airfield in Belgium.

And here is a color profile of the plane as it was the day of ' Operation Bodenplatte '

Thanks a lot for the informations :-)

Marcus