[Hobilar]

The first Luftwaffe unit to receive the new machine were those of 6/Jagdgeschwader 26 Schlageter (literally 6th Squadron of the 26th Fighter Group) based at Coquelles in the Pas de Calais who began to receive deliveries in November 1941. In service the FW-190A was soon discovered to considerably faster than both the Messerschmitt Bf-109 and the Spitfire V at that time in service with the Luftwaffe and Royal Air Force respectively. However as the engine overheating problems still persisted instructions were issued forbidding the pilots from flying over the sea beyond a point where they could safely glide back to land in the event of an engine failure.

By the spring of 1942 the Luftwaffe had received over 200 Focke-Wolf FW-190 fighters mostly equipping Jagdgeschwaders 2 and 26 based along the English Channel. By this time most of the early engine overheating problems had been overcome and the Luftwaffe commenced employing the fighter in a much mare aggressive fashion. On the 1st of June 1942 RAF Bomb carrying Hurricanes escorted by no less than seven escorting Spitfire squadrons from the Biggin Hill and Hornchurch wings attempted an attack on installations near Bruges in Belgium. They were quickly set upon by FW-190s guided to their interception by ground based radar stations, and in quick succession seven Spitfires were shot down and the rest scattered for no loss to the German aircrew.

Later, in June 1942, the pilot of a Focke-Wolf FW-190A-3 became disorientated in a combat with Spitfires over western England, and mistakenly landed his aircraft at Pembrey in Wales. This intact example was examined closely by British engineers whose report instigated a strongly worded letter from Air Chief Marshal Sir Shilto Douglas (C-in-C of RAF Fighter Command) to the Under Secretary of State for Air, Lord Sherwood. In this letter Sir Douglas was to state that in his opinion Fighter Command had lost the technological edge over the Luftwaffe.