The Stabsschwarm of JG 301 was the only fortunate section of the entire Luftwaffe to receive this ultimate Focke Wulf, the Ta-152 and to use it in combat. They got their first Ta-152H-1s on 2 March 1945. The Stabsschwarm saw a little action with the Ta-152s but still exhibited it to be superior in many terms to Allied fighters.

The Ta-152 was the next and ultimate version of the Focke-Wulf’s FW series after the FW-190 Dora, designed by Kurt Tank. The Ta-152 (where the Ta- comes from the first two letters of the Kurt Tank’s surname) has a top speed of nearly 750 kph and service ceiling of 14 000m. This was achieved by its 12 cylinder inverted-vee Junkers Jumo 213E engine producing 2500hp. It also had new high-aspect wing with a 14 metres lenght and 25% increse in the area combaring to the FW-190A. The immense power of the engine and the long wings gave it an outstanding climb-rate of 15m/sec. and tight turning circle. The Ta-152 was developed to intercept the high-flying bombers so it also had pressurised cabin.

As one pilot has told his impressions of flying the Ta-152: ”In my opinion there was no better fighter in operational service at the time”.
It is claimed that the pilots achieved 9 victories flying the Ta-152H-1. Five of these goes to the Oberfeldwebel Josef Keil, so making him the sole Ta-152 ace. Three other victories fell to Oberfeldwebel Willi Reschke. The Ta-152 could have become the real headache to the allied pilots but it was flatted to low flying missions. The Ta-152s acted as ‘top-cover’ for the Geshwader’s FW-190s and for the Me-262s. But to say, it was again too little too late.

Source: Combat Legends - Focke-Wulf FW-190, Peter Caygill