The Focke-Wulf Fw 190D was 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-engine Fw 190B and the inline-engine Fw 190C (DB 603)—suffered from technical problems and remained prototypes.
Progress came with the improved Jumo 213 inline 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, engineers lengthened the fuselage and enlarged the vertical tail. After extended testing and discarding early D-series configurations (D-0, D-1, D-2), the refined Fw 190D-9 with the Jumo 213A entered mass production in August 1944.
Late-war development accelerated, producing additional variants. The D-11 and D-13 reached limited production, featuring the more powerful Jumo 213F with a two-stage, three-speed supercharger. The final planned model, the D-15 with a DB 603 engine, was built only as a single prototype before the war ended.
In total, an estimated 1,500–1,700 Fw 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.