The%20Ask%20An%20Expert%20lecture%20series%20at%20the%20Steven%20F%2E%20Udvar%2DHazy%20Center%20is%20presented%20every%26nbsp%3B2nd%20and%204th%26nbsp%3BThursday%26nbsp%3Bat%2012%3A30%20PM%2E%20A%20Museum%20staff%20member%20talks%20to%20the%20public%20about%20the%20history%2C%20collection%2C%20or%20personalities%20related%20to%20a%20specific%20artifact%20or%20exhibition%20in%20the%20Museum%2E%20 In 1937 the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (German Air Ministry) issued a contract to the Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau (Focke-Wulf Airplane Company) for a single-engined fighter to supplement the Messerschmitt Bf 109 then entering service as the standard Luftwaffe day fighter. A team led by Professor Kurt Tank tendered two proposals for the new fighter: one powered by the same Daimler-Benz DB 601 liquid-cooled engine used in the Bf 109 and the other by a BMW 139 fourteen-cylinder, air-cooled, radial engine. With all available DB 601 production allocated to the Bf 109 and the twin-engine Messerschmitt Bf 110, the Air Ministry selected the radial engine proposal for development, despite a distinct preference for liquid-cooled powerplants. Designated Fw 190 officially but called Würger (Butcher Bird) in the field, the new design was the only German fighter of World War II that flew behind a radial engine. It claimed another notable first as the only fighter aircraft of the war equipped with electrically-operated landing gear and flaps. How to attend