The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Würger ("shrike"), also called Butcher-bird, was a single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft of Germany's Luftwaffe, and one of the best fighters of its generation. Used extensively during the Second World War, over 20,000 were manufactured, including around 6,000 fighter-bomber models. Production ran from 1941 to the end of hostilities, during which time the aircraft was continually updated. Its later versions retained qualitative parity with Allied fighter planes, but Germany was not able to produce the aircraft in enough numbers to affect the outcome of the war.

The Fw 190 A-8 entered production in February 1944. The A-8 was the most numerous of the Fw 190 A's, with over 6,550 A-8 airframes produced.