Given developments in North Africa in 1942, it was clear to the German high command that its means of waging war there had to be improved. The Luftwaffe bolstered its North African strength with Focke-Wulf's Fw 190, then one of the most modern fighter-bomber aircraft, flown by experienced pilots. A relatively short but intense deployment of the type on that battlefront between November 1942 and the summer of 1943 was a troublesome shock for the Allies. However, before the Fw 190 could properly enter the fray in North Africa, trials unit Erprobungskommando 19 was created in the summer of 1942, to assess the Fw 190 in the harsh desert arena. Several aircraft arrived in early July and were active until the autumn. One Fw 190 was lost in an accident, two were passed to other units, and three were left behind at Benghazi and Castel Benito during the German retreat from Libya and Egypt to Tunisia in November 1942. Nevertheless, testing confirmed the 190 could operate in the desert, despite its air-cooled engine, which was more vulnerable to sand than a liquid-cooled powerplant.
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