Focke-Wulf Fw 189

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The Focke-Wulf Fw 189 Uhu ("Eagle Owl") was a German twin-engine, twin-boom, three-seat tactical reconnaissance and army cooperation aircraft. It first flew in 1938 (Fw 189 V1), entered service in 1940, and was produced until mid-1944. This should not be confused with the Heinkel He 219 night fighter also named Uhu.

Design and development

In 1937, the German Ministry of Aviation issued a specification for a short-range, three-seat reconnaissance aircraft with a good all-round view to support the German army in the field, replacing the Henschel Hs 126, which had just entered service. A power of about 850–900 hp (630–670 kW) was specified. The specification was issued to Arado and Focke-Wulf.^[1] Arado's design, the Ar 198, which was initially the preferred option, was a relatively conventional single-engined high-wing monoplane with a glazed gondola under the fuselage.^[2] Focke-Wulf's chief designer Kurt Tank's design, the Focke-Wulf Fw 189 was a twin-boom design, powered by two Argus As 410 engines rather than the expected single engine and a central crew gondola designed with a heavily glazed and framed "stepless" cockpit forward section, which used no separate windscreen panels for the pilot (as with many German medium bombers), while Blohm & Voss proposed as a private venture something even more radical: chief designer Dr. Richard Vogt's unique asymmetric BV 141. Orders were placed for three prototypes each of the Arado and Focke-Wulf designs in April 1937.^[3]

The Fw 189 was produced in large numbers, at the Focke-Wulf factory in Bremen, at the Bordeaux-Merignac aircraft factory (now the Dassault Mirage plant) in occupied France, then in the Aero Vodochody aircraft factory in Prague, occupied Czechoslovakia. Total production was 864 aircraft of all variants.^[4]

Operational history

Called the "Flying Eye" of the German army, the Fw 189 was used extensively on the Eastern Front with great success. Its Russian nickname was "Rama" (Frame), referring to its distinctive tailboom and stabilizer shapes giving it the characteristic quadrangular appearance. Despite its slow speed and fragile looks, the Fw 189's maneuverability made it a difficult target for attacking Russian fighters. When attacked, the Fw 189 was often able to out-turn attacking fighters by simply flying in a tight circle into which enemy fighters could not follow.

Variants

The main production model was the Fw 189A reconnaissance plane, built mostly in two variants, the A-1 and A-2. Unless otherwise stated all aircraft were powered by two Argus As 410 engines of 465 PS (459 hp, 342 kW).

Fw 189 A-0: 10 pre-production aircraft for operational tests and trials.
Fw 189 A-1: Initial production version, armed with two flexible 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 15 machine guns in the dorsal and rear positions, one 7.92 mm (0.312 in) MG 17 machine gun in each wing root, plus four 50 kg (110 lb) bombs. It could carry an Rb 20/30 or an Rb 50/30.
Fw 189 A-1 Trop: Tropicalised version of the Fw 189 A-1, fitted with desert survival equipment.
Fw 189 A-1/U2: VIP transport version of the Fw 189 A-1.
Fw 189 A-1/U3: VIP transport version of the Fw 189 A-1.
Fw 189 A-2: The flexible MG 15s were replaced by twin-barrel 7.92 mm (0.312 in) MG 81Z.
Fw 189 A-3: Two-seat dual-control training aircraft. Built in small numbers.
Fw 189 A-4: Light ground-attack version, armed with two 20 mm MG 151/20 cannons in each wing root, fitted with armour protection for the underside of the fuselage, engines and fuel tanks.

The Fw 189B was a five-seat training aircraft; only 13 were built.

Fw 189 B-0: Three pre-production aircraft.
Fw 189 B-1: Five-seat training version. 10 built.

The Fw 189C was conceived as a heavily armoured ground-attack, close-support variant, but its two prototypes (V1b and V6) were not satisfactory, and it was not produced.

Fw 189D: Proposed twin-float trainer floatplane. Not built.
Fw 189E: Prototype only, powered by two 700 PS (690 hp, 515 kW) Gnome-Rhone 14M radial engines.
Fw 189 F-1: Re-engined Fw 189 A-1 aircraft, powered by two 600 PS (592 hp, 441 kW) Argus As 411 engines.
Fw 189 F-2: Fitted with electrically-operated landing gear, increased fuel capacity and additional armour plating, powered by two 600 PS (592 hp, 441 kW) Argus As 411 engines.

Operators

Germany

Luftwaffe

Bulgaria

Bulgarian Air Force

Hungary

Royal Hungarian Air Force

Norway

Royal Norwegian Air Force (Postwar)

Romania

Royal Romanian Air Force

Slovakia

Slovenské vzdušné zbrane
Slovak Insurgent Air Force

Survivors

One Fw 189 survives today. Its story starts on May 4, 1943 when Fw 189 V7+IH (Werk Nr. 2100), of 1/Nahaufklärungsgruppe 10, with V7 originally the Geschwaderkennung code for Heeres-Aufklärungsgruppe 32) based at Pontsalenjoki (due east of Kuusamo, and within the south-central area of modern Russia's Republic of Karelia) took off on a mission to photograph the Loukhi-3 airbase from an altitude of 6,000 m (20,000 ft), then to continue north along the Murmansk-Leningrad railway. Approximately 31 minutes after taking off, V7+IH was attacked by Lend-Lease-acquired Soviet Hawker Hurricane fighters. The aircraft dived to escape the fighters, but owing to damage already suffered, could not pull out in time, and it struck the treetops. The tail was torn off, and the crew nacelle left hanging upside down within the trees. The pilot, Lothar Mothes, survived but one crewman was killed in the crash and the third died from blood loss as a result of a severed leg. Incredibly, Mothes was able to survive two weeks in sub-zero temperatures, evading Soviet patrols while eating bark and grubs as he walked back to his base. Mothes spent the next nine months in a hospital recovering from severe frostbite before returning to the front lines to eventually fly another 100 missions.

In 1991, the wreckage of V7+IH was found in the Russian forest where it had remained for 48 years. The aircraft was purchased by a group of British aircraft enthusiasts and was shipped to the UK, arriving in the town of Worthing, West Sussex in March 1992. The Focke Wulf 189 Restoration Society was formed to restore the aircraft to flying condition. Her pilot met up again with his aircraft in 1996 at Biggin Hill airshow.

It has been reported that this aircraft has recently been acquired by Paul Allen’s Flying Heritage Collection.

Specifications (Fw 189 A-1)

General characteristics

Crew: 3
Length: 12 m (39 ft 4 in)
Wingspan: 18.4 m (60 ft 4 in)
Height: 3.7 m (12 ft 0 in)
Wing area: 38 m² (409 ft²)
Empty weight: 2,680 kg (5,920 lb)
Loaded weight: 3,950 kg (8,708 lb)
Powerplant: 2 × Argus As 410, 342 kW (465 PS - 459 hp) each

Performance

Maximum speed: 357 km/h at 2,600 m (222 mph at 8,530 ft)
Range: 670 km (416 mi)
Service ceiling: 8,400 m (27,550 ft)
Rate of climb: 8.3 m/s (1,640 ft/min)
Wing loading: 103.9 kg/m² (21.3 lb/ft²)
Power/mass: 86.6 W/kg (0.053 hp/lb)

Armament

2 × 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 17 machine guns mounted in the wing roots, firing forward
1 × 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 15 machine gun in dorsal position, flexible mount, firing rearwards
1 × 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 15 in rear cone, flexible mount, firing rearwards (optional)
- In later versions, MG 15 were replaced with 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 81Z twin-barrel machine gun
4 × 50 kg (110 lb) bombs

References

Notes

↑ Green & Swanborough 1988, p. 25.
↑ Smith & Kay 1972, pp. 66–67.
↑ Green & Swanborough 1988, p. 26.
↑ Smith & Kay 1972, p. 172.

Bibliography

Brown, Capt. Eric (CBE, DSC, AFC, RN) (1978), Wings of the Luftwaffe, Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co, ISBN 0-385-13521-1 .
Green, William (1979) [1970], Warplanes of the Third Reich (fourth impression ed.), London: Macdonald and Jane's, ISBN 0-356-02382-6 .
———; Swanborough, Gordon, "Das Fliegende Auge... Focke Wulf's Versatile Owl", Air Enthusiast (Bromley, UK: Fine Scroll) (Thirty-seven): 25–38, ISSN 0143-5450 Cite uses deprecated parameters (help).
Kucera, Pavel (1996), Focke-Wulf Fw 189 (in Czech/English), Prague, CZ: MBI, ISBN 80-901263-6-7 .
Punka, George (1993), Focke-Wulf Fw 189 in Action (Aircraft Number 142), Carrollton, TX: Squadron/Signal, ISBN 0-89747-310-8 .
Smith, J Richard (1973), Focke-Wulf, an Aircraft Album, Shepperton, Surrey, UK: Ian Allan, ISBN 0-7110-0425-0 .
———; Kay, Anthony (1978) [1972], German Aircraft of the Second World War (third impression ed.), London: Putnam & Co, ISBN 0-370-00024-2 .
Wood, Anthony ‘Tony’; Gunston, William ‘Bill’ (1977), Hitler's Luftwaffe: A pictorial history and technical encyclopedia of Hitler's air power in World War II, London: Salamander, ISBN 0-86101-005-1 .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Focke-Wulf Fw 189.

Nutkins, Geoffrey ‘Geoff’, Sky Spy (painting), Aviart . Fw 189 V7+IH's final mission.
"Focke-Wulf Fw 189", Flugzeuge (photo gallery), DE: Lufarchive including the radial-engined E model.
Hecklafette 15A & B (manual), Scribd for the Fw 189's rear gun turret.

v t e Focke-Wulf aircraft

Company designations, pre-1933	A 3 A 4 A 5 A 6 A 7 A 16 A 17 GL 18 F 19 A 20 A 21 GL 22 K 23 S 24 A 26 A 28 A 29 A 32 A 33 A 36 A 38 S 39 A 43 A 47 S 48 S 1 S 2 W 4 W 7 C.20 (cierva under licence) C.30 (Cierva under licence)

RLM designations, 1933-1945	Fw 40 Fw 42 Fw 43 Fw 44 Fw 47 Fw 55 Fw 56 Fw 57 Fw 58 Fw 61 Fw 62 Ta 152 Ta 154 Fw 159 Ta 183 Fw 186 Fw 187 Fw 189 Fw 190 Fw 191 Fw 200 Fw 206 Fw 238 Fw 249 Fw 250 Fw 281 Ta 254 Fw 261 Ta 283 Fw 300 Ta 400

Company designations, post-1945	Fw 260 Fw 300

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v t e Reich Air Ministry aircraft designations

1 to 100	B 9 Gö 9 Do 10 Do 11 Wn 11 Do 12 Do 13 Do 14 Do 15 Wn 15 Do 16 Wn 16 Do 17 Do 18 Do 19 Do 20 Do 22 Do 23 Do 24 Kl 25 Do 26 Kl 26 M 27 Do 29 Kl 31 Kl 32 W 33 L 33 W 34 Kl 35 Kl 36 HD 37 HD 38 G 38 DFS 39 BV 40 DFS 40 A 40 Fw 42 He 42 Fw 43 HD 43 Fw 44 He 45 He 46 Ju 46 Fw 47 He 47 K 47 A 48 He 49 Ju 49 He 50 A 50 He 51 K 51 Ju 52 K 53 NR 54 Fw 55 NR 55 Fw 56 Fw 57 Fw 58 He 58 He 59 He 60 Ju 60 Fw 61 He 61 Fw 62 He 62 He 63 Ar 64 He 64 Ar 65 He 65 Ar 66 He 66 Ar 67 Ar 68 Ar 69 He 70 He 71 He 72 He 74 Ar 76 Ar 77 Ar 79 Ar 80 Ar 81 Ju 85 Ju 86 Ju 87 Ju 88 Ju 89 Ju 90 Ar 95 Ar 96 Fi 97 Fi 98 Fi 99 He 100

101 to 200	Al 101 Al 102 Al 103 Fi 103 Fh 104 Kl 105 Kl 106 Kl 107 Bf 108 Bf 109 Bf 110 He 111 He 112 He 113 He 114 He 115 He 116 Hs 117 He 118 He 119 He 120 Hs 121 Hs 122 Hs 123 Hs 124 Hs 125 Hs 126 Hs 127 Hs 128 Hs 129 Hs 130 Bü 131 Hs 132 Bü 133 Bü 134 Ha 135 Ha 136 Hü 136 Ha 137 BV 138 Ha 139 Ha 140 BV 141 BV 142 BV 143 BV 144 Go 145 Go 146 Go 147 Ju 147 Go 149 Go 150 Kl 151 Ta 152 Kl 152 Ta 153 Ta 154 BV 155 Fi 156 Fi 157 Fi 158 Fw 159 Ju 160 Bf 161 He 162 Bf 162 Bf 163 Me 163 Me 164 Fi 166 FK 166 Fi 167 Fi 168 He 170 He 172 He 176 He 177 He 178 Bü 180 Bü 181 Bü 182 Ta 183 Fl 184 Fl 185 Fw 186 Ju 186 Fw 187 Ju 187 Ju 188 Fw 189 Fw 190 Fw 191 Ao 192 DFS 193 DFS 194 Ar 195 Ar 196 Ar 197 Ar 198 Ar 199 Fw 200

201 to 300	Si 201 Si 202 DFS 203 Si 204 Fw 206 Me 208 Me 209 Me 209 (1943) Me 210 Hü 211 Do 212 Do 214 Do 215 Do 216 Do 217 Hs 217 He 219 He 220 BV 222 Fa 223 Fa 224 Ao 225 Fa 225 BV 226 Ho 226 FGP 227 DFS 228 Ho 229 DFS 230 Ar 231 Ar 232 Ar 233 Ar 234 Do 235 BV 237 BV 238 Fw 238 Ar 239 Ar 240 Go 241 Go 242 Go 244 BV 246 Ju 248 BV 250 Fw 250 Ho 250 Ho 251 Ho 252 Ju 252 Fi 253 Ho 253 Ta 254 Ho 254 Fi 256 Sk 257 Fw 261 Me 261 Me 262 Me 263 Me 264 Fl 265 Me 265 Fa 266 Ho 267 Ju 268 Fa 269 He 270 We 271 Fw 272 He 274 He 275 He 277 He 278 He 280 Fl 282 Fa 283 Ta 283 Fa 284 Fl 285 Ju 286 Ju 287 Ju 288 Ju 290 Me 290 As 292 Hs 293 Hs 294 Hs 295 Ar 296 Hs 296 Hs 297 Hs 298 Fw 300

301-	Me 309 Me 310 Do 317 Do 318 He 319 Me 321 Ju 322 Me 323 Me 328 Me 329 Fa 330 DFS 331 DFS 332 Fi 333 Me 334 Do 335 Fa 336 Fl 339 E.340 WNF 342 He 343 Rk 344 So 344 Go 345 DFS 346 Rk 347 Ba 349 Ju 352 Me 362 Me 364 Ju 388 Ju 390 Fw 391 Ar 396 Ta 400 Me 409 Me 410 Do 417 He 419 ZMe 423 Ar 430 Ka 430 Ar 432 Do 435 Ar 440 Ju 452 Me 462 Ju 488 Fw 491 Me 509 Me 510 He 519 ZSO 523 Ar 532 Do 535 E.555 Me 609 Ar 632 Do 635

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