Fw-189 Fw-189 (Slov) Slovakia 1943 00
Profile 00: This IL2 skin profile is of a Focke-Wulf Fw-189A Uhu (Owl) operated by an unknown unit within the Slovakian Air Force.

Skins Compatibility: IL2 Sturmovik Forgotten Battles (FB), Ace Expansion Pack (AEP), Pacific Fighters (PF), 1946, Storm of War (SW).

HK Fw-189 (Slov) Slovakia 1943
HK Fw-189 (Slov) Slovakia 1943 V00
Focke-Wulf Fw-189A-2 Uhu (Owl) operated by an unknown unit within the Slovakian Air Force.
IM Immel
a.immekus@onlinehome.de

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Focke-Wulf Fw-189
Role: Tactical reconnaissance and army cooperation aircraft, light bomber
Manufacturer: Focke-Wulf
Designed by: Kurt Tank
First flight: July 1938
Introduced: August 1941
Retired: 1945 (Luftwaffe)
Primary users: Luftwaffe
Hungarian Air Force
Slovak Air Force
Produced: 1940–1944
Number built: 846

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.

Design and development

In 1937, the Reichsluftfahrtministerium issued a specification for a single-engined reconnaissance aircraft with optimum visual characteristics. The preferred contractors were to be Arado, but the request prompted the Focke-Wulf company to work up the alternative idea of the Focke-Wulf Fw-189, a twin-boom design with two small, French-made Argus As 410 engines and a central crew gondola, while Blohm + Voss proposed something far more radical: chief designer Dr. Richard Vogt's unique asymmetric Bv 141.

Possibly the best reconnaissance aircraft to operate during WWII, the Fw-189 was produced in large numbers, first at the Bordeaux-Merignac aircraft factory (now the Dassault Mirage plant) in occupied France, then in the Aero Vodochody aircraft factory in Prague 337 pcs, occupied Czechoslovakia. Total production was 846 aircraft of all variants.

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 shape. 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 outturn attacking fighters by simply flying in a tight circle that enemy fighters could not follow. Its ruggedness was demonstrated when Fw-189s routinely returned to bases with one tail shot or torn off.

Variants

The main production model was the Fw-189A reconnaissance plane, built mostly in two variants, the A-1 and A-2.

* Fw-189 V2: Second prototype.
* Fw-189 V3: Third prototype.
* Fw-189 A-0: Ten pre-production aircraft for operational tests and trials.
* Fw-189 A-1: Initial production version, armed with two flexible 7.92 mm (0.312 in) MG 15 machine guns in the dorsal and rear positions, two 7.92 mm (0.31 in) MG 17 machine guns in each wing root, plus four 50 kilograms (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 (0.31 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-seater training aircraft; only 13 were built.

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

The Fw-189C was conceived as a heavily armored 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: Proposed version, fitted with two 522 kilowatts (700 hp) Gnome-Rhone 14M radial piston engines.
* Fw-189 F-1: Re-engined Fw-189 A-1 aircraft, fitted with two 433 kilowatts (581 hp) Argus As 411 MA-1 engines.
* Fw-189 F-2: Fitted with electrically operated landing gear, increased fuel capacity and additional armour plating, powered by two 433 kilowatts (581 hp) Argus As 411 MA-1 engines.

Operators:  Germany – Luftwaffe; Hungary - Hungarian Air Force; Slovakia - Slovak Air Force

Survivors:

One Fw-189 survives today. Its story starts on May 4, 1943 when Fw-189 V7+1H (Werk Nr. 2100) based at Pontsalenjoki 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+1H was attacked by 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+1H 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. The Flying Heritage Collection’s new location at Paine Field in Everett, WA will open to the public June 6, 2008.

Specifications (Focke-Wulf 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, 350 kW (465 hp) each

Performance

* Maximum speed: 357 km/h at 2,600 m (222 mph at 8,530 ft)
* Range: 670 km (416 miles)
* 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: 177 W/kg (0.107 hp/lb)

Armament

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

Bibliography

* Brown, Capt. Eric (CBE, DSC, AFC, RN). Wings of the Luftwaffe. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1978.
ISBN 0-385-13521-1.
* Green, William. Warplanes of the Third Reich. London: Macdonald and Jane's Publishers Ltd., 1970 (fourth impression 1979).
ISBN 0-356-02382-6.
* Kucera, Pavel. Focke-Wulf Fw-189 (bilingual Czech/English). Prague, Czech Republic: MBI, 1996.
ISBN 80-901263-6-7.
* Punka, George. Focke-Wulf Fw-189 in Action (Aircraft Number 142). Carrollton, TX: Squadron/Signal Publications, Inc., 1993.
ISBN 0-89747-310-8.
* Smith, J.Richard. Focke-Wulf, an Aircraft Album. Shepperton, Surrey, UK: IAn Allan Ltd., 1973.
ISBN 0-7110-0425-0.
* Smith, J.Richard and Kay, Anthony. German Aircraft of the Second World War. London: Putnam & Company Ltd., 1972 (third impression 1978).
ISBN 0-370-00024-2.
* Wood, Tony and Gunston, Bill. Hitler's Luftwaffe: A pictorial history and technical encyclopedia of Hitler's air power in World War II. London: Salamander Books Ltd., 1977.
ISBN 0-86101-005-1.

Web References:
http: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focke-Wulf_Fw_189

History
The Focke-Wulf brand Fw 189 Uhu (translated to "Owl") was of the most peculiar aircraft design for the German Luftwaffe in the Second World War, but by no means made less lethal by it's appearance. The system accounted for a successful operational run across the Eastern Front against the Russians, where it was used in a short-range tactical reconnaissance role with limited usage in a nightfighting capacity. In all, the 848 examples would produce several variants, each with specialized changes and modifications to suit required roles.

The Fw 189 was of a twin-engine design, made up of a long-spanning wing element and twin booms. The Fw 189 system was crewed by three personnel (consisting of the pilot and two gunners) positioned in a cockpit sitting high above and between the engine booms featuring a nearly all-glazed greenhouse-type design. The three crew consisted of the pilot and two gunners - one gunner manning a twin barrel dorsal machine gun mounting and the other a twin-barrel machine gun mounting in a tail cone turret assembly. An additional 441lbs of external stores were afforded the system.

The real dedicated role of the Fw 189 was as a reconnaissance aircraft and the systems were fielded en masse against the Soviets. Though range limited the system to just 416 miles, no fewer than 30 Fw 189's were converted to the nightfighter role to combat light Soviet fighter incursions occurring on a regular basis along the front. In all, the Fw 189 system maintained a successful service record and played an important - albeit limited role - in the Eastern Front offensives.

Specifications StatsCentral
Model Focke-Wulf Fw 189 Uhu (Owl)
Length 39.47 ft | 12.03 m
Width 60.37 ft | 18.40 m
Height 10.17 ft | 3.10 m
Engine(s) 2 x Argus As 410A-1 12-cylinder engine generating 465hp each.
Empty Weight 0 lbs | 0 kg
MTOW 9,193 lbs | 4,170 kg
Max Speed 217 mph | 350 km/h | 189 kts
Max Range416 miles | 670 km
Ceiling 23,950 ft | 7,300 m | 4.5 miles
Climb Rate Not Available
Hardpoints 2
Armament
2 x 7.92mm machine guns (in wing roots)
2 x 7.92mm twin-barrel machine gun (in dorsal gun position)
2 x 7.92mm twin-barrel machine gun (in tail turret cone position)
Maximum bomb load of up to 441lbs.
Accommodations 3
Operators Nazi Germany
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Major Variants
• Fw 189A - Base Production Model Designation
• Fw 189A-2 - Improved defensive armament
• Fw 189A-3 - Trainer with dual-control arrangement.
• Fw 189A-4 - Tactical Attack Model with improved underside armoring and 20mm cannon.

Additional Web References: