Focke-Wulf Fw 189

Focke-Wulf Fw 189
Type:	Reconnaissance plane
Design country:	German Empire
Manufacturer:	Focke-Wulf
First flight:	July 23, 1938
Commissioning:	1939
Production time:	1938 – March 1944
Number of pieces:	830

The Focke-Wulf Fw 189 “ Uhu ” was a three-seater close-up reconnaissance aircraft of the German Air Force , which was developed by Focke-Wulf in Bremen on a tender from the Reich Aviation Ministry (RLM) from 1937. 830 Fw 189 had been delivered by the end of production in March 1944.

development

The experience of the Condor Legion in the Spanish Civil War had shown that the close-up reconnaissance aircraft Heinkel He 46 and Henschel Hs 126 used by the Air Force were too slow and unprotected. So the RLM made demands that the new aircraft had to meet, including a defensive armament consisting of machine guns and a payload of 200 kilograms of bombs . In addition, the aircraft should have an engine output of 900  hp in order to maintain the necessary speed and maneuverability.

Twin machine gun in Ikaria mount in the rear

Then the engineers at Focke-Wulf designed a machine with two separate gondolas accommodated twelve-cylinder - V-type engines of the type Argus As 410 , which is a very good gaze and defense field provided to the observer in the middle pulpit, since no engine to look ahead bothered. The instrument panel has also been moved up to improve visibility. The design came from Andreas von Faehlmann, Erhard Kosel was responsible for the overall construction.

In April 1937, Arado ( Ar 198 ), Blohm & Voss ( BV 141 ) and Focke-Wulf were given orders to build three test machines each. The Arado design suffered from unrecoverable problems and the project was ended prematurely and the unusual design by Blohm & Voss was developed further, but series production did not take place.

The first prototype Fw 189 V1 with the registration D-OPVN and two 430 hp Argus As 410 engines completed its maiden flight on July 23, 1938 with Focke-Wulf chief designer Kurt Tank . Other prototypes were built, including the design of an attack aircraft with machine guns and bomb mounts. Since the high command of the Wehrmacht did not yet see a need for the introduction, only a small construction contract for 13 machines was placed.

The delivery of the pre-series A-0 started before the war. 24 aircraft were ordered, and certainly not all of them were delivered. Six aircraft were ordered from the B-0 and eight from the C-0, of which five and three aircraft respectively had been delivered by May 31, 1941. In total, there are around 20 prototypes and pilot series aircraft. Deliveries of the Series A-1 began in October 1940. A total of 830 copies were built in the Focke-Wulf main plant in Bremen , by Aero in Prague and in France by SNCASO (under partial production by Breguet ). The series at SNCASO ended in March 1944 after Aero and FW had already delivered the last Fw 189 in early 1943.

Fw 189A-3 on a Finnish airfield in the summer of 1943

Production figures of the Fw-189A series aircraft up to March 31, 1944 :

version	FW	SNCASO	Aero	total
A-1	147		204	351
A-2	53	293		346
A-2tp = A-3			133	133
total	200	293	337	830

Fw 189 B

The "B" series was designed as a training and liaison aircraft and had a completely modified fuselage nacelle. The nose was unglazed, the windshield and cockpit cover were detached and the fuselage offered space for five people. Only 13 copies of this version were made because the Siebel 204 was available for these tasks .

Fw 189 C

The "C" series was an attempt to develop an attack aircraft from the machine . Instead of the original fuselage, a heavily armored cabin for a pilot and a rear gunner was placed on the center wing. The cabin was very cramped and found to be impractical. In addition, the flight characteristics were worse than the standard version and the B models. After two prototypes, the tests were given up in favor of the Henschel Hs 129 .

Fw 189 E

Unique piece with Gnome Rhone 14 M star motors of 700 HP each

Fw 189 F

Further development of the A series with improved Argus As 411 engines

commitment

Ammunition of a Fw 189 on the Eastern Front

The Fw 189 was mostly used on the Eastern Front and was very popular with the crews as an adaptable, agile and robust aircraft. With its defensive armament, it had a good chance even in direct confrontation with Soviet fighters. In addition to the Air Force, the Fw 189 was also used by the air reconnaissance forces in Slovakia , Romania , Bulgaria and Hungary . The Soviet Marshal Ivan Stepanowitsch Konew reports in his memoirs that the Fw 189 caused a lot of trouble for the Red Army, and he regretted that the Red Army “did not have a single special aircraft of the same type for analog tasks”. However, the model was already known to the Soviet armed forces at the time of the war, because as early as 1939 a delegation who had traveled to Germany to find out about its aviation technology was among other types on a Focke-Wulf factory visit on November 8th the Fw 189 was demonstrated and even tested in flight by the pilot V. Shevchenko. Fw 189 captured during the course of the war were later flown intensively at the Institute of the Air Force (NII WWS) and the reconnaissance aircraft Su-12 was developed on this basis , although it did not go into series production.

restoration

During one of these missions, a Fw 189 A-1 crashed over Soviet territory. The aircraft with the serial number 2100 was built in Prague in July 1941. During a reconnaissance flight it was attacked by Soviet fighters of the British type Hawker Hurricane and crashed in a forest; only the pilot survived. This machine was salvaged 48 years later and is being restored by aircraft collector Jim Pearce.

Technical specifications

Three-sided view of the Fw 189 A-1

Parameter	Data
crew	3
length	12.30 m
span	18.40 m
height	3.10 m
Wing area	38.0 m²
Wing extension	8.9
Empty mass	2830 kg
Max. Takeoff mass	maximum 3950 kg
drive	two Argus As 410 A-1
power	345 kW (469 PS) each
speed	360 km / h at an altitude of 2400 m
Range	670 km
Armament	two MG 81Z , two MG 17, four 50 kg bombs

See also

• List of Wehrmacht aircraft

literature

• Hans-Peter Dabrowski: Focke-Wulf close-up reconnaissance aircraft Fw 189 A “Uhu”, trainer aircraft Fw 189 B “Eule” and attack aircraft Fw 189 C - development, production and use . 1st edition. Stedinger Verlag, Lemwerder 2008, ISBN 978-3-927697-53-9 .
• Kenneth Munson: Bombers, Patrol and Transport Aircraft 1939–45 . 3. Edition. Orell Füssli, Zurich 1977.
• Matthias founder: viewing platform - the Fw 189 - the first pure reconnaissance aircraft of the German Air Force . In: Flug Revue Edition Aviation classics . No. 4/05 , p. 18-22 .

Web links

Commons : Focke-Wulf Fw 189  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Photo series of a Focke-Wulf Fw 189 with details of the inside and outside view on einestages.spiegel.de

Remarks

1. ↑ According to the company tradition of that time, all Focke-Wulf aircraft had internal bird names.
2. ^ According to Kenneth Munson: Bomber, Patrol and Transport Aircraft 1939–45. Orell Füssli Verlag, Zurich, 3rd edition 1977, p. 144 ten aircraft of the pre-series A-0 were delivered.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Wolfgang Mühlbauer: Focke Wulf Fw 189. The eye of the front. In: Flugzeug Classic. No. 10/2019, GeraMond, Munich, pp. 42–45.
2. ^ Federal Archives / Military Archives Freiburg, production programs.
3. ↑ FLUGZEUG CLASSIC SPEZIAL 8, 2011, Geramond-Verlag.
4. ↑ Ivan Stepanowitsch Konew : The year forty-five. Berlin 1980, p. 124.
5. ↑ Dimitri Alexejewitsch Sobolew: German traces in Soviet aviation history. Mittler, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-8132-0675-0 , p. 106
6. ^ A Alexandrov, G. Petrov: The German aircraft in Russian and Soviet services 1914-1951 (Volume 2). Tussa, Illertissen 2000 (?), ISBN 3-927132-45-4
7. ↑ Website with photos of the restoration