Fw 189

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Focke-Wulf Fw 189 Uhu was a German twin-engine, twin-boom, three-seat tactical reconnaissance and army cooperation aircraft.
The experience of the Condor Legion in the Spanish Civil War had shown that the Heinkel He 46 and Henschel Hs 126 close reconnaissance aircraft used by the Luftwaffe were too slow and unprotected. So the RLM laid down requirements that the new aircraft had to meet, including defensive armament consisting of machine guns and a payload of 200 kilograms of bombs. In addition, the aircraft was to have an engine power of 900 hp to provide the necessary speed and maneuverability.
Engineers at Focke-Wulf then designed an aircraft with two twelve-cylinder Argus As 410 V-engines housed in separate nacelles, which provided the observer in the center cockpit with a very good field of view and defense, since no engine interfered with the forward view. The instrument panel was also moved upward to improve visibility. The project was designed by Andreas von Faehlmann, while Erhard Kosel was responsible for the overall construction.
In April 1937, orders were then placed with Ar 198, Blohm & Voss Bv 141 and Focke-Wulf to build three experimental aircraft each. The Arado design suffered from unrecoverable problems and the project was terminated prematurely, and the unusual Blohm & Voss design was also developed further but no series production took place.
The first prototype Fw 189 V1, with registration D-OPVN and two 430 hp Argus As-410 engines, made its maiden flight on July 23, 1938 piloted by Focke-Wulf chief designer Kurt Tank. Other prototypes were built, including a design for an attack aircraft with machine guns and bomb mounts. Since the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht did not yet see a need for its introduction, only a small build order for 13 aircraft was placed.
Delivery of the pre-production A-0 began before the war. Twenty-four aircraft were ordered, but certainly not all were delivered. Six of the B-0s were ordered, and eight of the C-0s, of which five and three, respectively, were delivered by May 31, 1941. In all, there were about 20 prototype and zero-production aircraft. Deliveries of the A-1 series began in October 1940, with a total of 830 built at the Focke-Wulf main plant in Bremen, by Aero in Prague, and in France by SNCASO (under partial production at Breguet). The series was phased out by SNCASO in March 1944, after Aero and FW had already delivered the last Fw 189s in early 1943.
The Uhu became the ‘flying eye’ of the German armies and served in Finland and North Africa but mainly on the Eastern Front where it proved more difficult to shoot down than its modest performance suggested. The view from the extensively glazed ‘fuselage’ was excellent, flying qualities were regarded as superb and its ability to absorb punishment was almost legendary. Examples captured by the Russians were given unusually generous praise after evaluation and the design had an ongoing influence on Soviet aeronautical engineers. Hungary took delivery of about 30 Fw 189A-2s and Slovakia had 14 A-1s, these aircraft in both cases intended for use on the Eastern Front. Slovakian Uhus were also used against German forces in the Slovak National uprising of 1944.

Wings

  • Low-wing cantilever monoplane.
  • Rectangular center-section between tail booms supporting the crew nacelle on the centerline.
  • Tapering outer wings outside the tail booms.
  • All-metal structure with stressed-skin covering.
  • Center-section has three spars, with the main and rear spars passing through the nacelle, which is rigidly attached to the center-section.
  • Detachable inspection panels on the undersurface between the main and rear auxiliary spars.
  • Outer sections have three spars with detachable leading and trailing-edge sections.
  • Attached to the center-section by bolts along the wing contour between the main and front spars and at the main spar.
  • Electrically-operated fabric-covered split trailing-edge flaps between ailerons and tail booms and across the entire center-section.

Nacelle

  • All-metal structure extensively provided with transparent panels riveted to the center-section.

Tail Booms

  • Two interchangeable oval all-metal booms.
  • Attached at the front to extensions of the engine nacelles and at the rear to the fin assembly by circumferential bolts.

Tail Unit

  • Two fins of stressed-skin construction at the ends of the booms.
  • All-metal tailplane supported between the fins.
  • Rudders and elevators have metal frames and fabric covering.
  • Statically and aerodynamically-balanced rudders and elevators.
  • Electrically-controlled trimming tabs.

Landing Gear

  • Retractable type.
  • Main wheels are raised backward into the engine nacelles with apertures closed by hinged doors when the wheels are retracted.
  • Tail-wheel retracts laterally into a well in the underside of the tailplane.
  • Hydraulic retraction for main wheels; tail-wheel lowers under its own weight with assistance from rubber “hinges.”

Power Plant

  • Two 450 h.p. Argus As 410A-1 twelve-cylinder inverted Vee air-cooled engines.
  • Two-bladed Argus automatic controllable-pitch airscrews.
  • Two fuel tanks, one in the rear of each engine nacelle.

Accommodation

  • Normal crew of three, but up to five can be accommodated.

Specification

variant
A-1
A-2
crew
3
3
wingspan (m)
18,40
18,40
lenght (m)
12,025
12,025
height (m)
3,10
3,10
wing area (m2)
38
38
empty weight (kg)
2850
2850
normal take-off weight (kg)
3950
3950
max take-off weight (kg)
4100
4170
wing loading (kg/m²)
107,90
109,70
engines
Argus As410 A-1 459hp; 409hp at 2400 m (at 2400 rpm), air-cooled inverted V-12
Argus As410 A-2 459 hp, air-cooled inverted V-12
propellers
two blade, 2,6 m diameter
two blade, 2,6 m diameter
fuel consumption (l/h)
200
fuel (l)
440 (335kg)
440 (335kg)
engine oil (l)
38 (Rotring Intava 100)
38 (Rotring Intava 100)
max speed (km/h)
335 at 1700m
350 at 2400m
cruising speed (km/h)
290 at 1700
325 at 400m
max diving speed (km/h)
502
landing speed (km/h)
120
120
ceiling (m)
7000
7300 (2700 on one engine)
range (km)
835
670
rate of climb
5,25 m/s
6
take-off roll (m)
240
230
landing roll (m)
300
300
bombs (kg)
200
200
armament
2 x 7,92 mm MG17 + 2 x 7,92 mm MG15
2 x 7,92 mm MG 17 + 2 x 7,92 mm MG 81 Z

Bibliography

  • George Punka, Joe Sewell: Focke-Wulf Fw 189 in Action, Squadron/Signal Publications, Aircraft Number 142, 1993
  • Pavel Kucera: Focke Wulf Fw 189, MBI (Czech/English)
  • Focke Wulf Fw 189 “Uhu” – Flugzeug Profile 49 (german)
  • David Wadman, John Bradley: Aufklarer – Luftwaffe Reconnaissance Aircraft & Units 1935-1945, Hikoki Publications 1997
  • David Wadman: Aufklarer Volume One – Luftwaffe Reconnaisance Aircraft and Units 1935-1941, Luftwaffe Colours, Classic Publications 2007
  • David Wadman: Aufklarer Volume Two – Luftwaffe Reconnaisance Aircraft and Units 1942-1945, Luftwaffe Colours, Classic Publications 2008
  • Flugzeug Classic Special 8 – Zerstorer, Transporter, Aufklarer, Hubschrauber
  • Richard A. Franks: The Focke-Wulf Fw 189 Uhu: A Detailed Guide to the Luftwaffe’s Flying Eye
  • Barry Ketley: Luftwaffe Emblems 1939-1945
  • Colin West: Luftwaffe Geschwader Formations, Emblems & Markings 1933-1945
  • David Donald: Warplanes of the Luftwaffe, Barnes and Noble 1994
  • R. Smith, Antony L. Kay – German Aircraft of the Second World War, Putnam 1990
  • Jean-Denis G. G. Lepage: Aircraft of the Luftwaffe, 1935-1945 – An Illustrated Guide