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The Focke-Wulf Fw 189 Uhu (Owl) is a twin-engine twin-boom tactical reconnaissance and army cooperation aircraft designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Focke-Wulf. It was one of the Luftwaffe's most prominent short range reconnaissance platforms during the Second World War.

The Fw 189 was developed during the late 1930s to fulfil a specification issued by the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM) for an advanced short-range reconnaissance aircraft to succeed the Henschel Hs 126 in the tactical support role provided by the Luftwaffe to the Wehrmacht. While Arado had responded with the conventional Ar 198, Focke-Wulf's design team, headed by the aeronautical engineer Kurt Tank, produced the unconventional Fw 189, a twin-boom aircraft with a central crew gondola with a highly glazed stepless cockpit. During July 1938, the first prototype performed its maiden flight; early flight testing of the Fw 189 demonstrated its superiority over the Ar 198, and thus the RLM backed its development and subsequent quantity production.

During 1940, the Fw 189 entered service with the Luftwaffe. It would see heavy use on the Eastern Front against the Soviet Union, where it would not only be used in the intended reconnaissance role but also in a limited capacity as a light bomber and a night fighter. The Fw 189 would also see some use on other fronts. Production of the type took place at Focke-Wulf's Bremen facility, the Bordeaux-Merignac aircraft factory in occupied France, and the Aero Vodochody aircraft factory in Prague, occupied Czechoslovakia. Further development and production of the type continued through to mid-1944, at which point production was terminated to concentrate on fighters instead.

Work on what would become the Fw 189 can be traced back to February 1937 and the issuing of a specification by the German Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM) that called for a short-range reconnaissance aircraft that had a three-man crew and provided good all-round visibility; it was also specified that the aircraft should possess about 850–900 hp (630–670 kW) of power. At that time, one of the primary functions of the Luftwaffe was to provide tactical support to the Wehrmacht; the envisioned aircraft was intended to be an advanced successor to the Henschel Hs 126, which had only just started service trials.This specification was issued to both Arado and Focke-Wulf.

Arado opted to respond with the relatively conventional Ar 198, which was a single-engined high-wing monoplane with a glazed gondola underneath the fuselage.[1] In contrast, Focke-Wulf's chief designer Kurt Tank had opted for a distinctive twin-boom configuration for what would become the Fw 189; it was also powered by a pair of Argus As 410 engines instead of the expected single engine. As a "twin-boom" design, akin to the earlier Dutch Fokker G.I, the Fw 189 used a central crew gondola for its crew accommodation, which for the Fw 189 would be 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 from 1938 onwards). The Fw 189 had as part of its defensive armament, an innovative rear-gun emplacement designed by the Ikaria-Werke: a rotating conical rear "turret" of sorts, manually rotated with a metal-framed, glazed conical fairing streamlining its shape, with the open section providing the firing aperture for either a single or twin-mount machine gun at the unit's circular-section forward mount. Blohm & Voss proposed as a private venture something even more radical: chief designer Dr. Richard Vogt's unique asymmetric BV 141.

Both the BV 141 and Fw 189 submissions were reportedly received by RLM officials with a degree of unease due to their non-traditional approaches.[1] During April 1937, orders were placed for three prototypes each of the Arado and Focke-Wulf designs. That same month, construction of the first prototype Fw 189 commenced. In July 1938, it performed its maiden flight, the pilot being Tank. From the onset, the aircraft possessed favourable flight characteristics. One month later, it was followed by the second prototype, the principal difference between the two being that the second prototype was armed, carrying two MG 17 and three MG 15 machine guns across various locations along with underwing bombracks capable of carrying up to four 50 kg bombs.[5] The third prototype was outfitted with specially-designed Argus variable-pitch propeller that automatically changed pitch via the vanes on the spinner. In contrast to the smooth testing of the Fw 189, the Ar 198 exhibited comparatively cumbersome and unsatisfactory performance.

Recognising the Fw 189 as the winner, Focke-Wulf received a development contract from the RLM for four additional prototypes.[6] The first of these four aircraft was representative of the production standard Fw 189A, being powered by a pair of Argus As 410A-1 V-12 inverted piston engines, capable of generating up to 465 PS (459 hp; 342 kW) and a reduced defensive armament comprising only two machine guns. The next aircraft prototype was a forerunner of the Fw 189B, featuring more refined aerodynamic shaping of the fuselage along with a more conventional stepped cockpit.[6] In mid 1939, the RLM ordered another 13 aircraft, all of which were delivered to the Luftwaffe by March 1940.[6]

During late 1939, Focke-Wulf withdrew the first prototype from the flight test programme in order to adapt it into their response to a request from the RLM for a dedicated close air support aircraft.[7] The original fuselage nacelle was replaced by a compact armoured counterpart; largely due to the increased weight, it handled poorly. While this version was formally evaluated; however, the competing Henschel Hs 129 was selected instead, partly due to its smaller size and reduced production cost.[8]

The Fw 189 was produced in large numbers, being not only manufactured at the Focke-Wulf factory in Bremen, but also at the Bordeaux-Merignac aircraft factory (Avions Marcel Bloch's factory, which became Dassault Aviation after the war) in occupied France, as well as at the Aero Vodochody aircraft factory in Prague, occupied Czechoslovakia. By mid-1942, production of the Fw 189 at Bremen had effectively ended as resources were concentrated on the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter instead.[9] While the company's design team continued to work on advanced variants of the Fw 189 into early 1944, production of the type was permanently ended in mid-1944 in response to Germany's declining military situation, which compelled the termination of various aircraft programmes in order to concentrate resources.[10] Total production of the type came to 864 aircraft of all variants.

During early 1940, Luftwaffe pilots commenced familiarisation training on the type, initially using the preproduction Fw 189s exclusively and supplemented by five-seat Fw 189B-1 trainers from the summer of 1940 onwards. While operational trials of the type were quite successful, Luftwaffe officials concluded that there was little advantage to withdrawing the existing Hs 126s in favour of Fw 189s. Instead, the service decided to introduce the type relatively slowly, thus the Fw 189 was not operational at any meaningful quantity until the summer of 1942. This delay did allow for some refinements to the aircraft, particularly its airframe, to be performed during 1941; modifications around this time included desert survival gear and floats. The first unit to re-equip with the type being on the Eastern Front.

Called the Fliegendes Auge (Flying Eye) of the German Army, the Fw 189 was used extensively on the Eastern Front. By September 1942, 172 Fw 189s were reportedly operational on this front, making up the majority of all short range reconnaissance aircraft present.It was nicknamed "Rama" ("frame" in the Russian, Ukrainian and Polish languages) by Soviet forces, referring to its distinctive tailboom and stabilizer shapes, giving it a quadrangular appearance.[citation needed] Despite its low speed and fragile looks, the Fw 189's manoeuvrability made it a difficult target for attacking Soviet fighters. The Fw 189 was often able to out-turn attacking fighters by flying in a tight circle into which enemy fighters could not follow.
The Fw 189 also saw service on other fronts, including the Middle East.
Night Reconnaissance Group 15, attached to the 4th Panzerarmee in southern Poland during late 1944, carried out nocturnal reconnaissance and light bombing sorties with a handful of Fw 189A-1s. These aircraft typically lacked the main model's rear dorsal machine gun.[citation needed] Small numbers of A-1s were used as night fighters in the closing weeks of the conflict – the aircraft were modified by having their reconnaissance equipment removed and then fitted with FuG 212 AI radar in the nose and a single obliquely-firing 20 mm MG FF autocannon in the common Schräge Musik upwards/forward-firing offensive fitment also used for heavier-airframed German night fighters, like the Bf 110G. For the Fw 189 the installation was in the crew nacelle in the space where the rear dorsal gun was normally housed. The majority of the nachtjager Fw 189s was operated by NJG 100, were based at Greifswald. Chronic fuel shortages and enemy air superiority over the Fw 189 defence area (chiefly Berlin) meant that few aircraft were shot down by these craft.