In 1937, the RLM (Reichsluftfahrtministerium) issued
specifications for a new Luftwaffe reconnaissance aircraft. The
companies Blohm Voss with their asymmetric BV 141, Arado with the
single-engine Ar 198 and Focke Wulf with the Fw 189 project participated
in the competition. The winner was the Focke Wulf.
Like the BV 141,
the Fw 189 stood out with an unusual technical solution. Chief designer
Kurt Tank designed the aircraft with a central fuselage nacelle and two
tailplane booms from the engine nacelles. This provided the crew of
three with excellent visibility. The prototype flew for the first time
in July 1938 and the pre-series Fw 189 A-0s were delivered in September
1940. Production continued with the first series version of the Fw
189A-1. It was produced at the Focke Wulf factory in Bremen, where
production was soon halted due to the production of the Fw 190. From
March 1941, the Prague Aero factory supplied the Fw 189 (production
ceased in 1943). Other Fw 189s were produced until 1944 in French
factories in Bordeaux-Mérignac. In the second half of 1941, the A-1
version was replaced on the production lines by the A-2 version with
more powerful armament. A small series of training and liaison versions B
was also built, differing in the shape of the fuselage nacelle and
other details. A ground attack version, designated Fw 189C, was tested
in prototypes; the first prototype Fw 189V1 crashed, and even the
modified prototype Fw 189V-6 did not convince.
The vast majority
of Fw 189 aircraft served on the Eastern Front. The Focke-Wulf Fw 189 A
proved to be capable of handling from unpaved airfields, with excellent
maneuverability and reliability. Several Fw-189A-1s were even fitted
with the FuG-212 Lichtenstein C-1 radar and an oblique cannon and used
as night fighters in Romania in 1944. The Fw 189 also saw service with
the Slovak, Hungarian and Romanian air forces.
Kit Fw 189A-1 SH72546
includes three plastic parts sprues, a clear parts sprue and 3D printed
parts. The decals feature two German aircraft, one captured Soviet
aircraft and one Norwegian aircraft. This originally German aircraft
from the Eastern Front flew to Norway just before the end of the war and
was used by the Norwegian air force after the war.
- model kit of an unusually looking machine
- interesting colour schemes