German Focke Wulf Fw 189 ''Uhu'' Recon Plane

By Crusader1307

The unique German Fw 189 Recon Plane (aka ''Owl''), was produced in 1938 and was maintained by The German Luftwaffe until 1944. Over (800) were produced. The Highly effective, Twin-Boom, (3) Man crewed Plane ustilized a further unique defensive system. A rear mounted, rotating turret (between the twin booms), allowed for a twin barreled, 7.92mm Heavy Machine Gun Platform to be placed. the Turret allowed a Gunner full 360-degree angle of fire. The plane was described by many Allied Air Personnel as being similar to the US produced P-38 ''Lightning'' FIghter. Although slow for it's purpose (recon),it was very agile in flight and was hard for Soviet (Russian) Fighters to engage. As stated, The Fw189 was crewed by (3). Measuring 40-feet in length with a 60-foot wingspan, The recon Craft was powered by Twin Argus 410 air cooled Engines. They produced 460-HP each and allowed for an airspeed of 200-mph. Operational Ceilings were rated to 24,000-feet. The Plane previously stated armament platform could be configured for various Machine guns packages. With one exception, all were lost or destroyed after The War, save the rather intact wreckage found in Russia in 1991. Purchased by a British Aircraft Restoration Company, several attempts were begun to restore the plane. However, as of today, the Craft is up for sale (worldwide). It is speculated that with much care, the ''last'' Fw189 can be restored to flight.