Brief Aircraft History

The German FW189 was a high performance reconnaissance aircraft.  Its predecessors were single engine aircraft with two-man crews in which observers doubled as gunners that prevented recon work while under attack.  In the late 1930s these aircraft became too slow and vulnerable. The FW189’s designer and first test pilot Kurt Tank chose a two engine airframe for greater speed, more guns, better observation windows and a crew of three (pilot, gunner and observer).  The FW189 could carry a small bomb load externally, some of which were flash bombs for night photography.

In the early 1940s FW189A aircraft were assembled in Germany, Czechoslovakia and captured aircraft factories in France.  FW189As also served in the Bulgarian Air Force on the Eastern Front, the Royal Hungarian Air Force over Russia, the Royal Romanian Air Force as trainers, and in the Slovak Air Force in Ukraine.