FW-189 and the Defense of the Fatherland

So, the other day I grabbed an old Flight Journal magazine off the pile (May, 1999 issue, if you must know….. hey…. it’s a big pile.) Anyway, I stumbled across an interesting little sidebar about the recovery and restoration of a late model, WWII German Focke-Wulf 189 Uhu (Owl) tactical reconnaissance aircraft. It was found in Russia, acquired by UK warbird collector Jim Pearce, and was undergoing restoration in Prague, Czechoslovakia. [Since the article was written, I believe the aircraft has been acquired by Paul Allen’s Flying Heritage Collection. near Seattle, WA.]

Being an aspiring modeler, I was studying one of the accompanying photographs of the wreck…




and marveling at the various details, the wing attachment rivets, the access panels, the two square openings below the canopy (ventilation, maybe?), when I happened upon the pilot’s seat armor, with it’s two rectangular cutouts in the back (shoulder harness attachment points?)….. and that little triangular ‘thingy’ that sticks up from the front lip of the seat…… whazzupwitdat???.....

…. Here….. THIS thing…..




It almost looks like, with the pilot seated on his parachute pack and his legs splayed around the control column and his feet on the rudder pedals, that this thing would stick up right between his thighs….and, presumably, protect his nether-lands (with no offence meant to our Dutch brothers…. but it does make you wonder where they came up with the name of the country….. but I digress.)

Now, more than a little intrigued, I started off on an internet quest to see if I could find further examples of this unusual piece of personal armor on the FW-189….and came up with just the opposite.

Considering the obscurity of the aircraft there was, not surprisingly, a comparative dearth of information on the Uhu, with very few detail photos of the cockpit interior, and when it comes to pilot’s seat detail photos…. well, you get my drift.

I was able to find this photo of the 189’s pilot seat

http://aircraft-cockpits.com/images/fw189bcockitphoto.jpg

which, to the contrary, showed a decided lack of the triangular armored ‘Jewel-guard’, as did this photo…



http://aircraft-cockpits.com/images/fw189cockitphoto1.jpg

Interestingly enough, the modeling community seems to have jumped on the bandwagon… Revell’s instructions for their FW-189 include it…(part #21)






…as did this modeler, who was scratch-building a quite impressive 1/6 scale FW-189 crew compartment (why he would do it is another question, entirely.)




After pondering this conundrum, it seems that the FW-189 was originally released with a conventional pilot’s seat pan, but, at some point in time, it was replaced with the armored variety, complete with the cast-iron codpiece.

But, being the incisive historian that I am, the one question that kept surfacing was ‘But what could possibly have happened to trigger this singular development?”

I had extended as far as my intuitive reasoning could take me, and had reached a blind alley…. it was time to employ my personal ‘Mirror of History’, a technique that I have developed and perfected wherein, when faced with an otherwise unsolvable historical dilemma, I project all of my mental acuity across the sands of time, and literally become a spectator of the historical instant in question, thereby gaining an unprecedented insight into the contemporary perspective of the moment.

So, lighting up an imported Cuban and settling into my easy chair, with a snifter of fine brandy at hand, I closed my eyes, relaxed, and proceeded to take a peek behind the hazy curtains of time…….join me as we observe a minor, but important, point in history…..


…. the hazy curtains of time part, and you find yourself seated in the pilots seat of one of the first of the brand new FW-189 Uhu’s to be deployed (and equipped, of course, with the original ‘standard’ pilot’s seat)…. you’re flying along at about 1000 meters, comfortably seated on your parachute pack, your legs extended on either side of the control column and your flying boots resting comfortably in the control pedals….. you’re marveling at the incredible visibility from this, the latest marvel of superior German engineering and design….. the view is incredible…. you’re totally surrounded by plexiglass…. above you, below you, ahead of you,, to the left and the right…. your view is virtually unimpeded…. it’s like you’re drifting along in your own little fishbowl, with nothing between you and the world outside….you almost forget that you’re flying, so distracted are you by the feeling of openness…. but wait….. what’s that….. down below, and directly ahead of you…..you gaze down between your flying boots, and, as the object gets bigger and bigger, it takes on the distinctive shape of ….. a Spitfire….. with six winking lights on the wings…..”Why on earth would he be flying with his lights on?’ you ask yourself, when, at that very moment, your world literally explodes….. the cockpit fills with the roar of wind and a cloud plexiglass shards – your control panel virtually disappears, and is replaced by a tangled wreck of twisted steel and shattered gauges….. and the hazy curtains of time close……

….. and, when the hazy curtains of time part once again, you find yourself standing at the hardstand of the flying field, next to the loyal Luftwaffe Feldwebel, clutching a Captain’s cap and waiting for his Hauptmann to return with the new Uhu… suddenly, low over the surrounding forest, the twin engine airplane appears, engines sputtering and trailing dense black smoke, with it’s glass-pane canopy shattered and torn. The plane makes a straight in approach, touches down with a puff of dust at each wheel, and taxis over to where you and the Feldwebel are standing.. The roar of the engines suddenly stops, to be replaced with the mechanical whine of the now unpowered propellers winding down, combined with the ticking and creaking of the hot engines as the smell of hot oil fills the air…. And suddenly, the crew hatch bursts open, and the Hauptmann literally explodes out of the airplane and staggers over to you and the Feldwebel, dragging his sweat-drenched leather flying helmet off of his head….


“GOR!!!! That bloody Spitfire tried to shoot my bollocks off!!!” the Hauptmann sputters

“Sir?” asks the amazed Feldwebel, handing the cap to the agitated pilot.

“My bollocks, Feldwebel ….. he was trying to shoot my bollocks off!” says the pilot, snatching his cap and cramming on his head.

“But, sir….. I thought that’s what it was all about, sir.” stammers the Feldwebel. “ I mean, Herr Hauptmann, that we try to shoot their bollocks off, and they try to shoot ours off.

The pilots eyes narrow to two mean slits, and he leans forward until his nose is just centimeters from the shaking nose of the Sergeant.

“No…. Feldwebel, you don’t understand …… he was AIMING for them!”

With that, the pilot spins on one boot heel and stalks off in a towering rage

“A-a-a-a-a-a-r-g-h!!!! Where’s the damn Staffelkapitan??? I want my Messerschmitt back!”

…and the hazy curtains of time flutter to a close.

Yup…. I’m pretty sure that’s the way it happened…. The fine folks at Focke-Wulf HAD to do something, otherwise there wasn’t a (male) pilot that would agree to fly the beast in a combat situation.


….. or not.

But, however it went down, it does give a whole new meaning to ‘Defense of the Fatherland’ now, doesn’t it?

-whatever

-Lou

 

Wikipedia mentions over a dozen variants of the aircraft, including this one: "Fw 189 A-4: Light ground-attack version, armed with two 20 mm MG 151/20 cannons in each wing root, fitted with armour protection for the underside of the fuselage, engines and fuel tanks."

Perhaps the extra armour protection included the crotch guard?

 

Possibly......



...... do you think Wiki would let me in to add my 2-bits?

... I've got my doubts.

I read about the ground attack version, and immediately wondered how it would be to fly ground attack with that much plexi-glass in front of you.... though, if you look at the first of the two B&W cockpit pictures posted above, it looks like a lot of the forward and lower glazing has been replaced with a solid nose, and a 'co-pilot' position and controls has been added - I wondered if this was one of the 'Trainers' mentioned in the Wiki article, but it may have been the ground attack version.

All I know is that if I was going on a low-level strafing mission, I personally would want a little more protection than a cast-iron jock strap!

-whatever

-Lou

 

Wiki is incorrect there was the recon version and also the NF version more of a slow mo in the air to intercept Soviet bi-plane harassment craft via NJG's 5 and 100.

 

Wiki??....... wrong????...... WRONG????

It can't be..... it's on the INTERNET, for crying out loud.....


..... the INTERNET can't be WRONG!!!!...... can it??


(...shattered, I tell you..... he just SHATTERED my world...... where's my brandy??)

-whatever - (and, really, thanks for your input, Erich.)

-Lou

(... the next thing you know, he'll be saying the the government might be lying to us....)

 

Some sources say there was an experimental ground-attack version, the FW-189C V6, that never made it into production.

It looks considerably different from the standard version.

 

William Green reports the Fw 189C as an unsuccessful competitor to the Hs 129 in the ground attack role two prototypes V1b (a reworking of the original Fw 189 V1 prototype) and V6 were built, I've seen your picture captioned as the V1b after the glass panels were enlarged to get better visibility but it could very well be the V6, if that's an "improvement" I strongly doubt the pilot could see anything from the original version a "feature" shared by the original Hs 129.

This should be the original V1b configuration

EDIT Other pictures of the original V1b show it's markings as D-PVN but can't make out those of the picures you posted as they merge with the camouflage the underwing ones in some other pictures are a lot clearer, the V1 was apparently D-OPVN before being converted though the only pic I have shown no markings so the O may have been "lost in translation". BTW Green also reports an A-4 with two 20mm MG-FF replacing the fixed 7.92mm MGs going into production in 1942 so that's probably where the Wiki info originates.

View attachment 11397

 

I bow to other people's greater knowledge - all I know about the FW-189 is what I've seen on the Internet. And that, as has been mentioned, isn't very reliable.

However, I do have one question as a result of my googling - how, exactly, did the 189's rear gun work? In most pictures, there's a neat conical glass fairing over the rear of the body, with no room for a gunner. This picture



shows a metal segment, with the plexiglass evidently rolled back. But in this position, the gunner would only be able to fire to the right.

Was the whole tail transparency/metal sheeting rotatable, to give the tail gunner selective access to particular directions? If so, wouldn't it have been difficult for one man to both move the heavy pieces around, and aim and fire his gun? Just curious.

 

Both of the rear-facing guns were rotatable - from the looks of it, a rather cumbersome setup.

This YouTube Video shows them in action about 3 minutes into it. (2:45 - 3:10) - but, be forewarned - everything is in Russian.

-whatever

-Lou

 

Excellent video, scarface, it answered all my questions.

I'd salute you, except I already did!

 

And I thank you for that.

-Lou