Fw 189 A-1
Contents
Description
The Fw 189 A-1 is a premium gift rank I German bomber with a battle rating of 2.0 (AB), 2.3 (RB), and 1.7 (SB). It was introduced during Update 1.61 "Road to Glory" in the "Operation S.U.M.M.E.R." event of 2016 that lasted from 22 July to 22 August after obtaining 18 pilot Marks of Distinction. It was next available in the 2017-18 Special Festive Quest from 22 December 2017 until 22 January 2018 that required 10 Christmas toys and also 500,000 Christmas lights accumulated between all players. As a rare vehicle, it is only obtainable through the Gaijin Marketplace.
General info
Flight performance
The Fw 189 is somewhat under powered, this makes its climbing and acceleration after takeoff somewhat lacklustre, although thankfully this lack of performance is a minimal problem due to its bomber spawn. The Fw 189 does however excel when it comes to manoeuvrability, being able to easily out perform most fighters in this regard.
| Characteristics | Max Speed (km/h at 2,600 m) |
Max altitude (metres) |
Turn time (seconds) |
Rate of climb (metres/second) |
Take-off run (metres) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AB | RB | AB | RB | AB | RB | |||
| Stock | 337 | 329 | 8000 | 17.2 | 17.9 | 5.9 | 5.9 | 300 |
| Upgraded | 382 | 359 | 14.9 | 16.0 | 12.6 | 8.0 | ||
Details
| Features | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Combat flaps | Take-off flaps | Landing flaps | Air brakes | Arrestor gear |
| ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | X | X |
| Limits | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wings (km/h) | Gear (km/h) | Flaps (km/h) | Max Static G | |||
| Combat | Take-off | Landing | + | - | ||
| 525 | 190 | 243 | 233 | 185 | ~8 | ~4 |
| Optimal velocities (km/h) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Ailerons | Rudder | Elevators | Radiator |
| < 380 | < 360 | < 390 | > 280 |
Survivability and armour
- 8.5mm of steel in front of lower cockpit
- 8.5mm of steel in pilot's seat, in between pilot and dorsal gunner
- Fuel tanks behind engines, at middle of fuselage
Modifications and economy
2 × 20 / 40 / 80 % 2 × 100 / 100 / 100 % | Flight performance | Survivability | Weaponry | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armaments
Offensive armament
The Fw 189 A-1 is armed with:
- 2 x 7.92 mm MG 17 machine guns, wing-mounted (500 rpg = 1,000 total)
The pilot controlled guns are a pair 7.92mm MG 17 machine guns, while the individual rounds are fairly ineffective they do posses a good rate of fire allowing for a reasonable amount of damage to be dealt to targets over a short period of time.
Suspended armament
The Fw 189 A-1 can be outfitted with the following ordnance:
- 4 x 50 kg SC50JA bombs (200 kg total)
These 50 kg bombs are fairly weak so are mostly useless against enemy bases, but they can have their uses in ground battles against lighter ground targets
Defensive armament
The Fw 189 A-1 is defended by:
- 1 x 7.92 mm MG 15 machine gun, dorsal turret (450 rpg)
- 1 x 7.92 mm MG 15 machine gun, tail turret (750 rpg)
These two 7.92 mm MG 15's have a good level of coverage from their individual turrets and also output rounds at a good rate (1050 rounds/min), they are perfectly adequate for defence against most enemy aircraft.
Usage in battles
In most cases, you'll be using the Fw 189 as a heavy fighter despite it being classified as a light bomber. Fortunately the aircraft can be flown like any other turn fighter in-game due to its impressive manoeuvrability which allows it to competitively combat most fighters that it encounters.
The Fw 189 is best described as a multi-purpose heavy fighter. Thanks to the light airframe, large wingspan and large elevator, the Fw 189 is an incredibly manoeuvrable plane, rivalling that of early rank Spitfires and Hurricanes. Thus, in war thunder, the Fw 189 fulfils the roles of a light bomber, ground attacker, heavy fighter, and reconnaissance in EC/ combined battles. It's extremely adaptive to whatever role you play as (except for bombing bases), a rare trait in War Thunder lower tiers where many aircraft only excel at a single role.
The Fw 189 can start matches by either engaging enemy bombers thanks to its bomber airspawn, or engaging enemy fighter aircraft which would still be well below you when you reach them allowing for a significant advantage in initial engagements.
In Ground Battles the Fw 189 can be used to engage enemy ground vehicles using its 7.92 mm MGs and 50 kg bombs, although these armaments are somewhat weak against most tanks even at lower tiers they can often provide means of gaining a few ground vehicle frags before you need to return to base, although being a somewhat large aircraft you should be careful when flying close to enemy ground units or terrain as these could knock the aircraft out if you are not careful.
While the Fw 189 can continue to fly after the loss of a single engine it will be severely under powered so a return to base in an 'engine out' situation is advisable.
While the pilot controlled 7.92 mm MG 17s of the Fw 189 are somewhat weak when attacking enemy aircraft they do have a good fire rate and a good amount of ammunition (500 rpg), so if your shots can continue to hit an enemy aircraft you will shortly be able to knock out some critical components and down the enemy aircraft.
Manual Engine Control
| MEC elements | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mixer | Pitch | Radiator | Supercharger | Turbocharger | ||
| Oil | Water | Type | ||||
| Not controllable | Controllable Not auto controlled |
Not controllable Not auto controlled |
Controllable Auto control available |
Combined | Not controllable 1 gear |
Not controllable |
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Durable airframe overall
- Great visibility (Sim)
- Manoeuvrable at all speeds
- Effective defensive armament, fast firing MG 15s and wide coverage of tail turret
- Bomber airspawn
- Is able to fly on one engine (Although will be under powered)
Cons:
- Big cockpit is prone to pilot snipes from frontal attacks
- Mediocre offensive armament with acceptable amounts of ammunition
- Average energy retention
- Poor acceleration overall
- Very small payload
- Tail prone to control surface damages
History
Around 1937, the German Air Ministry wanted a short-ranged, three-seated reconnaissance plane with great visibility act as an army co-operation aircraft. Two aircraft manufacturers wanted the contract: Arado and Focke-Wulf (Blohm & Voss participated but it was a private venture). The Fw 189 prototype had an unusual twin-boom twin engine design so that there would be no engine blocking the front of the cockpit which offered maximum visibility and good speed. It was powered by two Argus As 410 engines and utilized a heavily glazed "stepless" cockpit; an all glass windscreen for the pilot to improve vision, which is similar to cockpits found on most German medium bombers. It was extremely successful not only because it was fast, but also because it was an extremely manoeuvrable aircraft. One trick utilized when a fighter came to intercept it was to start turning in a tight circle, which the pursuing fighter could not match. Later in the war, this aircraft was retrofitted for a variety of tasks which included light ground attack and a night fighter variant.
Media
- Skins
- Videos
See also
Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:
- reference to the series of the aircraft;
- links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.
External links
| Focke-Wulf Aircraft Corporation (Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau Aktiengesellschaft) | |
|---|---|
| Fighters | Fw 190 A-1 · Fw 190 A-4 · Fw 190 A-5 · Fw 190 A-5/U2 · Fw 190 A-5/U12 · Fw 190 A-5/U14 · Fw 190 A-8 |
| Fw 190 C | |
| Fw 190 D-9 · Fw 190 D-12 · Fw 190 D-13 | |
| Fw 190 F-8 | |
| Ta 152 C-3* · Ta 152 H-1* · Ta 154 A-1* | |
| Bombers | Fw 189 A-1 · Fw 200 C-1 |
| Export | ▅Fw 190 A-5 |
| Captured | ▃Fw 190 A-8 · ▂Fw 190 D-9 |
| * In 1944, the Germany Air Ministry changed new fighter aircraft designation to that of the chief designer. Kurt Tank was the chief designer at Focke-Wulf and later aircraft he designed were given the prefix of Ta. | |
| Germany bombers | |
|---|---|
| Arado | Ar 196 A-3 |
| Blohm & Voss | BV 138 C-1 · BV 238 |
| Dornier | Do 17 E-1 · Do 17 Z-2 · Do 217 E-2 · Do 217 E-4 · Do 217 K-1 · Do 217 M-1 |
| Focke-Wulf | Fw 189 A-1 · Fw 200 C-1 |
| Henschel | Hs 123 A-1 |
| Heinkel | He 111 H-3 · He 111 H-6 · He 111 H-16 · He 115 C-1 · He 177 A-3 · He 177 A-5 |
| Junkers | Ju 87 B-2 · Ju 87 R-2 · Ju 87 R-2 Libya · Ju 87 D-3 · Ju 87 D-5 · Ju 88 A-1 · Ju 88 A-4 · Ju 188 A-2 · Ju 288 C |
| Messerschmitt | Me 264 |
| Savoia-Marchetti | ▀S.M.79 serie 1 · ▀S.M.79 B · ▀S.M.79 serie 4 · ▀S.M.79 serie 8 |
| ▀S.M.79 AS · ▀S.M.79 bis/N · ▀S.M.79 bis/T.M | |
| Trophies | ▀Wellington Mk Ic |
| Germany premium aircraft | |
|---|---|
| Fighters | He 51 B-2/H · BV 155 B-1 |
| He 112 | He 112 B-1/U2 · He 112 B-2/U2 |
| Bf 109 | Flegel's Bf 109 A · Bf 109 E-7/U2 · Bf 109 G-2 |
| Fw 190 | Fw 190 A-5/U14 · Fw 190 C · Fw 190 D-13 |
| Captured | ▀Marcolin's C.R.42 CN · ▀Hawk H-75A-2 · ▀Yak-1B · ▀La-5FN · ▀P-47D-16-RE · ▀P-47D · ▀Tempest Mk V |
| Twin-engine fighters | Bf 109 Z-1 · Ju 388 J · Ta 154 A-1 |
| Jet fighters | ◄Sea Hawk Mk.100 · ◄G.91 R/4 · FFA P-16 · ◄MiG-21 SPS-K · ◊MiG-21 "Lazur-M" |
| Strike aircraft | Hs 129 B-2 (Romania) · ▀IL-2 (1942) · Bf 110 C-6 · Do 335 B-2 · He 219 A-7 · ◄Tornado IDS WTD61 · ◄Su-22M4 WTD61 |
| Bombers | Ar 196 A-3 · BV 238 · Fw 189 A-1 · He 177 A-3 · Ju 87 R-2 Libya · Ju 288 C · ▀Wellington Mk Ic |
