Only one single FW-189 is known to exist today. It was recovered in remarkably good condition in the 1990s by Jim Pierce from Russian territory, where it crashlanded in WW2. Even the original markings and unit emblem were still seen on it!
Sadly, instead of preservation or light restoration, the poor thing was subjected to the worst stupidity, which can be done to an old aircraft - restoration to airworthness!
Of course, if 100 machines exist, this is something good, cool. See the Mustangs - there are the ones in the museums, the ones in the air - excellent! But this is the one and only such aircraft on Earth. Further more, it still had the original Luftwaffe paintwork. Even in museums, most aircraft have been repainted through the years. I read somewhere, a Me-109 in Australia is the single 109 preserved in original paint!
And paint is the least trouble. Returning a wreck to airworthness means completely taking it apart, a great deal of the structure elements replaced, a great deal of the parts replaced with NOS or simly new, everything stripped and refinished, new sheet metal, new... new... new..... Plus the introduction of modern navigation, safety and etc systems, which appeared 20 years after the last flight of the poor thing.
So, after an extensive work of rebuilding, you have something flying. But it is not the aircraft that you had in the beginning. You have half brand new replica, some parts from the original aircraft and some period parts from other machines. In other words, you can make the show, but the original machine is completely destroyed, you have a toy, a replica and the history is wiped, dead, gone
And in the end, the expensive toy /I would not refer to it as to a historical aircraft any longer/ has excellent chances soon to be converted to a smoking pile on the ground. Almost every year a rare warbird is being converted to a burning pile of scorched metal most times sadly with the lost of pilot, too.
Sorry for the offtopic chaps, but I find this a real problem, real loss of history for stupid reason.
Anyway, the FW-189 restoration was not completed, as far as I know. Started, done to some extent, but not finished. How much is the "restoration" damage done to the aircraft, I do not know. But the owner stopped work and listed it and some other aircraft for sale and so it was for quite some time. And recently, probably a few months ago, it was sold to "an American collector". Maybe that's what your friend has seen, its arrival in the USA?
So, can someone please confirm, what is going on with the FW-189? Is it already in the States and what is going to happen to it?