FW189 A3 lost 20.1.1943

[Ian Jewison]

Gents,

I am researching a group to an Observer who was missing as a crewman on the following:
___________________________________________
Basic Loss Data
20.01.1943 Aufkl.St.Ostsee, Luftflotte 1 (Gulf of Finland)

Aircraft
Focke-Wulf FW 189 A-3 WNr. 2138 H7 + YH 100%

Crew
Fw. Bray, Paul. F Verm
Lt. Beyer, Hans. B Verm
Gefr. Buss, Otto. Bs Verm
___________________________________________

H7 of course belonged to Aufklärungsstaffel (F) Ostsee, also known as Aufklärungsschwarm Reval and Aufklärungsstaffel Reval for a short time based at Reval-Laksberg.

The station was run by Fliegerhorst-Kommandantur E 4/III (See), renamed February 1943 to Fliegerhorst-Kommandantur E 19/I.

Fw 189 A-3: Two-seat dual-control training aircraft. Built in small numbers.

My question is.....if a FW 189 A-3 was a two seat dual control aircraft, why would there be 3 crewmen on board?

The person in question was only with this unit for maximum of 2 months....so is it safe to say this was a familiarisation flight or was this a converted aircraft for front action?

Thanks
Ian

[Denniss]

A-3 is the tropicalized version of the A-2, not a dual-seat aircraft.
133 built by Aero.

http://www.ww2.dk/oob/bestand/aufkl/bostsee.html
-> an A-3 is listed as lost to enemy action

[Brian Bines]

Ian, the GQM report shows the flight as 'F' which would indicate an operational mission,

Regards
Brian Bines

[Ian Jewison]

Thanks very much Gents,

Have you just updated the Wiki page as it has chanded

Before: Fw 189 A-3: Two-seat dual-control training aircraft. Built in small numbers.
After: Fw 189 A-3: Tropicalised production version of the Fw 189 A-2, fitted with air intake filters and survival equipment.

Thanks for the link Denniss, it shows that Aufklärungsstaffel (F) Ostsee had 3 FW 189 A-3 but all were lost by May.

/Ian

[Ian Jewison]

Incidentally I had a look through the DRK Vermisstenblildliste for photos of the crew but could not find any mention of Aufklärungsstaffel (F) Ostsee.

/Ian

[Denniss]

Originally Posted by Ian Jewison

Thanks for the link Denniss, it shows that Aufklärungsstaffel (F) Ostsee had 3 FW 189 A-3 but all were lost by May.
/Ian

They had just two A-3s, only one was lost in combat. In May all surviving Fw 189 were sent to other units.

[Ian Jewison]

I checked again and it says 3 for 11.42 but to the right indicates both FW189 A1 and A3 ....knew I had seen three somewhere.

/Ian

[Denniss]

They did not properly report the Fw 189 subvariants in 10/42

[Ian Jewison]

The group in question arrived last Tuesday, 24.6.2014......not a special day in any way, until I looked at the Beobachterschein.

24th of June would have been Herr Beyer's 94th birthday had he survived the war!

/Ian