War Thunder is adding the Fw 189 C, a rare ground-attack version of Focke-Wulf’s twin-boom aircraft, to the German air tree in the next major update. It will come in as a rank I premium attacker and use Golden Eagles.
The pitch is simple. The Fw 189 C leans on armor, frontal firepower, and a defensive gunner, but it gives up speed to do it. The aircraft carries four 7.92 mm MG 17 machine guns and two 15 mm MG 151/15 cannons, and the AP rounds from those 15 mm guns can punch through a little over 30 mm of armor at 500 meters. That makes it a good fit for early ground battles, especially if you keep your passes low and straight.
That same setup also means the aircraft rewards discipline. Hard turns and loops drain its already modest performance, so the safer play is to make one attack run, pull away cleanly, and come back only after you have space to work with. The armor can help against roof-mounted machine guns, but the source makes it clear that damage will hit the plane’s flight performance hard.
A cramped cabin built for protection
The cockpit is where the Fw 189 C gets most of its odd charm. The nacelle is protected by 12 mm of steel and 75 mm armored glass, and the crew sits back to back in a space so tight that even the gunsight had to be mounted outside the cockpit. It is a practical layout more than a comfortable one, but it matches the aircraft’s role as a heavily protected attacker.
The developer also said this collectible attacker will arrive at rank I for Germany for a small amount of Golden Eagles. The same note adds that the aircraft is well armed and well armored, but its weak engines leave it with poor flight performance across the board. Its characteristics may still change before it is added to the game.
How the prototype came together
The Fw 189 C goes back to April 1937, when Germany’s Reichsluftfahrtministerium asked for a small ground-attack aircraft with heavy frontal armament and armor. Focke-Wulf answered with a modified Fw 189 airframe that swapped the large glazed cockpit for a much smaller and better protected one.
The first unarmed prototype, V1b, was used to check flight behavior before it was lost after striking a hangar during an evaluation flight in Bremen. The final V6 test aircraft carried four machine guns and two cannons, plus a strengthened center wing and undercarriage, but trials for the Reichsluftfahrtministerium did not go well. The competing Henschel design, which later became the Hs 129, proved cheaper to build and won the contest, leaving the Fw 189 C project to be abandoned after testing.
If you like aircraft that look awkward but hit hard, the Fw 189 C should stand out once the next major update lands. Tell us what you think in the comments, and follow us on X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram.
Source: Steam Community
