The Focke-Wulf 189 UHU (Eagle Owl) was designed by Kurt Tank.This twin boom, twin engine tactical reconnaissance and army cooperation aircraft had a crew of three.A total of 864 were built at Bremen, at the Bordeaux-Merignac aircraft factory (now the Dassault Mirage plant) in occupied France, and in the Aero Vodochody aircraft factory in Prague, occupied Czechoslovakia.Most Fw-189's were deployed in Russia and by wars end there were none left intact anywhere. On May 4th 1943, pilot Lothar Mothes and his crew boarded Fw-189, Werk No.2100, squadron designation V7 + 1H and departed their airbase at Pontsalenjoki.Their mission was to photograph the Loukhi 3 airbase from 20,000 ft and then continue North along the Murmansk - Leningrad railway.Just 31 minutes into their flight they were attacked by Soviet Hawker Hurricanes, Mothes dived to evade the enemy fighters but damage sustained made the dive unrecoverable.The aircraft crashed into a forest ripping off the tail booms and leaving the cockpit gondola hanging in the branches.One crewman died on impact, a second had his leg ripped off, his death from blood loss was mercifully quick.Mothes managed to drop from the aircraft and with Russian troops in pursuit headed for German lines.Mothes avoided Russian patrols for two weeks, living on grubs and tree bark,he made it back to friendly lines and spent the next nine months recovering from severe frost bite.He then returned to his unit and flew a further 100 missions by wars end. V7 + 1H was found in 1991 by a group of British aircraft enthusiasts, still lodged in the tree tops.It was purchased from the Russians and shipped back to Worthing, West Sussex were it was restored.In 1996 Lothar Mothes was reunited with his aircraft at the Biggin Hill Airshow. It is reported that this very rare aircraft now resides in the Paul Allen Flying Heritage Collection. Murmansk railway background by Google Earth, Focke-Wulf 189 discovered under a bench at The Plant and handed to Stan for painting.