The Rarest Focke-Wulf 190 - Unique German 'Butcher Bird'

TL;DR

The world's only surviving two-seat Fw 190 F-8 U-1 is on loan from the RAF to Berlin's Military History Museum at Gatow.

Key Points

• 1.The Fw 190 'Butcher Bird' was a dominant WWII German fighter. Designed by Kurt Tank, it entered service in 1941, served as fighter, bomber, and ground-attack aircraft, and over 20,000 were built — only 28 originals survive today.
• 2.The IWM/Cosford Fw 190 A-8 R-6 is notable for its Mistel composite bomb role. The pilot guided a Junkers 88 flying bomb toward targets like bridges, released it, then attempted to escape; this aircraft was captured in Denmark on May 8, 1945.
• 3.The rarest Fw 190 is a unique two-seat F-8 U-1 trainer, one of only 20 ever converted. Built at the Arado plant in Warnemünde in 1944 to train Stuka pilots on the Fw 190, it is the sole surviving example and is displayed at Berlin's Military History Museum at Gatow.
• 4.The two-seat Fw 190 is RAF-owned and was ferried by legendary test pilot Eric 'Winkle' Brown. Captured at Grove, Denmark in May 1945, it was flown from Farnborough to RAF Brize Norton on September 5, 1945, and has been loaned to Germany for three years.