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Skip next section Rare Focke-Wulf 190 aircraft back in sky after restoration in Turkey 08/06/2026 August 6, 2026 Rare Focke-Wulf 190 aircraft back in sky
Skip next section Rare Focke-Wulf 190 aircraft back in sky after restoration in Turkey 08/06/2026 August 6, 2026 Rare Focke-Wulf 190 aircraft back in sky after restoration in Turkey German pilot Klaus Plasa took the plane on its maiden flight after its successful restoration [August 3, 2026] Image: Luft- und Raumfahrtmuseum Eskisehir/dpa/picture alliance Turkey's Sivrihisar Aviation Club Association has successfully restored a rare German World War II Focke-Wulf 190 (FW 190) fighter plane and returned it to the skies. German pilot Klaus Plasa was at the controls for its flight earlier in the week.
The FW 190 went into service in 1941 and was a heavier plane than its better-known counterpart, the Messerschmitt Bf 109, and less comfortable at high altitudes. But this also made it a much more versatile aircraft, capable of flying longer distances and carrying more firepower and fuel. The aircraft was downed in France in 1944. Its wreckage was taken to the US in 2000. Restoration work began there, but the aircraft never regained operational status. Turkish aerobatic pilot Ali İsmet Öztürk led the team that disassembled and restored the aircraft so it was airworthy once more Image: Luft- und Raumfahrtmuseum Eskisehir/dpa/picture alliance The Turkish aviation club acquired the plane in 2023 and an 11-member team set to work restoring it over roughly 14 months.
In the early 20th century, Germany had helped modernize the military, including the air force, of what was then the Ottoman Empire. This collaboration continued in the early years of the Republic of Turkey. By 1948, three years after Nazi Germany's defeat and with spare parts in short supply, Turkey — which by then was starting to eye an alliance with the US and membership in what would become NATO — retired its remaining FW 190 fleet. The Sivrihisar Aviation Club Association said it wanted to preserve the countries' shared aviation heritage.
It plans to display the rare aircraft at an air show in Eskisehir in September. Estimates on the numbers vary, but no more than a few dozen FW 190s survive, most of them museum pieces that are not airworthy.
The BriefWire