1960 Focke-Wulf P.149D

The aircraft was developed by Piaggio & Co, (today Piaggio Aero Industries S.p.A.) as the P149, a four seat variant of the P148, a two seat Italian military trainer.

Adolf Galland, the famous Luftwaffe fighter pilot and youngest Luftwaffe general of WWII teamed up with Edward Neumann, the former Geschwaderkommodore of Jagdgeschwader 27 and mentor of Hans-Joachim Marseille “The Star of Africa.” They flew a Piaggio P149 in the Italian Air Tour Flying Rally in the Summer 1954. The weather was appalling and seven aircraft crashed taking two lives. Galland and Neumann won first place.

One year later the Luftwaffe had a fly-off to select the new trainer from the Beech T34, Saab 91 Safir and the Piaggio P149. The P149 beat out the competition and was chosen as the Luftwaffe’s new trainer.

Beginning in 1957, Piaggio delivered 72 aircraft to Germany designated as P149D, and another 190 were manufactured under license by Focke-Wulf GmbH (now Vereinigte Flugtechnische Werke) in Bremen, Germany and designated as FW P149D.

On March 10, 1990 the last flight of the Luftwaffe’s P149Ds was conducted with a 4-plane formation led by Werke No. 156, tail number 91+34, in a beautiful “good-bye” paint job in Bavarian white and blue sporting the Bavarian National Flag on the tail surface as well as the crests of the four schools the P149D had served in. With 290,000 flight hours, the P149D was the aircraft with the longest time in service in the Luftwaffe.

• Garmin: GTN650, G5, G3X with EFIS  (GDU460 – 10 in Touchscreen), GTX345, GAD29
• Bendix: KX165TSO
• KI 209 VOR/LOC

• 8/10
• Gray
• 4 seats

• 9/10
• Bavarian white and blue sporting the Bavarian National Flag on the tail surface as well as the crests of the four schools the P149D had served in