Fw 190A-4 Die Cast Model Oblt. W. Nowotny, CO of 1./JG 54, Staraya Russa, March 1943 (1:48)

Hobbymaster 1/48th scale HA7427 FW 190A-4 flown by Oblt. W. Nowotny, CO of 1./JG 54, Staraya Russa, March 1943. In 1937 even though the Me-109 was a very capable fighter the Reichsluftfahrtministeriun (RLM) or Reich Air Ministry was worried that future foreign designs might surpass its performance so they called for submissions of designs. Kurt Tank won the competition with his radical use of an air-cooled radial engine that he dubbed the Fw-190 W�rger (Butcher Bird). There were many skeptics who believed this new aircraft would surpass the performance of the Me-109. However when the Fw-190 entered combat in the summer of 1941 it already was Germany�s premiere piston-powered WWII fighter. Over 20,000 of all variants of the Fw-190 were built with 13,291 of these being of the 9 different �A� variants.