Hobby Master 1/48 HA7427 FW 190A-4 Oblt.W.Nowotny CO 1./JG 54 Staraya Russia Mar.1943

In 1937 even though the Me-109 was a very capable fighter the Reich Air Ministry called for submissions of better designs. Kurt Tank won the competition with his radical use of an air-cooled radial engine that he dubbed the Fw-190 Würger (Butcher Bird). There were many skeptics who believed this new aircraft wouldn’t surpass the performance of the Me-109 but they were proven wrong. Over 20,000 of all variants of the Fw-190 were built with 13,291 of these being of the 9 different “A” variants. Walter “Nowi” Nowotny reported to JG 54 Grünherz (Green Hearts) in December 1940 as part of their Erganzungsstaffel (replacement squadron). Two months later he was transferred to 9./JG54 flying a Bf-109. On July 19, 1941 he scored his first two victories but was then shot down himself. In October 1942 Nowotny was appointed Squadron Leader of 1./JG54. In January 1943 JG54 began to re-equip with the much faster and more agile Focke-WulfFw-190. Flying more than 442 missions Nowotny accumulated 258 victories of which 255 were over the Eastern Front.