Hobby Master 1/48 HA7419 FW 190A-4 W. Nr. 634, flown by Major Hermann Graf, JG 2, France 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 Wurger (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. Hermann Graf was a German Ace in WWII with 212 victories. Graf also was the first person ever to score 200 kills. Graf recorded his first victory on August 4, 1941 during Operation Barbarossa. He flew 830 missions and 202 of his 212 victories were scored on the Eastern Front. Six of his 10 victories accumulated on the Western Front were against four-engine bombers. Graf spent the summer of 1943 as commander of the Erganzungjagdgruppen (operational training unit) in France where he flew his colorful Fw-190A-4 W Nr 634.