Hobby Master 1/48 HA7421 FW 190A-4 'White 8', 1. Staffel/I. Gruppe JG.54, Eastern Front, early 1943

In 1937 even though Germany's Me-109 was a very capable fighter the Reichsluftfahrtministeriun (RLM) or Reich Air Ministry was worried that future foreign designs might surpass its performance. A competition for a new design resulted with Kurt Tank's design with the radical use of an air-cooled radial engine that - he dubbed the aircraft Fw-190 Wurger (Butcher Bird). Many skeptics believed the new aircraft wouldn't surpass the performance of the Me-109 but when the Fw-190 entered combat in the summer of 1941 it was immediately Germany's premiere piston-powered fighter, over 20,000 being built. 

Walter Nowi Nowotny reported to JG 54 Grunherz (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-Wulf Fw-190 and in flying more than 442 missions Nowotny accumulated 258 victories of which 255 were over the Eastern Front.