Hobby Master HA7430 Focke-Wulf Fw 190A, Luftwaffe III/JG 2 Richthofen, Hans Hahn, Theville, France, May 1942

Hobby Master Air Power Series 1/72 Scale

HA7430 Focke-Wulf Fw 190A, Luftwaffe III/JG 2 Richthofen, Hans Hahn, Theville, France, May 1942

Limited edition, only 450 models worldwide

Hans 'Assi' Hahn was the tenth highest scoring Western Front Luftwaffe ace. One of his regular aircraft with III./JG 2 during the late Summer/ early Autumn of 1942 has on it the Kommandeur's 'Cockerel Head' emblem and the Gruppenstab's unusual style of tactical markings, white outlined in black, with the Gruppe vertical bar aft of the fuselage cross extended into a wrap-around band. 'Assi' Hahn's 68 confirmed Western kills, including four 'heavies' made him one of the famous aces of the Channel Front. He later added 40 more Eastern Front victories when posted to the command of II./JG 54 before he crashed behind enemy lines.

In 1937, even though the Me-109 was a very capable fighter, the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (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 Würger (Butcher Bird).

There were many sceptics 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 was already Germany’s premier 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.

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