Hobby Master 1/48 HA7418 FW 190A-7 Stab I./JG 1, flown by Oblt. Wilhelm Krebs, Dortmund Airfield, Jan. 1944
Hobby Master 1/48 FW 190A-7 Stab I./JG 1, flown by Oblt. Wilhelm Krebs, Dortmund Airfield, Jan. 1944 HA7418
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 Würger (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.
1/JG 1 was formed in May of 1939 as one of the original Jagdeschwaders. Between 1940 and 1944 the unit was equipped with Messerschmitt Bf-109 and Fw-190s. I/JG 1 was the only unit to be equipped with the Heinkel He-162 jet and the first to attempt aerial bombing of the USAAF heavy bomber formations. In 1944 the “Oeseau” was added to JG 1 when Geschwaderkommodore Oberst Walter Oeseau was killed. This aircraft belonged to Oblt. Wilhelm Krebs; Group Technical Officer for Stab 1/JG1 and credited with 4 B-17s.