Hobby Master 1/48 Air Power Series
HA7428
FW 190A-4 Fw. R. Eisele, 8./JG 2, Brest-Guipavas, France, Jan 1943 
 
General Background
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.
 
The Aircraft 
Stab III was formed in 1940 and consisted of 7./JG2, 8./JG and 9./JG2. The Gruppenkommandeure from November 1, 1942 until July 1943 was Hptm Egon Mayer. 8./JG2 was located at Brest from April 1942 - 9 November 1942 and Brest-Guipavas from 22 November 1942 until approximately February 1943. 8./JG2 was tasked with the defense of western section of occupied France. The red wolf emblem of 8./JG2 was applied to left side cowling and the 8 victories Eisele scored up to January 1943 are marked on the rudder.