Hobby Master Archive

Hobby Master 1/48 Air Power Series HA7405 FW 190 A-8 JG 26, Oberstleutnant Josef Priller June 1944

1/48 scale pre-finished Die-cast metal with a minimum of plastic. Professionally painted. All markings pad applied for superb results. Cockpit slides open. Comes with a pilot that can be removed. Comes with display stand. Can be displayed with landing gear up or down.

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.

Josef “Pips” Priller was born in 1915 and joined the military in 1935 where he had a distinguished career when WW II ended in 1945. Priller attained several ranks in the Luftwaffe with his last active duty rank of Oberstleutnant and Geschwaderkommodore of JG26. Priller gained the greatest notoriety when he and his wingman strafed Sword Beach during the D-Day Invasion. By the end of WW II Pips had flown 1,307 combat missions and racked up 101 victories, all scored over the Western Front. After so many missions and in an effort to keep him out of harms way he was appointed Inspector of Day Fighters (east) in early 1945. Priller went on to become the general manager of a brewery until his sudden death from a heart attack in 1961.

Specifications for the Focke-Wulf Fw-190A-8 Dimensions Wingspan - 10.5 m (34 ft 5 in) Wing Area - 18.3 m (197 sq ft) Length - 8.96 m (29 ft 5 in) Height - 3.96 m (13 ft)

Weight Empty - 3,470 kg (7,650 lb) Maximum - 4,900 kg (10,800 lb)

Performance Engine - BMW 801D 1,700 hp 14-cylinder radial engine Maximum Speed - 657 kph (408 mph) (335 kts) Service Ceiling - 10,300 m (33,800 ft) Range - 800 km (500 mi) (435 nmi)

Armament (2) 13 mm Machine Guns plus (4) 20 mm cannon or (2) 20 mm cannons plus (2) 30 mm cannons