Hasegawa Focke-Wulf 190A-8 of Oberleutnant Otto Kittel in 1/72 Scale

Otto Kittel spent the war flying against the Soviets on the Eastern Front.  He claimed his first two victories during the first days of Barbarossa, a pair of SB-2 bombers.  He achieved his 100th victory in September 1943, and was awarded the Knight’s Cross a month later.  He was presented with the Oak Leaves in May 1944, credited with his 200th victory in August, and received the Swords in November.  On 14 February 1945 (some sources say the 16th) he was intercepting a flight of Il-2’s when his Fw 190A-8 was hit by return fire and crashed.  Kittel was the fourth-highest scoring fighter pilot in history, and has the dubious honor of being the highest-scoring fighter pilot to be killed in combat.  He was credited with 267 victories, all in the East, including 94 Il-2 Sturmoviks.

The model represents Kittel’s Fw 190A-8 assigned to 3./JG 54 at Riga-Skulte Latvia, June 1944.