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.
Erich Rudorffer was the 7th most successful WWII Luftwaffe fighter pilot. His first posting
was to the 2nd Staffel / JG 2 ?Richthofen”, on January 7th, 1940. On May 14, 1940
Rudorffer scored his first victory and by May 1941he had run his victory tally to nineteen
winning him the Knight’s Cross. He ended 1941 with forty victories. On November 11, 1942
Rudorffer was promoted to Staffelkapitän of 6./JG 2 and moved to Tunisia where on
February 9, 1943 he shoots down nine British aircraft within 32 minutes. Rudorffer’s final
score was 224 aircraft.