Storm Chasers

A dazzling print edition from Nicolas Trudgian bringing to life a dramatic scene from an important era in the Luftwaffe's struggle against the large-scale American daylight raids during the final phase of the air war against Germany.

Even the most faithful of Messerschmitt Me109 pilots that also flew the Fw190 grudgingly admitted the well-proportioned and aesthetically pleasing Fw190 was the finest single-seat fighter in the Luftwaffe's armory during World War II. Soon after its arrival on the Channel Front in 1941, when initial bugs were ironed out, this superb fighter came close to fighter design perfection by the standards of the day. Just as the Mk IX Spitfire held the mantle as Britain's most outstanding combat fighter of the war, so was the Fw190 regarded by experienced Luftwaffe pilots. Within months of its operational debut the Fw190 was causing widespread consternation among RAF pilots, the new fighter equal to the Mk IX Spitfire in all but its ability in the tightest of turning circles.

By 1944 the technically superb Fw190 came into its own in the great air battles against the USAAF's massed daylight raids. The defense of the Reich's western airspace rested on the shoulders of a few Jagdgschwarden who, against steadily increasing odds, were tasked with interception and destruction of the attacking American heavy bombers. Flying alongside the two established Channel fighter wings JG2 'Richthofen' and JG26 'Schlageter', equipped with Fw190s and led by the great fighter ace Oberst Walter Oesau, JG1 joined the battle in defense of northern Germany.

Nicolas Trudgian's fine painting Storm Chasers depicts the Fw190A's of I./JG1, distinguished by their distinctive black and white striped cowls, scrambling from the snow-covered Dortmund airfield on 10 February 1944 to intercept another inbound American daylight raid. Nick's dramatic view of this technically supreme fighter conveys its true class as it hurdles over the airfield, its undercarriage retracting as the Fw190 accelerates into the climb. Below, sharing the airfield with I./JG1, are the Fw190s of the newly formed Sturmstaffel 1, identified by their black-white-black tail bands, seen taxing out to join in the interception. Despite bad weather conditions the Luftwaffe's defending fighters scored heavily that day, inflicting severe losses on the Americans, claiming 29 bombers and 8 fighters shot down in the action.

Leutnant Hugo Broch
Vital to all fighter units are the pilots who make such superb wingmen that their leaders are loath to part with them. Hugo Broch was one such wingman. Having joined VI./JG54 in January he flew first with Horst Adameit (166 victories), and later with 'Bazi' Sterr (130 victories), but soon demonstrated his own skill in combat. By the end of 1944 he had lifted his personal score to 71 victories. One of JG54's great Fw190 Aces, Hugo Broch saw combat on the Eastern and Baltic Fronts, and completed the war having flown 324 combat missions, and claiming 81 victories. He was awarded the Knight's Cross.

Unteroffizier Gustav Drees
Born in 1923, Gustav Drees was called up for military service in 1942, and with a passion for flying joined the Luftwaffe. After training as a fighter pilot he was immediately posted to the Eastern Front with his first front-line unit - JG54 'Green Hearts', where he flew the Me109. In very early 1943 he became on of the first of the JG54 pilots to fly the Fw190A in combat. With four air victories to his credit with JG54 in Russia, towards the end of the war he was posted to join JG108 in Austria, where he stayed until the end.

Oberfeldwebel Willi Reschke
One of the outstanding younger Luftwaffe pilots, Willi Reschke was one of the leading members of JG300 Wilde Sau flying the Fw190A in the 'Defense of the Reich'. Towards the latter months of the war he transferred to the Stabsschwarm of JG301, still flying the Fw190A. Awarded the Knight's Cross in April 1945, he was credited with 26 victories - all in the west - including 18 four-engine bombers.

Oberleutnant Ernst Scheufele
Joining the Luftwaffe in October 1940, Ernst Scheufele went straight into pilot training. On gaining his wings he was posted, in June 1942, to 4./JG5 in Norway. There, flying the Messerschmidt Bf109, he carried out a total 67 escort missions for the Bismarck and Prinz Eugen, and later for the Tirpitz. In October 1943 he joined II./JG5, flying over Arctic waters, in Finland, and on the Russian Front, before transferring in June 1944 to defense of the Reich. On 3 December 1944 he was shot down by an American flak battery near Saxony, wounded and taken prisoner. He had scored a total of 18 victories.