WOW288 Focke-Wulf Flitzer ‘Gunther Rall’

Description

The Focke-Wulf Project VII Flitzer (“streaker” or “dasher”) was a jet fighter under development in Germany at the end of World War II.

The design began as Focke-Wulf Project V which had a central fuselage and two booms carrying the rear control surfaces, having great similarity with the contemporary de Havilland Vampire.

Project V had the air inlets still positioned on either side of the nose, just below the cockpit. The estimated horizontal speed was not satisfactory and in the next development the jet intakes were situated in the wing roots. Further improvements over Project V were a narrower fuselage and a changed pilot’s canopy. In order to improve the rate of climb, a Walter HWK 109-509 hypergolic liquid-propellant rocket was built in to give supplementary thrust. A complete mock-up was built and construction and assembly plans were finished, but the aircraft was not accepted by the Reich Air Ministry until 1946. Once teething problems had been resolved the Flitzer proved to be an admirable aircraft for its time and was well liked by its pilots for its forgiving nature.

Our late war version is in the markings of  Günther Rall  a highly decorated German military aviator, officer and General, whose military career spanned nearly forty years. Rall was the third most successful fighter pilot in aviation history, behind Gerhard Barkhorn, who is second, and Erich Hartmann, who is first.

Rall was born in Gaggenau, part of the German Empire, in March 1918. In 1933 the Nazi Party seized power and Rall, deciding upon a military career, joined the army  in 1936 to train as an infantry soldier. Rall transferred to the Luftwaffe soon after and he qualified as a fighter pilot in 1938.

During World War II Rall was credited with the destruction of 275 enemy aircraft in 621 combat missions. He was shot down five times and wounded on three occasions. Rall claimed most of his victories in a Messerschmitt Bf 109, he also flew the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 operationally and later the Flitzer in 1946. All but three of his claims were against Soviet opposition.

Our 1/30 scale model comes with free figure SS061B . Limited to 5 in number worldwide of this hand carved Mahogany model.