Fw 190A-5 flown by Emil "Bully" Lang of 5./Jg 54 in the summer of 1943. Before the war Lang was a successful track-and-field athlete and also a pilot for Lufthansa. His first war time duties came as a transport pilot but he attended fighter pilot training in 1942 and was posted to Jg 54 in northern Russia at the start of 1943. He scored his first victories in March and by mid-August had been promoted to command of his squadron with just 18 victories. By this point, 5./Jg 54 had been transferred south to participate in the the Kursk operation and the battles of the post-Kursk Soviet offensive.
During the battle for Kiev, Lang's score would rise at an incredible rate. Flying multiple sorties almost daily, he would receive credit for 100 Soviet aircraft shot down just in October and November 1943. It was in this stretch that his most famous exploit was achieved. Lang destroyed 18 enemy planes on November 3, making him the pilot with the most victories in a single day.
Lang was transferred to Germany in April, 1944 to command 9./Jg 54 in Reich defense missions until being given command of II Gruppe/ Jg 26 on June 28. On September 3, Lang was bounced by RAF Spitfires shortly after takeoff while attempting to solve an issue with his landing gear - it would not retract. He was shot down and killed while trying to evade with his aircraft in less than fighting shape. Lang was 35 years old, one of the oldest fighter pilots in the Luftwaffe.
"Black 7" is shown as it appeared when photographed in the Kursk area. It has a base scheme of RLM 70 and 71 greens with a straw brown color in streaks and blobs over it. In accordance with the wishes of high command, the unit emblems were over-painted as well - but the clever soul given that task elected to use the same bold green paint which was normally used in Jg 54's "green heart" emblem and that area still looks generally heart shaped.
This skin is a replacement of Selector's original skin from the same squadron with a different pilot. Unfortunately, the scheme he chose has only a few profile drawings as reference. I chose Lang's plane as a replacement both because his "Black 7" is well documented, and also because I feel that an aircraft flown by Lang is very deserving of being skinned.
