Kit Previews E – I
F-8E Crusader
F-8 Crusader by Academy 1/72 scale Cost: $22.00 Decals: Two versions - both U.S. Marines Comments: Engraved panel lines; Detailed cockpit, landing gear and intake trunking; Optional position air brakes; Variable incidence wing; Full complement of AIM-9 Sidewinder...
F9F-2 Panther
The F9F-2 Panther entered service with the US Navy one week after hostilities began in Korea, and quickly became a fighter-bomber workhorse. It made up 85 percent of all Navy and Marine fighters deployed in Korea, and dropped more ordnance than any other Navy aircraft in its close air support role.
F-14 Tomcat
The F-14 Tomcat arose from the ashes of the Navy’s F-111B program to become the Navy’s main fleet defense interceptor for over 30 years. Designed around the million-dollar Phoenix missile, the F-14 bested Soviet fighters in two separate Gulf of Sidra incidents off the Libyan coast in the 1980’s.
Grumman F-14B Tomcat
The F-14 Tomcat was the U.S. Navy’s designated fleet defense interceptor for over 30 years, protecting U.S. aircraft carriers from all threats at long range. It helped cover the U.S. evacuation from Saigon in 1975 and was still conducting operations over the Persian Gulf three decades later. Starting in 1987, the F-14B was the first of many upgrades that kept the type in service into the 21st Century, with more powerful engines and improved search radar.
F-15 Eagle
The F-15 Eagle was the first aircraft in the world with the ability to accelerate while in a 100% vertical attitude. Monogram’s kit features 4 Sparrow and 4 Sidewinders, a detailed pilot figure and ground crewman, and optional position landing gear.
F-15A Satellite Killer
The McDonnell Douglas F-15A was the platform from which the first effective anti-satellite missile was launched on September 13, 1985, destroying a Solwind P78-1 solar observation satellite. The missile, a Vought ASM-135A, carried no explosives and destroyed the satellite with the help of infra-red and radar targeting to destroy the missile by means of the violent collision itself. Congress later shut the program down due to concerns about space debri.
F-15C Eagle
Designed as a pure air superiority fighter, the F-15 Eagle was the result of a 1965 Air Force study and a development program that got a kick in the pants in 1967 with the appearance of the Mach 2-capable Soviet MiG-25 Foxbat. In nearly 45 years of service, the F-15 has scored over 100 victories in air-to-air combat with no losses — a record unparalleled in the history of military aviation.
F/A-18D Hornet
F/A-18 Night Attack by Italeri 1/72 scale Cost: $8.00 (rare score with an online auction) Decals: Two versions - U.S. Marine Corps and Canadian Air Force Comments: Raised panel lines, ample underwing ordnance, option for single-seat fighter or two-seat attack version...
F-21A Lion (Kfir Adversary)
The Israeli Aircraft Industries Kfir was the basis for the F-21 adversary aircraft used by the U.S. Navy and Marines to train pilots in dissimilar air combat training (DACT) from 1985 to 1989. The Kfir was an ideal adversary aircraft, having at least three traits in common with the MiG-23 Flogger, which was introduced in large numbers in the mid- to late-1980’s: Both were very fast multi-role fighters, had fast-accelerating capability, and beyond visual range (BVR) offensive capability.
F-22A Raptor
Designed to maintain the air dominance achieved by the McDonnell-Douglas F-15, the F-22 Raptor entered service with the U.S. Air Force in December 2005. It has one-half the F-15’s radar signature and can fly at speeds in excess of Mach 1 for extended periods. It is the first fighter since the Convair F-106 to carry all its weapons internally.
F-35C Lightning II
The F-35A is the U.S. Air Force’s latest fifth-generation fighter. Its first flight was on December 15, 2006. It is intended to replace the U.S. Air Force’s aging fleet of F-16 Falcons and A-10 Thunderbolt II’s, which have been the primary fighter and ground attack aircraft for more than 40 years. Equipped with state of the art avionics, it has enhanced survivability in multiple modern air combat situations, including advanced ground-based threats.
F-51D Mustang
The North American F-51D Mustang was the re-designated P-51 of World War II fame. It was employed extensively for close air support of U.N. forces during the Korean War, particularly during the struggle to hold the Pusan Perimeter after the bloody retreat from the Chosin Reservoir during the winter of 1950-51. It was prized for its ability to loiter over the front lines and provide air support, to the degree that some F-80 jet units re-equipped with the F-51D.
F-82 Twin Mustang
North American’s F-82 Twin Mustang downed the first enemy aircraft of the Korean War, when Lts. William Hudson and Carl Fraser shot down a Yak-11 on June 27, 1950, two days after the North Korean invasion.
F-86 Sabre
North American F-86F-30 Sabre Jet by Hasegawa 1/48 scale Kit No. 07213 Cost: $28.00 Decals: Two U.S. Air Force versions Comments: Engraved panel lines, boxed in wheel wells, intake and exhaust, detailed pilot figure, poor cockpit detail for the scale History The North...
F-100 Super Sabre
North American F-100 Super Sabre by Revell 1/72 scale Kit No. 04604 Cost: $15.00 Decals: Two versions – USAF, 1958; French Armee de l’Air, 1972 Comments: Re-box of sought-after 1982 Esci kit History The F-100 took its maiden flight on May 25, 1953. Although designed...
F-102 Delta Dagger
Convair’s F-102 Delta Dagger took its maiden flight on October 24, 1953, and entered service with NORAD, the North American Air Defense Command, in April 1956. It was the first fighter able to reach supersonic speed in level flight. For a time it was a key part of NATO’s forward air defenses, with the last squadron standing down in 1973.
F-104 Starfighter
An effective point-defense interceptor but lacking in range and maneuverability, the F-104 was withdrawn from front-line USAF units just three years after its introduction. It figured prominently in a 1960’s bribery scandal involving fighter contracts for the NATO countries.
F-105G Wild Weasel
The Republic F-105 was, according to the late Pierre Sprey, former defense analyst at the Pentagon who was instrumental in the development of the F-16 Falcon and the A-10 Warthog, “an attempt by Tactical Air Command to grab a little of the nuclear money.” Designed to deliver tactical atomic bombs in Europe in the hopes of limiting a nuclear war, the F-105 would see the bulk of its combat dropping conventional bombs on targets in Southeast Asia.
F-106A Delta Dart
Initially intended as an upgrade of the Convair F-102 interceptor, the F-106 evolved into a distinct and more capable aircraft. Entering service with the Air Defense Command in 1959, it became the Air Force interceptor of choice, remaining on alert status into the 1980’s due to continual upgrades, protecting the U.S. from air attack at the height of the Cold War.
F-107 Ultra Sabre
North American F-107A Ultra Sabre by Trumpeter 1/72 scale Kit No. 1605 Cost: $17.00 Decals: Three versions - all U.S. Air Force prototypes Comments: Crisp detail, engraved panel lines History Developed by North American Aviation in the mid-1950's, the F-107 was the...