| |
Categories: McDonnell Douglas : US Air Force : F-4 Phantom : Hobbymaster
McDonnell Douglas F-4C Phantom 65-876 (USAF Snoopy - War`s Hell) (1:72 scale by Hobbymaster HA1955)
 |
| (click photo for more detail) |
The F-4 Phantom II first entered US Military service in 1960. It was designed as a fleet defense fighter for the US Navy but by 1963 it was adopted as the US Air Force primary fighter-bomber. Despite the size and weight of this Cold War icon the F-4 broke 15 world records and continued to hold five of them until 1975. Produced from 1960 to 1981 there were 5,195 Phantom IIs manufactured. Eleven countries other than the USA had the Phantom II in their inventory.
In October 1966 the 11th TRS (Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron) arrived at the Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand. They had been dispatched from the 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing (TRW) at Mountain Home AFB, Idaho and were reassigned as one of the two squadrons that formed the 432nd TRW “Hunters”. The 11th TRS RF-4C’s wore a tail code of OO with a black tail tip. During one portion of the Vietnam War the 11th TRS along with the 14th TRS would fly between 40 and 50 sorties per day using as much as 7 miles of film. These 2 squadrons are credited with flying 80 percent of all reconnaissance flights over North Vietnam. As a rule these flights were carried out at low altitudes and the aircraft had to fly straight lines in order to acquire good photos. This made the aircraft involved in this type of sortie very susceptible to ground fire accounting for the loss of 83 aircraft during the Vietnam War. 72 aircraft were lost in combat, 7 shot down by SAM’s and 65 to AAA or small arms fire. No RF-4Cs were lost to enemy aircraft. In November 1970 as part of the American drawdown the 11th TRS was reassigned to the 363rd TFW at Shaw AFB, South Carolina. RF-4C BuNo. 65-0876 “Snoopy – War’s Hell” was sold to Spain in 1995 and given serial CR.12-57.
1:72 scale (approx. 16cm / 6.3in wingspan) - made by Hobbymaster.
|
|