2023 holds several surprises for you up its sleeve and the very first one is here today, the 1/72 scale F-84F Thunderstreak. This swept wing jet, alongside its predecessor the F-84F Thunderjet (straight winged) is no doubt one of the symbols of the Cold War early stages. And also an iconit jet of the NATO defence alliance. The USAF operated their Thunderstreaks, also affectively known as Super Hogs, both in the USA and over Europe. In the UK, the 20th TBW USAF F-84F jets were also fitted with a special underwing rack that enabled them to carry and deliver a tactical nuke. Deliveries of the F-84F made the Europe's air forces, from the very north down to the southern NATO flank, much stronger and effective and the jet kept flying from mid 1950s up to the early 70s and with some forces even longer. Besides Europe, the F-84F was also operated over Israel during the Suez War (manned by their French crew even though bearing Israeli markings to disguise France's involvement) and al
I have the airfix 1/72 and the Trumpeter (?) 1/48, so really looking forward to the release of your 1/32. I don't usually do 1/32 as they are too big for my space, but this is definitely one in which I will break tradition for. Thanks for modeling it.
ReplyDeleteI'm very much looking forward to this release of yours, I've build a few of yours in recent years including the excellent 1/32 scale Tempest kits, but I have always had a soft spot for the Whirlwind. It really had the look, unfortunately the engines weren't really good and powerful enough or it could have been a really useful weapon in the defence of the UK by the RAF.
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