BAe AV-8B Harrier II – VMA-311 Tomcats, USMC, King Abdul Aziz AB, Saudi Arabia, Operation Desert Shield, August 1990

Hobby Master 1/72 scale HA2625: BAe AV-8B Harrier II WL01 of VMA-311 Tomcats, USMC, King Abdul Aziz AB, Saudi Arabia, Operation Desert Shield, August 1990. Production run of 600 models.

Length 7.75 inches Wingspan 5 inches

VMA-311 “Tomcats” received their first AV-8B Harrier in 1988 and in 1992 received the Night Attack AV-8Bs becoming a night attack squadron. VMA-311 took part in Operation Desert Shield, Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom. During OIF the squadron flew over 550 sorties, dropped 77 tons of precision ordnance and eliminated 132 Iraqi tanks. AV-8B BuNo 163517 was delivered to VMA-311 on 3 October 1988 as B-131. In 1999 163517 was SOC and parts were scavenged and with some new parts AV-8B II+ 165429 was created in 2000.

Designed to meet a NATO specification for a light tactical support fighter that was also capable of Vertical/Short Takeoff and Landing (V/STOL), the Harrier first flew in 1960. This unique aircraft has the distinction of being the only successful V/STOL design out of the many that were put forth during the 1960s. There are four different versions of the Harrier, which uses thrust vectoring to achieve V/STOL: the first generation Hawker Siddeley Harrier, the Naval strike/air defence BAE Sea Harrier, the US AV-8B Harrier II variant and the British BAE Harrier II. The Harrier was produced between 1969 and 2003.