McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet – Canadian Armed Forces Demonstration Team, 2016

Hobby Master 1/72 scale HA3550: McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet, Canadian Armed Forces Demonstration Team, 2016. Production run of 800 models.

Length 9.25 inches         Wingspan 6.25 inches

The 2016 Canadian Armed Forces CF-18 Demo aircraft design was developed by the 410 TF (Operational Training) Squadron’s graphic artist Jim Belliveau. The scheme represents the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP). The yellow represents the training aircraft, the black is for the dark times of war and the red is for flames against the darkness. The BCATP ran from 1939 until 1945 and was carried out in more than one hundred communities across Canada; training 131,553 aircrew. The aircraft was piloted by Captain Ryan “Roid” Kean.

Designed as a replacement for the A-4 Skyhawk and the A-7 Corsair II and as a complement to the F-14 Tomcat, the F/A-18 first flew on November 18, 1978. Perhaps best known as the aircraft of the US Navy’s Blue Angels, this carrier-capable, supersonic, all-weather fighter has many roles, including fighter escort, fleet air defense and close air support. The F/A-18 is a versatile aircraft: it can operate from carriers or land bases and a single switch converts it from fighter to strike mode. During Operation Desert Storm, the F/A-18 proved that, on a single mission, one aircraft could serve as both fighter and a bomber.