Lockheed F-16C Barak – 101 Sqn, IDF/AF, West Germany, Exercise Blue Wings, August 2020

Hobby Master 1/72 scale HA3809: Lockheed F-16C Barak #536 of 101 Sqn, IDF/AF, West Germany, Exercise Blue Wings, August 2020. Production of only 500 pieces.

Length 8.25 inches Wingspan 5.25 inches

Israel holds an annual event called “Blue Flag”, a multi-national exercise uniting aviation teams from other countries to learn and share ideas and procedures plus build international relations. The German Luftwaffe participated in “Exercise Blue Flag” in 2017 and 2019 so they decided to host a similar event called “Exercise Blue Wings 2020”. On August 17, 2020 the IAF sent 6 F-16 Barak fighters from 101 and 105 Squadrons based at Hatzor to the German base at Norvenich. F-16C U.S. 90-0868 IAF 536 was delivered in December 1992.

Designed by General Dynamics as a lightweight, daytime USAF air-combat fighter, the F-16 was first flown on January 20th, 1974. This single-engine, supersonic aircraft has, over the years, evolved into a multirole aircraft. It has a frameless bubble canopy-giving its pilot superior visibility-and it uses advanced aerodynamics. The F-16 was one of the first designs to use a relaxed static stability/fly-by-wire system, which helps it pull 9-g maneuvers and achieve speeds of more than Mach 2. Called “Viper” by its pilots, the F-16 is considered one of the most successful aircraft designs of the Cold War, with 4,400+ aircraft built since 1976.