Heller Republic F-84 G Thunderjet

A Heller 1/72 scale kit of a Republic F-84 G Thunderjet.


The aircraft depicted on the box lid was flown by the 1st Escadre de Chasse of the French Air Force in 1955. The kit also contains decal options for an aircraft of 331 Squadron of the Royal Norwegian Air Force.


This kit is currently for sale on Ebay. If you would like to view the auction, please look here.


The prototype Republic F-84 first flew on the 28th February 1946 and officially entered service with the United States Air Force in December 1947, although due to numerous structural design and engine problems, the aircraft was not considered fully operational until the 1949 F-84D model.


The F-84G variant as featured in the Heller kit was introduced in 1951.


During the Korean War, the F-84 Thunderjet was the USAF's principal strike aircraft and flew over 86,000 combat missions and was credited with destroying 60% of all ground targets as well as eight Soviet-built MiG fighters. 335 Thunderjets were lost during the war.


In total 7,524 F-84's were produced and over half served with NATO air forces including Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Belgium, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and Turkey.


The F-84 Thunderjet was the first production fighter aircraft to utilise in-flight refueling and the first capable of carrying a nuclear weapon (the Mark 7 nuclear bomb).


The Thunderjet remained in service with the USAF until the mid 1960's when it was replaced by the Super Sabre.


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A mid 1970's Matchbox 1/72 scale two colour kit (number PK-32) of the North American F-86A/5 Sabre.

The box lid shows an aircraft of the USAF 4th Fighter Interceptor Wing operating in Korea on 8th July 1951.

The Sabre first entered into service with the US Air Force in 1949 and was the most widely used US fighter aircraft during the Korean War where it fought with great success against Soviet built MiG-15's.

The Sabre remained in front line USAF service until 1956 but was widely exported to other countries. The total production ran to nearly ten thousand aircraft including versions built under licence in countries such as Canada, Australia and Japan.

The aircraft was used by the Pakistan Air Force in the wars against India in 1965 and 1971 both as a fighter and ground attack aircraft.

The last country to use the Sabre in front line service was Bolivia where it remained operational until 1994.

I cam across the following video about the Sabre which I hope you will find of interest....



An example of this kit is currently for sale on e-bay here.

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