Hobby Master 1/72 Air Power Series
HA3566F/A-18C “Chippy Ho” NF400, CAG bird, VFA-195 “Dambusters”, 2010
General Background
The McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) F/A-18 Hornet is a supersonic twin engine all-weather night fighter and attack aircraft. The F/A-18s first flew in November 1978 and the first production flight on April 12, 1980. The first 380 aircraft were F/A-18As and in September 1987 production switched to the F/A-18C. Variants A and C are single-seat aircraft while B and D are tandem-seats. The Hornet can operate from either aircraft carriers or land bases with the capability of in flight refueling. A total of 1,480 A-D variants were built.
The Aircraft
In the fall of 2010 the VFA-195 “Dambusters” began to convert to the new F/A-18E Super Hornet. VFA-195 became the first unit to fully equip with the F/A-18E. The callsign for VFA-195 for the CAG aircraft NF400 1648899 is “Chippy” so the name “Chippy Ho” was a natural, similar to “Tally Ho”. There have been 3 “Chippy Ho” marked F-18C’s, Bu. No’s 163758, 164899 and 164905. VFA-195 became the “Dambusters” because they took part in busting dams in the Korean War.
