Hobby Master 1/72 Air Power Series
HA5131F/A-18E Super Hornet 07/165792, VFC-12, US NAVY, NAS Oceana, June 2021
General Background
The McDonnell Douglas Boeing F/A-18E Super Hornet is a twin-engine multi-role carrier-based aircraft. The “E” variant is single-seater while the “F” variant is a tandem-seat configuration. The “E” is a much larger, more advanced and more capable variant of the F/A-18C. The Super variant can carry a larger array of weapons as well as more of them and is capable of returning to the carrier while still carrying unspent munitions, a big savings in dollars. The first F/A-18E flight was in 1995 and began delivery to the USN in 1999.
The Aircraft
In June 2021 F/A-18E Super Hornet 165792 joined VFC-12 “Fighting Omars” located at NAS Oceana, Virginia. VFC-12 is trading in their older F/A-18A+ and C/D variants for the early examples of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornets with the transition to be completed by October 2021. VFC-12 will be the first aggressor squadron to be fully equipped with the Super Hornet. Using the callsign “Ambush” the unit’s primary objective is to train operational fleet F/A-18 pilots to learn and perfect the fighting skills against an adversary.
