The F/A-18 Hornet is the true multi-role aircraft. It can vault from a carrier deck, bomb a target and stay to dogfight even the best enemy aircraft without missing a beat. It's the Navy's first modern-era jet intended for double duty against air- and ground-based adversaries. Armed to the hilt with Sparrow and Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, an internal cannon, and laser-guided bombs, this modern warbird was an outstanding performer in Operation Desert Storm. Strapped into a digital cockpit described as a cross between Star Wars and a video game, pilots of the F/A-18 Hornet take on the ultimate aviation job: blasting this single-seat, high-performance jet off the deck of a carrier, dropping bombs, and firing air-to-ground ordnance. Offering unmatched agility, the Hornet is the choice aircraft of the US Navy's elite Blue Angels aerobatic team.

The F/A-18A is the single-seat variant and the F/A-18B is the two-seat variant. The space for the two-seat cockpit is provided by a relocation of avionics equipment and a 6% reduction in internal fuel; two-seat Hornets are otherwise fully combat-capable. The B-model is used primarily for training.

In 1992, the original Hughes AN/APG-65 radar was replaced with the Hughes (now Raytheon) AN/APG-73, a faster and more capable radar. A-model Hornets that have been upgraded to the AN/APG-73 are designated F/A-18A+.

Pictured here is a gorgeous 1:72 scale diecast replica of a Royal Canadian Boeing CF-18B Hornet Strike Fighter known as "2016 DEMO" and piloted by Captain Ryan "Roid" Kean in 2016. Sold Out!

Dimensions:
Wingspan: 7-1/2-inches
Length: 9-inches

Release Date: June 2019

Historical Account: "BCATP" - In 2016, the Royal Canadian Air Force is commemorating one of the world's greatest air training programs, the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), which ran from 1939 to 1945, and the 75th anniversary of the establishment of RCAF's 400-series squadrons which makes up the fabric of the modern RCAF. These squadrons, which continue to serve Canada and Canadians to this day, came into being as a result of Article XV of the BCATP agreement.

By the end of the Second World War, the BCATP had produced 131,553 aircrew, including pilots, wireless operators, air gunners, and navigators for the Air Forces of Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The plan also trained citizens of other nations - including Poland, the United States, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, Czechoslovakia and France that were critical to the war effort. Further, tens-of-thousands of maintainers and support staff were recruited and trained by the RCAF to support the effort - without the contribution of these civilian men and women, the plan would have failed.