Hobby Master US Navy Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet Strike Fighter - 166628, VFA-32 "Fighting Swordsmen", EAA Air Venture, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, 2023 (1:72 Scale)

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US Navy Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet Strike Fighter - 166628, VFA-32 "Fighting Swordsmen", EAA Air Venture, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, 2023 (1:72 Scale)

Hobby Master US Navy Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet Strike Fighter - 166628, VFA-32 "Fighting Swordsmen", EAA Air Venture, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, 2023

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Hobby Master HA5137 US Navy Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet Strike Fighter - 166628, VFA-32 "Fighting Swordsmen", EAA Air Venture, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, 2023 (1:72 Scale) "...train fighter air crews at the graduate level in all aspects of fighter weapons systems including tactics, techniques, procedures and doctrine. It serves to build a nucleus of eminently knowledgeable fighter crews to construct, guide, and enhance weapons training cycles and subsequent aircrew performance. This select group acts as the F-4 community's most operationally orientated weapons specialists. TOPGUN's efforts are dedicated to the Navy's professional fighter crews, past, present and future."
- 1973 command history of the Navy Fighter Weapons School

The Boeing F/A-18E and F/A-18F Super Hornet are twin-engine carrier-capable multirole fighter aircraft variants based on the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet. The F/A-18E single-seat and F/A-18F tandem-seat variants are larger and more advanced derivatives of the F/A-18C and D Hornet. The Super Hornet has an internal 20 mm M61 rotary cannon and can carry air-to-air missiles and air-to-surface weapons. Additional fuel can be carried in up to five external fuel tanks and the aircraft can be configured as an airborne tanker by adding an external air refueling system.

Designed and initially produced by McDonnell Douglas, the Super Hornet first flew in 1995. Full-rate production began in September 1997, after the merger of McDonnell Douglas and Boeing the previous month. The Super Hornet entered service with the United States Navy in 1999, replacing the Grumman F-14 Tomcat, which was retired in 2006; the Super Hornet serves alongside the original Hornet. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), which has operated the F/A-18A as its main fighter since 1984, ordered the F/A-18F in 2007 to replace its aging F-111C fleet. RAAF Super Hornets entered service in December 2010.

Pictured here is a gorgeous 1:72 scale diecast replica of a United States Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet that was attached to VFA-32 "Fighting Swordsmen", which participated in the EAA Air Venture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, during 2023. Now in stock!

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

Release Date: May 2024

Historical Account: "Fighting Swordsmen" - Strike Fighter Squadron 32 (VFA-32), nicknamed the "Fighting Swordsmen" are a United States Navy strike fighter squadron presently flying the F/A-18F Super Hornet and based ashore at Naval Air Station Oceana. Their radio callsign is Gypsy and their tail code is AC. The Fighting Swordsmen of VFA-32 are the 2023 recipients of the Mutha Fighter Spirit Award, awarded annually at the Navy's Strike Fighter Ball in Norfolk, VA.

In November 2007, VFA-32 embarked on USS Harry S. Truman for their first F/A-18F Super Hornet cruise, deploying to the Persian Gulf. VFA-32 and the rest of CVW-3 returned home on June 4th, 2008. VFA-32 was awarded the Battle Effectiveness Award for maintaining the highest state of battle readiness and sustained superior performance in February 2009.

Throughout the 2010s, VFA-32 saw numerous deployments and conducted extensive combat operations in the Middle East with their F/A-18Fs.

In October 2023, VFA-32 began a combat deployment within Air Wing Three onboard the USS Dwight D Eisenhower. The deployment focused heavily within the CENTCOM AOR. For the majority of the deployment, VFA-32 operated from the Red Sea. Constant combat operations against Houthi-Iranian military units in Yemen and over the Red Sea occurred during the deployment. VFA-32 was heavily involved in defensive and offensive operations against Houthi-Iranian drones, as well as fixed and mobile targets. At some point in this deployment, which ended on July 14th, 2024, a woman in VFA-32 became the first American female pilot to engage and kill an air-to-air contact.