Hobby Master HA2625 AV-8B Harrier II 163517, VMA-311, King Abdul Aziz Base, August 1990

Hobby Master Air Power Series 1/72 Scale

HA2625 AV-8B Harrier II 163517, VMA-311, King Abdul Aziz Base, August 1990

Limited Edition of only 600 models worldwide

PRICE: £86.99 (RRP £99.99)

VMA-311 "Tomcats" received their first AV-8B Harrier in 1988 and in 1992 received the Night Attack AV-8Bs becoming a night attack squadron. VMA-311 took part in Operation Desert Shield, Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom. During OIF the squadron flew over 550 sorties, dropped 77 tons of precision ordnance and eliminated 132 Iraqi tanks. AV-8B BuNo 163517 was delivered to VMA-311 on 3 October 1988 as B-131. In 1999 163517 was SOC and parts were scavenged and with some new parts AV-8B II+ 165429 was created in 2000.

The GR.7 series is part of the second generation of Harriers and replaced the older GR.3. This variant is quite similar to the American designed AV-8B but is built under license and equipped with RAF specific navigation and defense systems and added under-wing pylons. The GR.7 is capable of carrying twice the load of the GR.3 or the same load twice as far. The GR.7 first flew in 1989 and entered service in 1990. Of the 96 GR.7 Harriers belonging to the RAF 62 originally were GR.5s that were upgraded to GR.7s.