McDonnell Douglas F-4B VMFA-531 USS Forrestal HMS Ark Royal Scale 1/72 HA1962

McDonnell Douglas F-4B VMFA-531 USS Forrestal cross operating on HMS Ark Royal Scale 1/72 1/72 scale. Professionally painted. Great attention to detail. All markings are Tampoed (pad applied). Option to display the model on a stand that is provided. Model can be shown with the landing gear in the down or up positions. Loads of optional armament provided. Canopy can be displayed open or closed. Pilot figures included. Extremely heavy metal with a minimum of plastic. Highly collectable. One of the most famous and easily recognized fighter aircraft of the post-WWII era was the McDonnell F-4 Phantom II. This aircraft was developed as a private venture by the aircraft company but was soon ordered by the USN as a carrier-based attack aircraft. Its first flight took place on May 27, 1958 and it entered active service in December 1960. It wasn’t long after the F-4B appeared that a fly-off was set up with USAF front-line fighters. It was no contest, the F-4 performed so well that the USAF ordered their own variant, the F-4C. As time went on, the F-4 evolved into well over a dozen variants. VMFA-531 “Grey Ghosts” along with their F-4s were assigned to the USS Forrestal for a Mediterranean deployment from September 22, 1972 until July 6, 1973. From February 23 until March 6, 1973 VMFA-531 carried out cross operating with F-4Ks from HMS Ark Royal. During this period the VMFA-531 F-4B wore the dark sea grey tail and fin flash of the host No. 892 Squadron. Urban legend has it F-4B AA/207 went mechanical while on Ark Royal and was painted this scheme to mask the aircraft when HMS Ark Royal sailed into Malta who was at odds with the USA.