History

Yet another classic design from Kelly Johnson, the Lockheed F-80 was America’s first practical, jet powered fighter. I say practical because the real “first U.S. jet was the Bell P-59 which was really a transition trainer for new jet pilots, not a viable combat aircraft. The first “Shooting Star,” was produced in 141 days and flew on Jan 8, 1944. Teething issues included fuel consumption levels higher than anticipated (a common problem of early jet engines) which required hanging extra tanks under the wings. Armed with 6x 50 cal. machine guns and a stable flight profile, the F-80 proved its worth in the Korean conflict primarily as a ground support aircraft.

History: (taken from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

The USS Chevalier was a Gearing Class Destroyer, the second ship to be named after Lcdr. Godfrey De Chevalier (1889-1922), a pioneer of Naval Aviation. She was launched 29 October 1944 at Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine. She was commissioned 9 January 1945 with Cdr. F. Wolsieffer in Command.

She cleared her trials in June 1945 and reached Pearl Harbor on 9 July 1945. On the 24th she sailed to join the bombardment of Wake Island which occurred on 1 August 1945. Arriving in Eniwetok the next day she joined Task Force 38 (TF38). She sailed the next day for Honshu and arrived on 18 Aug 1945. TF38 entered Tokyo Bay on 26 Aug 1945 to take part in the Surrender of Japan and the end of WWII.

This decal sheet initially has you scratching your head about whose sheet it really is. It’s a SuperScale International sheet, with Squadron Products logo on the bottom of it, and it’s printed by Cartograf ion Italy. It doesn’t really matter, because it is a really well done sheet. It features markings for two very colorful Harriers. The VMA-214 bird bears Pappy Boyington’s markings and is in a different than normal two tone grey scheme, FS36118 and FS35237 with a black fin and black wing tanks. The VMA-211 bird is in the same two tone grey scheme with a bright red fin trimmed in yellow. The instruction sheet is in full color, which is a nice touch, and there are enough stencil data to allow you to do both aircraft. You have to really pay attention to all of the marginal notes, because all of the marking data is on one side of the crowded instruction sheet.