History

The Fieseler Fi-156 “Storch” was one of the first STOL aircraft developed for military use. Appearing first in 1935, it went into Luftwaffe service in 1937, and served throughout World War II, both in the Luftwaffe, and in the armed forces of Bulgaria, Croatia, Finland, Hungary, Rumania, Italy, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. In addition, they were also manufactured in Czechoslovakia and France, where production continued after the war. Many postwar models had different engines, and some wartime models are still flying. Some Fi-156’s were captured by the Allies, and were used by the Americans, British, and French.

Brief History

The AIDC F-CK-1 Ching-kuo, commonly known as the Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF), is a multi-role combat aicraft named after Chiang Ching-kuo, the late President of the Republic of China (Taiwan). The aircraft made its first flight in 1989. It was delivered to Republic of China Air Force in January 1994 and entered service in 1997. All 130 production aircraft had been manufactured by 1999.

The IDF program was initiated when the United States refused to sell F-20 Tigershark and F-16 Fighting Falcon jet fighters to Taiwan following diplomatic pressure from China. Taiwan therefore decided to develop an advanced indigenous jet fighter. The IDF jet fighter project was designed and built by the Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) based in Taichung, Taiwan.

Brengun has released the Me-163B 1/144th scale kit before but this new boxing has markings for some “War Prizes” or captured aircraft. The kit parts are molded in gray plastic and comprise only ten parts per airplane. Did I mention that there are two complete models in each box? If not, let me tell you now that there are two complete models in each box.

The box also contains markings for three separate War Prizes: one British, a Russian, and a Me-163B still in German markings that was taken to the United States for evaluation. Fun Fact: The War Prize that was flown to the U.S. was flight tested by Major Gustav Lundquist. Major Lundquist, was later a Brigadier General and commanding officer at the Arnold Engineering Development Center, the U.S. Air Forces flight test facility.

Scale Aircraft Conversions (SAC) produces white metal replacement parts for kits in a variety of scales. Some of their landing gear sets are for a variety of kits and some sets are designed for a specific model. The sets are designed to support the weight of a specific model without warping that can sometimes be seen with kit styrene landing gear supporting a model’s nose weight.

This landing gear set is for either the Wolfpack, Italeri and Testors 1/72 scale model T-45 Goshawk. I had to add a good amount of weight in the nose to get the model to rest on its nose gear and the gear supported the weight without any problems. The aircraft with all the weight in the nose is quite steady sitting on the SAC gear set.

The parts were well cast and had no flash or other areas that needed to be sanded. The gear set had a good amount of detail molded into them. The kit comes with front strut, two main landing gear struts and two support bars for the main gear set.

History

The Bell P-39 Airacobra was one of the principal American fighter aircraft in service when the United States entered World War II. The P-39 was used by the Soviet Air Force and scored the highest number of individual kills attributed to any U.S. fighter type in the Eastern European theatre. Other major users of the type included the Free French, the Royal Air Force, the United States Army Air Forces and the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force. Designed by Bell Aircraft, it had an innovative layout, with the engine installed in the center fuselage, behind the pilot, and driving a tractor propeller via a long shaft. It was also the first fighter fitted with a tricycle undercarriage. Although its mid-engine placement was innovative, the P-39 design was handicapped by the absence of an efficient turbo-supercharger, preventing it from performing high-altitude work.