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Panavia Tornado GR.4 ZA548, RAF No.31 Squadron ‘Goldstars’ Retirement Scheme, RAF Marham, March 2019Wingspan 7.6"Having the distinction of being one of final two RAF squadron's to operate the Panavia Tornado, No.31 squadron were determined not to allow their long association with this exceptional aircraft go unheralded. During November 2018, Tornado GR.4 ZA548 emerged from the paint shop at RAF Marham wearing a distinctive new disbandment scheme, which marked 35 years of Tornado operations for the squadron and featured the silhouette of a Tornado on the tail of the aircraft, with the unit's famous 'Goldstar' emblem placed on top of it. The black spine of the aircraft also carries the wording '31 Squadron Tornado 1984-2019' and marks 35 years of Tornado operation, initially from bases in Germany, right up until the final days at RAF Marham. The gold star, which appears on the squadron's crest is a representation of the 'Star of India' and marks No.31 Squadron's heritage as the first military unit to fly in India. Tornado ZA548 would go on to undertake a series of high profile national flypasts and official RAF events during the final months of the Tornados service career, helping to give this Cold War warrior the fitting send-off it deserved. This scale representation of the aircraft is taking its place in the Aviation Achieve range alongside the other two specially presented disbandment Tornado models (AA33619 and AA33620) released earlier this year, with the trio making a fitting diecast tribute to an aircraft which served the Royal Air Force with such distinction. Even though the ground attack/reconnaissance variant of the Panavia Tornado was charged with performing some of the most demanding roles carried out by Royal Air Force aircraft, often acting as either an aviation peacekeeper, or hard hitting enforcer, the announcement of the aircraft's impeding withdrawal at the beginning of 2019 was greeted with an outpouring of affection by aviation enthusiasts, in addition to aircrew past and present. Thankfully, the last two squadrons operating these hard working aircraft were allowed to mark the final few months of RAF Tornado operation in some style, which included presenting no fewer

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Hawker Hurricane Mk 1 Nightfighter When the Hawker Hurricane entered squadron service at the end of December 1937, it heralded a new era of aviation for a Royal Air Force which could now boast the introduction of their first high speed monoplane fighter. From a design perspective, the Hurricane was more evolutionary than revolutionary, taking many of its design characteristic from the successful series of sleek Hawker biplanes which preceded it - in fact, the new fighter was initially referred to as the Fury Monoplane™ project. A clever combination of traditional design and manufacturing techniques, whilst at the same time introducing many firsts™ for a British monoplane, such as an enclosed cockpit, retractable undercarriage and the adoption of eight machine gun armament, the Hurricane could be described as the right British aeroplane at the right time. In the days when speed was the main attribute required in securing superiority of the skies, the Hurricane was the first RAF fighter to exceed 300 mph in level flight, which at that time represented an incredible 100 mph increase over existing biplane fighters already in service.An extremely rugged aeroplane the traditional manufacturing techniques adopted by Hawker designers meant that the Hurricane was less complicated and much cheaper to produce than the revolutionary Spitfire which followed it into service and perhaps of even greater importance, it was easier to repair having sustained combat damage - these aircraft needed to be in the air fighting, not in a hangar being patched up. Despite the Spitfire taking the reputation of being Britain™s saviour during the Battle of Britain, the competent and dependable Hurricane actually accounted for 2/3rds of the RAF™s aerial victories claimed during the Battle of Britain, a fact which arguably makes the Hawker Hurricane the most important aircraft in British aviation history. Having proved instrumental in defeating the Luftwaffe by day during the summer of 1940, the Hurricane was also called upon to challenge them by night as they moved to a nocturnal bombing campaign following their defe

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Supermarine Spitfire MkIXc - GC Colin Gray - Operation Husky - July 1943Desperate to ensure the Spitfire maintained its ongoing combat effectiveness, designers at the Vickers Supermarine Company were almost constantly engaged in modifying, upgrading and improving their famous fighter throughout the Second World War, however, during that time, there were occasions when unexpected Luftwaffe advancements called upon their flexibility and ingenuity. With a significant new variant of the Spitfire at the advanced stages of development, the introduction of a capable new German fighter aircraft in the skies over occupied Europe caused great concern amongst RAF officials, who were now losing Spitfires at an alarming rate and needed an immediate response. With the proposed squadron introduction of the new Spitfire Mk.VIII variant still some months away, Supermarine designers had the idea of mating the intended new powerplant for this aircraft, the Rolls Royce Merlin 60 series engine, with existing Spitfire Mk.V airframes already on the production line, a temporary solution which might just buy them the time they needed.The idea was given official approval and the RAF's Emergency Interim Fighter Programme got underway, with the new variant given the designation Spitfire IX, a stop-gap solution which would actually prove to be something of a fighting thoroughbred. In actual fact, this undertaking was not without several rather significant challenges for the team at Supermarine to overcome and but for the severity of the situation in the skies over Europe, may have actually been regarded as too problematic. Attaching the powerful new variant of the Merlin engine to existing Spitfire airframes was fraught with challenges, as the new unit was larger, wider and featured a redesigned rear section, all of which made this far from a simple exchange of engines. Supermarine technicians had to remove all existing systems and connections, design a new engine mount, then replace all fittings with newly upgraded components, all of which were essentially hand built. In fact, it could be argued that many of the first Spitfire Mk.IX fighters were hand built, with each one having an incredible number of man hours devoted to their p

Note any reference to MSRP MAP above in description are to be ignored. They represent USA $ pricing and are not valid for Canadian prices.