Hobby Master HA38068 1/72 Air Power Series

Hobby Master 1/72 Air Power Series HA38068 is a 1/72 scale diecast model of the Lockheed F-16C Block 42, s/n 89-2056, The Commanding officer’s aircraft of the 56th Fighter Wing (56th FW) “Thunderbolts” of the United States Air Force (USAF) stationed at Luke AFB, Arizona, in 2009.

56th FW “Thunderbolts”, USAF

The 56th Fighter Wing, known as the “Thunderbolts,” is a United States Air Force unit based at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. This wing is responsible for training pilots on the F-35 and F-16 aircraft, as well as air traffic controllers.

The 56th Fighter Wing, activated on August 15, 1947, with its flying component, the 56th Fighter Group, operating the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Stars.

General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

The F-16 Fighting Falcon is an American single-engine, single-seat, all-weather, multi-role jet fighter that first flew on December 8, 1976, and entered service in January 1979.

Features of the F-16 include a frameless bubble canopy, a side-mounted control stick, an ejection seat reclined 30 degrees from the vertical position, and the first use of a relaxed static stability/fly-by-wire flight control system. Block numbers designate upgrades. It serves 25 countries and manufactures in the USA, the Netherlands, Belgium, Turkey, and Korea.

The F-16 uses a single General Electric F110 or Pratt & Whitney F100 afterburning turbofan axial flow jet engine mounted in the fuselage. The armament consists of one cannon. Eleven external hardpoints can carry up to 7,700 kg (17,000 lb) of stores.

General Dynamics merged with Lockheed in 1993 and was subsequently renamed Lockheed Martin in 1995 following a merger with Martin Marietta.