The Hawker Hunter has been one of the longest serving aircraft with the Indian
Air Force. First inducted in 1957, their numbers grew to 252 aircraft that were
acquired from various sources and was standard equipment for six front line
squadrons and an Operational Conversion Unit during the ’65 and ’71 wars
with Pakistan. No. 20 Sqn., ‘The Lightenings’, based at the Kalaikunda Air
base in West Bengal was the last squadron to operate the Hunters in the
aerobatic display team, ”The Thunderbolts”. After they were disbanded, eight
of the hunters were relegated to target tug flight assignments. With the onset
of hostilities in Kargil in June of ’99, two Hunters were recalled for
frontline service as they were suited for the high altitude ops but did not see
any active sorties.
The photo feature by Simon Watson on
the Hawker Hunter’s last days with the IAF featured in http://Bharath-Rakshak.com
was
inspiration to model the Revell kit to represent one of the last eight Hunters
to be flown by No.2 Target Tug Unit, “The Banners”. Aircraft A484 was
delivered to the IAF in 1967 and was one of the original aircraft of the
Thunderbolt aerobatic team.
Click on
images below to see larger images
The build was pretty straight
forward and the fit up was excellent. I assembled and painted the wings
separately in order to get better results with the separation of the two
tone camo and aluminum of the fuselage.
Acrylic paints were used for the camo. The decals were self made and the
numberings were dry transfer decals. The model was finally sealed with
dull cote.
My next hunter will probably don the
colors of “The Thunderbolts”….
Happy Republic Day 2009.
Leonard
Prakasam
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