Hobby Master: 1/72 RA-5C Vigilante AJ602/156624
The North American A3J Vigilante first flew on August 31, 1958 and was in
service until
November 1979. Originally designed as a Mach 2 all-weather bomber; the
aircraft eventually had
a new role of high-speed reconnaissance. In 1962 the Vigilante received new
designators, the
original A3J-1 became the A-5A, A3J-2 became A-5B while the reconnaissance
version A3J-3P
became the RA-5C and first flew June 30, 1962. The Vigilante was the largest
and fastest aircraft
to operate from an aircraft carrier. The RA-5C was heavily used in the
Vietnam War.
North American RA-5C 156624 was accepted by the USN in January 1970 and
assigned to
Reconnaissance Attack Squadron 6 (RVAH-6) “Fleurs” for 1970 and 1971 on a
cruise aboard
USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63). Over the next 7 years the aircraft moved to RVAH-5
“Savage Sons”,
RVAH-9 “Hoot Owls”, RVAH-12 “Speartips” before returning to RVAH-6 as
AJ602. RA-5C 156624
made its final flight in mid-1978 and now displayed at the National Naval
Aviation Museum at
NAS Pensacola, Florida wearing AJ-601 from its last cruise aboard the USS
Nimitz.
- Die-cast metal.
- Superb detailing in 1/72 scale.
- Pre-painted with pad applied markings.
- Fully assembled.
- Comes with crew figure
- Display stand included.
- Option to display model with wheels up or down.
- Minimum use of plastic.