Description

JC Wings 1/72 scale JCW72F18011: McDonnell Douglas CF-188A Hornet of 410 Cougars Tactical Fighter Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force 2002. The aircraft has an excellent looking special livery commemorating 20 years of service operating the Hornet. Limited edition of 600 models.

Length 9.25 inches Wingspan 6.25 inches

410 Tactical Fighter Operational Training Squadron, nicknamed the “Cougars”, is a Royal Canadian Air Force aircraft squadron currently located at Canadas primary training base for the CF-18 (Canadian Forces version of the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet), at Cold Lake, Alberta. The squadron was formed during the Second World War as an RCAF squadron under the Royal Air Force (RAF), at RAF Ayr, near Prestwick, in Scotland.

The first official sortie of 410 Squadron was from RAF Drem, East Lothian, Scotland, on the night of 4 June 1942, when twelve Beaufighter crews took off, and it went on to become the top-scoring night fighter squadron in the RAF Second Tactical Air Force during the period between D-Day and VE-Day.

410 Squadron supported the Allied forces during the Normandy Landings and the Battle of the Bulge, flew nightly patrols during this time and many of its pilots gained ace status. Two members of 410 Squadron, Flight Lieutenant (F/L) Currie and Flying Officer (F/O) Rose, were the first members of the RCAF to see the German V-2 rocket in flight.

The squadron was disbanded in 1964 but reformed again in 1968.

As 410 Tactical Fighter Operational Training Squadron, the squadron usually trains between 20 and 22 pilots a year on the CF-18, more than any other RCAF squadron. The Canadian documentary television series Jetstream was filmed with the squadron in 2007 and showed what trainees must endure to become fighter pilots.

The McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet (official military designation CF-188) is a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) variant of the American McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet fighter aircraft. In 1980, the F/A-18 was selected as the winner of the New Fighter Aircraft Project competition and awarded a production order; deliveries of the CF-18 to the Canadian Forces began in 1982. CF-18s have supported North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) air sovereignty patrols and participated in combat during the Gulf War in 1991, the Kosovo War in the late 1990s, and as part of the Canadian contribution to the international Libyan no-fly zone in 2011. CF-18s were also part of the Canadian contribution to the military intervention against ISIL, Operation Impact.