Academy 12632 Boeing B-52D Stratofortress 1/144 Scale Plastic Model Kit

The Academy Plastic Model Company has been producing kits since 1969. The company is famous for its endless research and development and the excellent model kits that result from the effort. Academy has been awarded 'Model of the Year' at the Nuremberg International Toy Show many times and the quality of their model kits meets or exceeds that of any other current manufacturer. Item is brand new and in its original factory packaging. Listing images are stock pictures provided by the manufacturer or the distributor. Long-range heavy bomber capable of delivering a nuclear payload, developed by Boeing for the United States Air Force entering military service from 1955. The seventy year old design is expected to remain operational until the 2050s. The B-52D variant was used extensively in the Vietnam war. This release from Academy is from the Minicraft tooling. M117 air-dropped demolition bombs included. Markings for B-52D 55-0675: Retired October 1982, broken up December 1993; 56-0676: The first B-52 to down a MiG-21 in combat (over North Vietnam) and preserved at Fairchild AFB; 55-0677: Preserved at the Yankee Air Museum, Michigan; 56-0591: 4925th Test Group (Atomic) "Tommy's Tigator", crashed June 1959 in the Ochoco National Forest, Oregon. Cause, failure of the horizontal stabilizer (tail plane) during low-level flight tests. The crew of five Boeing employees did not survive. In 1948, the US Department of Defense placed an order with Boeing to develop a new strategic bomber with a lifting capacity and range exceeding all existing ones, capable of attacking targets anywhere on the globe. The result of this order was the design of the XB-52 aircraft with 20 ° slant wings, equipped with 6 turboprop engines. After obtaining jet engines (or strictly after purchasing their license in Great Britain), it was significantly modified; the skew of the wings was increased to 35 ° and the number of engines was increased to eight, placing them in pairs on the under-wing pylons; the landing gear of the plane was resolved in an unconventional way. In 1949, after presenting the model to the recipient and obtaining its approval, the construction of prototypes began, using the experience gained in the construction and construction of the earlier B-47 Stratojet bomber. The prototype of the B-52 was flown on April 15, 1952. Only three days later, the most dangerous competitor of the B-52 took to the skies; Convair bomber, designated YB-60. The second major competitor was the Douglas 1211-I turboprop. Ultimately, however, the Boeing design was put into production. At the end of the 1960s, the B-52G and B-52H versions were modified by installing a new avionics and adapting them to carry new weapons in the form of AGM-69A missiles, and the engines were also replaced with the newer TF-33-P-3 (8x7563 daN). The still existing B-52 bombers in the early 1980s underwent another modification. It consisted in installing a new avionics and adapting them to carry the AGM-86A / B ALCM cruise missiles by installing revolver ejectors of these missiles in the bomb bay. Between 1991-92, a small number of B-52Hs were armed with AGM-129 ACM missiles. As a defense, the M61 "Vulcan" cannon (20 mm caliber) or 4 coupled MGs (12. 7 mm caliber), controlled by a radar; classic nuclear bombs in the bomb chamber; under the wing, high-impact missiles or cruise missiles. This finely detailed plastic model kit requires assembly and painting.