Hobby Master 1/72 HA3319 Northrop F-5E Tiger II Snake 527th Aggressor Sqn RAF Alconbury
Northrop F-5E Tiger II sn 74-1553, 527th Aggressor Sqn., RAF Alconbury UK 1976-1988 "Snake"
The Northrop F-5 tactical fighter was designed as an extremely maneuverable, supersonic fighter with a high rate of reliability at a low operating cost. The F-5 first flew on July 30, 1959 with the first customer delivery in 1964. The last of more than 2,600 F-5’s was produced in 1989 and about two-thirds of these are still in service with 26 countries more than 4 decades later. The F-5 was manufactured by Northrop Grumman and under license in Canada, Taiwan, South Korea, Spain and Switzerland.
In April 1976 the 527th began as the 527th Tactical Fighter Training and Aggressor Squadron located at RAF Alconbury near Cambridge England. In May 1976 the squadron was equipped with the Northrop F-5E and beginning in September of that year provided aggressor support to combat units based in Europe. Shortly there after; the squadron was renamed the 527th Aggressor Squadron and their F-5Es wore the “snake” camo paint scheme. On June 22, 1988 the 527th flew its last sortie using the F-5E. The 527th AS transitioned to the F-16C in January 1989. F-5E 74-1553 was built in 1974 as c/n R1211 and in July 1990 it was transferred to the Moroccan Air Force as 01553.