Code: FV-820004A-2 Price: $109.95 Status: In Stock Quantity in Cart: none
Forces of Valor 820004A-2 Bell AH-1W SuperCobra Diecast Model USMC HMLA-167 Warriors, Camp Bastion, Afghanistan, December 2012
1:48 Scale
Length
Width
Bell AH-1W SuperCobra
13.25"
11"
While attached to HMLA 169 in Afghanistan in 2012, the squadron painted the aircraft with its distinctive 9/11 FDNY memorial paint scheme and included insignias of the FDNY and Ladder Company 17, Engine 60, South Bronx. Ladder Company 17, Engine 60 lost 60 first responders in the attack on the Twin Towers. The paint scheme has remained on the Cobra as it has passed from one HMLA to the next--making it a celebrity within the AH-1 community.
In the early 1980s, the U.S. Marine Corps sought a new navalized helicopter, but it was denied funding to buy the AH-64 Apache by Congress in 1981. The Marines in turn pursued a more powerful version of the AH-1T. Other changes included modified fire control systems to carry and fire AIM-9 Sidewinder and AGM-114 Hellfire missiles. The new version was funded by Congress and received the AH-1W designation.
Designed to meet an urgent US Army requirement for a helicopter gunship, the Bell AH-1 Cobra-sometimes called The Snake-was first flown on September 7th, 1965. Troop-carrying Hueys depended on the Cobra for fire support; it was fast and very maneuverable, and its narrow 38-inch airframe made for a difficult target. Its main armament was its three-barrel 20mm Gatling gun mounted in a chin turret, but it was also capable of using a variety of other weapons including rocket pods, cannon pods, minigun pods and missiles. Replaced by Apaches in the 1990s, the Cobra now serves the US Forest Service as a firefighter.
