Airplane Model*Hobby Master HA3315 1:72 F-5E Tiger II “Red 23” BuNo 160792 VFA-127 “Desert Bogeys”, Nevada – Miniature Marvels: Airplane Models & Painted Dice

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-5s 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.

Established as VA-127 Batmen they were re-designated VFA-127 Desert Bogeys in March
1987 and moved to NAS Fallon, Nevada. Strike Fighter Squadron VA-127 was the only USN
adversary squadron permanently stationed in Nevada and was responsible for training pilots in
air-to-air combat. In its role as an aggressor aircraft the F-5E often served as a MIG 21 or MIG 23
in combat simulations. VFA-127 was disestablished on March 23, 1996. Last known location of
160792 is at the Prop and Jet Museum, Hemet California