The aircraft had an interesting history - three of them were bought new from the Fouga factory in France in 1960 but two were quickly lost when UN forces captures the airfield they were based at. The remaining one was flown to great effect by the Belgian mercenary Jacques Deulin, strafing a company of Irish UN troops and setting fire to five cargo aircraft at Elaizabethville. This led U.S. State Department official, Wayne Fredericks, to comment: “I have always believed in air power, but I never thought I’d see the day when one plane would stop the United States and the whole United Nations.
Armed with two locally-made 20mm cannon pods, the aircraft single handedly established air superiority over Katanga and was the chief cause of the establishment of the UN Air Contingent in the Congo. It was shot up on the ground on 23 December 1962 by a Swedish AF Saab J-29 and never flew again. After the Magister's loss the KAF fought on with decreasing numbers of T-6 Havards (planned for a later build).
Kit by Heller, and quite a good one too (probably better than the Airfix, although there's not much in it). Went together easily and captures the shape of this quite unusual 60s jet trainer. Decals by DP Casper, nicely printed but quite frail and likely to acquire a death grip on the first surface they're placed on if not treated with care.
All in all a good fun build.
