History

The Aero L-39 Albatros trainer was designed as a replacement for the Aero L-29 Delfin. It entered service with most Warsaw Pact countries in the early 1970s and a large number remain flying today, many in private ownership.

The Aero L-39 Albatros was the first second generation jet trainer and the first to have a turbofan engine.

Design began in 1964 and the prototype made its first flight on 4 November 1968.

It was used by most Warsaw Pact countries and 2,900 were manufactured until 1996 when production ended.

The Albatros can also serve as a light attack aircraft and they have flown with over 30 air forces.

Their performance and relative cheapness means that many are now in private ownership, over 250 in the United States alone by 2012.

This model represents a standard L-39 in service with the 25th Air Training Wing of the East German Air Force at Bautzen Air Base in 1985.

KP 1/72 kit, Pavla conversion parts & HI-Decal decals completed by Leigh Edmonds in October 2017.

Data

MODEL: Aero L-39 Albatros

ROLE: training aircraft

TIME PERIOD: 1968-

ENGINES: one Ivchenko AI-25TL turbofan engine of 16.87kN thrust

WING SPAN: 9.46m

LENGTH: 12.13m

MAXIMUM TAKE OFF WEIGHT: 4,700kg

MAXIMUM SPEED: 750km/h

RANGE: 1,100km

CREW: 2

ARMAMENT: up to 284kg of underwing weapons

SCALE: 1/72

KIT:

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