It is quite possible that a number of you reading this know little or nothing about the Cold War. Those of us who have lived through it, especially if we were in the military, recall that nearly the whole time, some 40 years, America's military was at a state of near war. Though it seemed as if there were not enough units to go around, the drawdown after Desert Storm showed that the US military must have seemed to be everywhere. 

Within a few years of the end of the Cold War, which historians will probably place around 1989, literally hundreds of units were disbanded or combined. One of them was the 401st TFW. This was the only major USAF presence on the Iberian peninsula and was based at Torrejon AFB in Spain. Shortly after receiving F-16Cs, the unit was disbanded en masse with not only the wing, but squadron designations returning to the USAF archives, probably never to be seen again.

Unlike the Navy that does not usually transfer unit designations, but instead transfers markings and heritage (witness what happened to VF-84, the Jolly Rogers), the USAF likes to have continuity of unit histories (like the RAF) and will disband 'lesser' unit designations to keep historically important ones. The 401st was not deemed important enough to keep.

Like all USAF squadrons and wings, there are 'boss birds' these have the markings of wing and squadrons on the tail and are assigned to the wing and squadron commanders. This sheet is for the last boss birds of the 401st TFW.

There are four aircraft on this sheet with full stencil markings for one plane, but enough insignia for all four. 

Basically they are identical in general markings, differing only in what is on the tail. There are markings for the 401st Wing commander with a multicolored tail band. The aircraft itself was assigned to the 612 TFS. 

Then there are the squadron commander's bird for the 612th , 613th and 614th TFS. The tail bands are, respectively, white and black checks, yellow and black checks and red and black checks. Each tail band has a small squadron badge in it with the wing CO's bird having a wing badge in this spot.

Overall, it is a nice decal sheet and one that needs to be done by any modeler who is really into F-16s.

Review copy courtesy of me and my wallet! 

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