Arma Hobby 1/72 Scale Yakovlev Yak-1b (Expert Set) - Plastic Model Building Aircraft Kit, Item 70027 History of the Yak-1b Fighter Yak-1b is one of the most famous fighter aircraft of World War II. Its history began in the late 1930s when J. Stalin commissioned the development of a modern fighter aeroplane, whose performance would match the British Spitfire and the German Bf-109. The new fighter was to be made of readily available materials and based on engines produced from the USSR. The prototype marked as I-26 was flown on January 1940. During the tests, some flaws in the new design were revealed, which were successively eliminated to send the aircraft into serial production in February. The new aircraft was first shown to the public during the parade on November 7, 1940, in Moscow. Yak-1b model set contents: - New plastic parts (metal molds) - Large decal with many markings options and two sets of stencils/control panel included - Photo-etched parts - Canopy and wheel masks Colours and markings schemes - Yak-1b, No. 4, 1 squadron, 1 Fighter Aviation Regiment, W/O Edward Chromy, Zadybie Stare, lato 1944 r. - Yak-1b, No. 13, 2 squadron, 1 Fighter Aviation Regiment, F/SGT Hugo O'Brien, Operation Berlin 1945. - Yak-1b, No. 2, 148 IAP. Aeroplane flown by Regiment CO, Capt. Leonid Smirnov. After his death flown by Ltn. Mikhail Shkomplektov, who has mistakenly landed on German airbase in Anapa on 11 May 1943. - Yak-1b, in German markings. Probably in Erprobungsstelle Rechlin on Autumn 1943. - Yak-1b, No. 26, 31 GIAP, major Boris Yeryomin , Solodovka, Stalingrad Front, December 1942 r. - Yak-1b, No. 6, GC3 Normandie, Albert Durand, Khatenki, Summer 1943.