In the late 1970s,
General Dynamics attempted to sell the F-16 to pretty much anyone with a decent
sized bank account. One of their lesser known efforts was to the tiny country of
Malta.
Seen here is one of
the prototype aircraft marked up in the appropriate insignia of Malta. The all
black appearance was chosen apparently to disguise the previously bright gold
finish applied when it was being toured around various Middle Eastern countries.
A retired Canadian Captain, Charles Allnut, was the pilot for the delivery/sales
mission.
The aircraft was
staged from the US and apparently saw some action in the North Atlantic of an
unknown nature. It was then ferried around Africa and Asia Minor, with only Tech
Sergeant Joe Gunn as ground crew, along with a sales team
consisting of Frank McLeod and Rick Blaine following in various
transport aircraft.
The F-16 was
scheduled to tour in the Pacific region and return across the Pacific late in
1980, but tragically, it disappeared before it could even be seen in Malta.
After Captain Allnut took off from Casablanca, an USAF AWACS commanded by Lt
Colonel Matthew Brennan reported 2 Libyan TU-16s flying on an intercept
course. The last communication from the F-16 was "Badgers? We don't need no
steenking Badgers!" Despite an extensive search of the area by the USS
Caine, no sign was ever found of the Maltese Falcon.
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images below to see larger images
Oddly, the only photos
taken of the Maltese Falcon appear to have been in black and white only.
In the mid 1980s, Turner Entertainment attempted to colorize some of them,
but the results were not aesthetically pleasing.
I used the old
Monogram 1/48th scale kit for this model, mostly because it was near the top of
my stash. I'm saving the Tamiya, Hasegawa and Kinetic F-16s for a kitbash where
I meld all three together using only the wrong parts from each, but I digress.
The kit was assembled stock from the box, with anti-static tabs being added from
stretched sprue. The kit was painted with various Tamiya paints,
mostly NATO Black and Semi-Gloss Black. The decals were custom printed on
my cheap inkjet printer. This is the third time I've built this plane, starting
in 1/144 and last in 1/72...and I hope it's the last time. There is only so many
times I feel the need to cram as many Bogart references into one joke!
Alvis 3.1
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