Italeri 2764 CESSNA 172 SKYHAWK - Landing on Red Square (1987)

The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is an American multi-role high-wing aircraft with a three-support fixed undercarriage. The flight of the prototype took place in 1955, and the serial production lasted in the years 1956-1986 and from 1998 to the present day. In total, more than 44,000 copies of this aircraft were created - the most in the history of aviation! The 172R version is powered by a single 160 HP Lycoming IO-360-L2A engine. The length of the aircraft is 8.28 meters with a wingspan of 11 meters. The top speed does not exceed 230 km / h, and the range is approximately 1,300 kilometers.

The Cessna 172 Skyhawk was created as a development of the Cessna 170 aircraft. Compared to its predecessor, it was primarily characterized by a changed landing gear layout and the use of a different power unit. The new machine quickly achieved great market success. It owed it to the relatively simple design and ease of use, but also to the solid construction of the aircraft and good piloting properties. The very good opinion of the plane was confirmed by the flight of Robert Timm and John Cook at the turn of 1958-1959, lasting 64 days and 22 hours, which is still the longest (in terms of time) human flight. In 1987, on such a plane, the German teenage pilot Matthias Rust landed on Red Square in Moscow, thus ridiculing the effectiveness of the Soviet air defense! During the long and ongoing serial production, several dozen development versions of this aircraft were created, which differed from each other mainly in the propulsion unit and curb weight.