Hobby Master Archive

In September 2018 VMFA-211 was deployed aboard the U.S. Navy Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Essex. On the 28th of the month an F-35B carried out a strike against Afghan Taliban. This marked the first time a U.S. F-35 was used in combat when it delivered a precision-guided bomb. The aircraft wore the name Lt. Col. Chris “Otis” Raible on the side under the cockpit to honor the former commander of VMFA-211 killed in Afghanistan in 2012. Later in 2018 mission markings were applied to F-35B 169415’s front landing gear door.