M-346 "Bielik" – the Italian/Polish school-trainer aircraft

Alenia Aermacchi M-346 “Master” is a modern Italian school-trainer aircraft with limited combat capabilities. The aircraft has an all-metal construction, mainly made of aluminum alloys. The first prototype flight took place in 2004. In the same year small-scale production began. The aircraft is powered by two “Honeywell” F124 engines, each developing 27.8 kN of thrust. The aircraft has no permanently mounted armament, but can carry weapons, weighing up to 3,000 kilograms, on underwing pylons. Initially, the M-346 was developed in collaboration with the Russian Yakovlev company as a light and versatile school-trainer aircraft with limited combat capabilities. However, in 2000, cooperation was terminated and “Alenia Aermacchi” decided to complete the aircraft itself. The final version, compared to the original, has a modified fuselage, improved aerodynamic properties, other equipment and is powered by “Honeywell” engines. Currently, 17 countries fly or have ordered these aircraft for their Air Forces, and about 10 of these countries are already in operation: the Air forces of Greece, Italy, Israel, Qatar, Poland, Turkmenistan and Singapore. One Polish AF aircraft crashed in 2024; the pilot was killed.

A small, beautiful and quite complex, well-designed and richly detailed aircraft model for medium-experienced and experienced modelers. The model perfectly recreates the interior of the cabins, the landing gear and its niches, visible engine details, some of the outboard armament and exterior details. The textual instruction medium and very informative in Polish and English, but the graphic one is simply tremendous, informative, perfectly readable and very visual. There are a small reserves of colors. The model depicts training aircraft of the Polish Air Force, where they are designated M-346 "Bielik", the model can be made with one of the following designation numbers: 7701-7707. All of them have been deployed in the 4th Training Aviation Wing in Demblin since 2016.