Corgi AA34704 Martin RB-57A Canberra United States Air Force 21456 30th TRS, 36th TRW, Sembach, Germany 1956

This item has a limited edition certificate included.

The English Electric Canberra was BritainGÇÖs first jet bomber, the prototype making its maiden flight on 13th May 1949 from Warton, Lancs., powered by two 6,000lb (2722 kg) thrust Avon R.A.2 turbojets. The first Canberra delivered to the RAF was a B.Mk.2 on 25 May 1951 and this was followed by a further 415 B.Mk.2s. Production of this superb aircraft of all variants totalled 1,352, before construction came to an end. Of this figure, 901 were built by English Electric, and its sub-contractors(Avro, Handley Page and Shorts); 48 were built under licence in Australia for service with the RAAF and in the USA, the Martin Company of Baltimore, Maryland, built an additional 403 under licence, designated the B-57. The Martin B-57 Canberra was a rare example of a foreign-designed military aircraft being built under license by an American manufacturing company for use by the US armed forces. The last previous such example was the De Havilland DH-4 of World War I. After the Korean Conflict began in 1950, the USAF looked for a jet medium bomber to replace the aging Douglas B-26 Invader. In March 1951, the USAF contracted with the Glenn L. Martin Co. to build the Canberra in the U.S. under a licensing agreement with English Electric. The Martin-built B-57 made its first flight on July 20, 1953, and when production ended in 1959, a total of 403 Canberras had been produced for the USAF by the time production ended in 1957.The RB-57A (Martin Model 272A) was a reconnaissance version of the B-57A bomber. The decision to develop a reconnaissance version of the B-57A was made in October of 1951, guided by experience in the Korean War, which had underscored some USAF reconnaissance shortcomings in the face of increasingly effective enemy air defences.