60th FS A-58A Pucara

(I thought I had submitted this before, but I can't find it in my gallery...)

Argentina developed the FMA IA-58A Pucara specifically for the counterinsurgency mission back in the mid-1970s. They were a threat enough during the Falklands War of 1982 that the British sent the SAS in to take them out at Pebble Island. They're still in use all over South America today, though they're getting a little long in the tooth.

Given that the Pucara was built for COIN operations, I decided it would be very useful over Iraq and Afghanistan, where its heavy gun armament and long loiter time would prove useful. Hence the desert camouflage scheme. And given who these Pucaras would be fighting, "Martyr Maker" sounds entirely appropriate. (It's very hard to see, but the nose art is of Flippy from "Happy Tree Friends.")

The grizzly squadron emblem is actually the fighting bear of my alma mater, the University of Montana.