Ilyushin IL-62M Cubana de Aviacion - 1/200 Scale Herpa Wings 573405

The Soviet Union’s long haul jet remained in production for over thirty-two years starting from 1963. Almost over 300 planes were manufactured during that time, being delivered to over thirty countries. The trade embargo against socialist Cuba, imposed by the USA in 1962 and still in place today, forced Cubana de Aviación to turn to the USSR for acquiring new aircraft. In 1972, Cuba’s national airline received its first long-haul IL-62 with which it established a transatlantic service to Madrid. Especially during the 1980s and 1990s, Cubana and it’s four-engine aircraft became regular sights at several European and also Canadian airports. The former flagship of the fleet is in the meantime history. 33 years after the first IL-62 joined the fleet, CU-T1280, an improved IL-62M variant, was decommissioned in 2011 and sold to North Korea’s Air Koryo where she was scrapped for parts to support their surviving pair of passenger IL-62s.