Valkyries, etc (Pt. 4)

If you look closely at the pic of Misa and the model Valk (see previous entry), you will see another smaller plane model on the desk. That is a model of the VF-4 Lightning III. The Vf-4 isn't even in the movie that screen is from! Its only animated appearance was in SDF Macross: Flashback 2012 . Flashback 2012 was a sort of music video/epilogue to the Macross movie. Anyhow, above you will find a few pics of the VF-4.

I don't have any proof of this, but I speculate that the nickname "Lightning III" was used in reference to the P-38 Lightning
and the F-22 Raptor . During its development, the F-22 was referred to as the YF-22 Lightning II. If you look at both aircraft, the (fictional) VF-4 has some characteristics that could be traced to both real-life planes.

(one more on this topic to come)