FA 18 Hornet Wall Art — 2 museum-grade prints on the theme. The legacy F/A-18 Hornet — community shorthand for the A/B/C/D family before the larger F/A-18E/F Super Hornet earned the Rhino nickname at the boat — defined US Navy carrier strike-fighter ops from the 1980s through the 2010s. McDonnell Douglas built the type around twin engines, canted twin tails, and leading-edge root extensions that let the Hornet trade between fleet defence, tanker escort, and precision strike without swapping airframes. The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet entered RAAF service from 1985 as Australia's first fourth-generation fighter, replacing the Dassault Mirage III with a twin-engine, multi-role platform capable of fleet air defence, precision strike, and reconnaissance. No.