F-5 Freedom Fighter | Best of Aviation Series Documentary

Video from the channel PilotPhotog about Northrop F-5, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 12:15. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

First part of a documentary series on the F-5, focused on the F-5A and F-5B Freedom Fighter versions: their conception as a cheap, easy-to-fly and easy-to-maintain multirole fighter, their development and their first operators.

In the mid-1950s, Northrop's vice president of engineering, who had come from North American Aviation, where he had designed the P-51 Mustang and the F-86 Sabre, wanted to reverse the trend towards ever larger and more expensive fighters. The N-156 project arose from a Navy requirement for escort carriers that was later abandoned. Its variants produced the N-156T trainer, chosen in 1956 to replace the T-33 and turned into the T-38 Talon, and the N-156F fighter, which Northrop continued to develop on its own. After interest from the Army that could not go forward, in 1962 it was chosen as a low-cost export fighter and designated the F-5A.

The F-5A carried two 20 mm cannons in the nose, Sidewinder missiles on the wingtips and up to 6,200 lb of payload on five hardpoints. Its J85 engines had a thrust-to-weight ratio of 6.25, compared with 4.7 for the F-4's J79. More than 800 F-5A and F-5B aircraft were built, in addition to those made under licence in Spain and Canada, and Norway was the first customer with aircraft built to its own specifications. In Vietnam, the F-5Cs of the Skoshi Tiger evaluation flew more than 2,600 sorties in six months with seven losses to ground fire. The F-5's leading-edge extensions paved the way for the YF-17 and the F-18 Hornet.