Northrop F-5. Small, but powerful.
Video from the channel SkyShips about Northrop F-5, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 18:04. Video type: Documentary.
What it's about
A documentary from the Skyships channel about the Northrop F-5, a supersonic lightweight fighter designed to balance low cost and combat capability. It covers its origin, its versions, its combat use and the aircraft derived from it.
Historical context
In the 1950s fighters were becoming heavier and more expensive, and Northrop bet on a light, simple aircraft, the N-156 project. The United States Air Force did not want it as a fighter, but adopted the two-seat version as the T-38 Talon supersonic trainer, in service since 1961. The N-156F fighter prototype flew in 1959 and broke the sound barrier on its first flight; in 1962 the Kennedy administration pushed through the first orders for the F-5A Freedom Fighter, which was tested in Vietnam in the Skoshi Tiger evaluation. That experience led to the F-5E Tiger II, with more powerful J85 engines and radar, which replaced the F-5A starting in 1973.
Key facts
It carried two General Electric J85 turbojets of about 300 kg each, the same ones used in the ADM-20 Quail decoy. The video credits it with a length of 14.35 m and a wingspan of 7.7 m, seven hardpoints and up to 2.8 t of payload. Its design gave rise to the YF-17, the origin of the F/A-18 Hornet, and the F-20 Tigershark, cancelled when F-16 exports were authorized. Production ended in 1987, with more than 2,600 fighters built, and the aircraft remains in service in sixteen countries.