Northrop F5 Freedom Fighter HD

Video from the channel fotolivos1 about Northrop F-5, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 49:17. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

An English-language documentary about Northrop's family of light fighters, the F-5 Freedom Fighter and the F-5E Tiger II, and their direct relative, the T-38 Talon trainer. It explains how they came to be, how they were tested in combat, and how they were sold across half the world, with flight, maintenance and exercise footage.

In the mid-1950s, as fighters grew in size and complexity, Northrop bet on a small, simple and cheap aircraft. In 1955 its studies produced the N-156 design. The training version became the T-38 Talon: nearly 1,200 were built, with production ending in 1972 at 1,189 units. The fighter version, the N-156F, drew no interest from the USAF. In May 1962 it was chosen to equip allied countries under the Military Assistance Program (MAP), and in October that year the F-5A and F-5B versions were ordered. The YF-5A first flew on 31 July 1963. In 1964, training of foreign crews began at Williams Air Force Base, first for Iran and Korea, and Iran put its first F-5s into service in February 1965. Norway, Spain and Canada bought them, the latter two with local manufacturing. In Operation Skoshi Tiger, the USAF tested the F-5C in Vietnam from October 1965: in 150 days they flew more than 3,500 missions with a 1.5% cancellation rate. The aircraft were then handed over to the South Vietnamese air force. That experience led to the F-5E Tiger II, unveiled on 23 June 1972 and first flown on 11 August.

Each F-5A engine weighed 570 pounds and produced 4,080 pounds of thrust with afterburner. Three mechanics could swap one in 20 minutes. The aircraft carried two 20 mm cannons in the nose, with 280 rounds each, and seven hardpoints. The F-5E received 5,000-pound-thrust engines, a fire-control radar and a reconnaissance version, the Tigereye. It reached Mach 1.6, versus Mach 1.3 for the earlier model. Production ran until 1989, with final deliveries to Singapore, and 3,806 aircraft were built between the T-38 and F-5. North Vietnam captured 87 F-5s. The F-20 Tigershark, with a 16,000-pound-thrust engine derived from the F-18's, exceeded Mach 2 but failed to secure sales. The X-29 used an F-5 fuselage, and USAF aggressor squadrons at Red Flag used F-5Es for their resemblance to the MiG-21.