TIGRIS HELVETICUS - Northrop F-5E Tiger II in Swiss Service (1981)
Video from the channel Mortar74 - Swiss 🇨🇭 Vintage Documentaries about Northrop F-5, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 46:26. Language: English. Video type: Archive footage.
What it shows
Swiss Air Force film that follows the Northrop F-5E Tiger II's entry into service from start to finish. It begins with the aircraft's selection and its political approval, moves to final assembly at the Federal Aircraft Factory in Emmen, to braking trials at Edwards Air Force Base, and to the arrival of the first aircraft in Switzerland aboard a Lockheed C-5 Galaxy. It then shows pilot training, how a tactical base dug into the mountain operates, with aircraft moved by crane and tractor inside the cavern, and an air defense mission filmed from the cockpit. In that mission, the Tigers face Hunters acting as enemy fighter-bombers and Mirages escorting them.
When and where it was filmed
According to the title, the film is from 1981 and covers the program from 1973 to its final stretch. There are scenes in the Mojave Desert, at Edwards, where a tanker truck wets the runway to test the anti-skid system on a wet surface. It was also filmed on the Emmen assembly line and at alpine airfields. One scene is a low-altitude turn in the Klöntal valley, in the canton of Glarus.
Context
In 1973, after the Corsair project was blocked, the Federal Council established the need for an air-defense fighter. In August 1975 it requested 1,170 million francs to buy 72 Tigers. Both chambers approved it in December 1975 and March 1976. The manufacturer completed 19 aircraft and the other 53 were assembled in Emmen from spring 1978 onward, from kits of more than 7,000 parts. Assembling each one took eight months, and the line produced one aircraft every two weeks. The first was delivered on October 10, 1978, six weeks ahead of schedule, and the last was due in spring 1981, with four squadrons operational. The Swiss modifications included an upgraded radar, inertial navigation, anti-skid brakes, liquid oxygen, and a tow tractor for urgent takeoffs. Its mission was to protect ground troops and support the Mirages. The aircraft carried two 20 mm cannons and two infrared missiles and reached Mach 1.6.