XF-28, 1970s vintage

[steelpillow]

Once the General Dynamics F-16 was out of the design offices and into the air, thoughts turned to the next generation of CCV (control-configured vehicle). Saab's canard Viggen had inspired a young Burt Rutan to take aircraft design by the scruff of the neck and start shaking it vigorously. A core design concept was developed by NASA, comprising a canard layout with near-delta planform and the new "Whitcomb winglets" on the wingtips. Two competing projects were sanctioned, a pure research aircraft and a prototype fighter. The Rockwell HIMAT research vehicle flew in 1979. The similar-looking General Dynamics XF-28 fighter prototype was rolled out that same year but did not take to the skies until 1980. Conceived as a low-cost development of the F-16 it had 30% parts commonality - a remarkable achievement considering their very different shapes.

Over in Britain, the success of the MRCA European collaboration was far from guaranteed.  With secret government backing - and it had to be top secret to avoid upsetting our European partners in the MRCA - BAC, soon to be merged in the creation of British Aerospace, were looking at a fallback project. It had to be put together in a short space of time, because the Brass Hats were edgy that the untried idea of wider European collaboration should not be risked unless and until we had demonstrated a rock-solid fallback. Time was of the essence. A license-built American design appeared to be the only way out and the XF-28 prototype was purchased for evaluation and modification to meet British requirements. In the event MRCA went ahead as the Panavia Tornado and the secret fighter was scrapped. The design project itself rumbled on, eventually to emerge as the British Aerospace EAP demostrator, which in turn spawned the Eurofighter Typhoon.

The model below shows it with experimental small forward winglets fitted by BAC below the main ones. (the historians among you will know that Whitcomb's original designs involved several winglets on each wingtip.) They are unpainted, showing their carbon composite frames and light alloy access panels. No UK markings were applied, so that in the event of discovery they could deny that it was a British project.

This model was displayed at the Gloucester IPMS meeting on 17th October 1979, at the Sale Moor, Manchester meeting on 3rd May 1981, and at the following IPMS national competition finals (where it generated some interest but won no prizes for workmanship!). Some of you may conceivably remember it.



Perhaps hard to believe now, but I designed and built this model without any knowledge of the contemporary HIMAT, I simply took a razor saw to my Revell F-16 model. For comparison, here is HIMAT:

[Dizzyfugu]

Way cool! 

[su27rules]

    Cool!!

[DogfighterZen]

Old but with a very modern look to it...
I like it! Very nice work!

[McColm]

Brilliant

[dwomby]

Great.   Looks really feasible.

David

[Tophe]

  I love it too...

[The Rat]

Very nice! 

[Hobbes]

Well done!

[63cpe]

This is great work! What no prizes for workmanship! I recon there is a lot of time spent in this model and it paid off!