F-5, CF-5, T-38, and F-20

[Shasper]

Thats what I figured Cobra thx! Feel bad for the safety guy sittin' up front tho'!

Shas

[GTX]

Another possible T-38/F-5 user was apparently Japan - in the end they developed the Mitsubishi F-1 and T-2.

Regards,

Greg

Further to my earlier post, what if the Mitsubishi T-2 and F-1 were influenced more by the F-5 series than by the SEPECAT Jaguar.  Could we have seen a T-2 and F-1 looking somewhat like this (my interpretations)?

T-2:



F-1:



Note different radar and gun + the fact that the F-1 is essentially a T-2 with the rear canopy faired over.

Regards,

Greg

[famvburg]

     Was there another LWF competition in the early '80s? Or was the F-20 actually developed in the early '70s?

I want to do one Patrouille Suisse colors and see if anyone notices...

Me too - evil idea isn't it!!!  Just the thing to trip up some people at a show.

and if you really want to wind someone up on this score, how about the KLu NF-5 'double dutch' display team scheme on a F-20?  ^_^

I also seriously considered doing a Thunderbirds scheme on an F-20 for the USAF GB. It makes sense(at least to me...): It directly competed with the F-16 for the LWF contract, and the T-38 preceded it in the Thunderbirds line-up. The main reason it didn't get done is that I still can't agree with myself on a scheme.

Jon

[sotoolslinger]

The F-20 was a direct decendant of the Tiger II and was not a direct competitor to the F-16 or F-18 basically because it didn't get awarded a contract. Northrop developed it as a private venture .It was actually equal to the F-16 as far as flying characteristics but could not carry the same loadout and had just 2 single barrel guns as opposed to the M-61 on the Viper.

[Sauragnmon]

You have to pause for a moment and wonder... what would have happened if the F-17 Cobra had been developed with one engine instead of two... The F-17 was the competitor toe to toe against the F-16, and was developed from the F-5, which would later, after refinements, be reborn as the F/A-18 for the Navy.  Imagine if the F-17 had been a single-engine bird, as in develop the F-20's single engine frame into an F-17, and then perhaps progress this into the F/A-18.

The F-20 turned around after it was not worked onto a government contract, and was put nose against the F-16 for the Export market contracts, aka the Deal of the Century at times.

[sotoolslinger]

I am actually planning on building a 1 banger Bug

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Just found this on Hyperscale today.  Ron M. posted several images in a topic showing a Brazilian F-5E that has been fitted with conformal fuel tanks.


(link to topic and image source: F-5E saddle tanks topic by Ron M.)

Looks like they have been checking out the work done by Eddie and Sotoolsinger.

[ysi_maniac]

F-5S for Sweden
http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,2014.0/highlight,f-5.html

[DarrenP]

Lebanonese F5's would have been an interesting replacement to the Mirage III or the Hunter?

[rickshaw]

I was wondering if the Iranian advanced versions of the basic F-5 had been mentioned?

The Saeqeh / Saeqeh-80.  Why have one tail when you can have two?

[Shasper]

Lets not forget to mentioned the other Iranian F-5s that have new intakes & wing configurations . . .

[Sauragnmon]

Yeah, there's the Azarkash if I recall, the one that's got a shoulder wing, low intake, LERX over the intake and a single tail... looks a bit like the Bug but with one tail IIRC.  Images I've seen of it were in green with yellow display markings.

[rickshaw]

Yeah, there's the Azarkash if I recall, the one that's got a shoulder wing, low intake, LERX over the intake and a single tail... looks a bit like the Bug but with one tail IIRC.  Images I've seen of it were in green with yellow display markings.

I was aware of the Azarkash when I made my posting but was unable to find any reputable websites which confirmed its changed configuration.  FAS seems to think that the Azarkash is a completely new aircraft and the pictures I did find of the mid-wing F-5 conversion looked a little strange as if they'd been photoshopped.  So I didn't include it.

[Jschmus]

The spelling of Iranian aircraft names can be confusing, too.  I have seen listings for the Saeghe twin-tailed variant, but the descriptions are written up as "Saegeh".  Ditto for the "Azarakhsh".  What makes this one doubly confusing is that this name is also applied to the F-5E.  But I did find this clear image, which does not appear to have been Photoshopped:

[Sauragnmon]

I forget if that's the actual Azarkash, but that's the plane I was thinking of, thanks Jschmus.  I've seen that very image before, and was the one I was implying.  Globalsecurity seems to think the Azarkash is a different aircraft all together and closer to a standard Tiger.

I'd personally love to see a better view down the nozzles of those engines - the fact they're smooth and fixed looking makes me wonder if, similar to the WS-10 and the MilSpey, they have the convergent/divergent vanes inside the outer cover.