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In 1954, engineers at Northrop's started studies on a cheap supersonic fighter susceptible of being used by an important number of allied countries. The N-156F was born and three prototypes were ordered by the Department of Defence in May 1958. The first machine made her maiden flight on July 30, 1959 while the third exemplar would never be finished.
With its "coke bottle shape" fuselage designed in accordance with the transonic area rule, its light weight and sophisticated lift devices, the F-5 quickly demonstrated exceptional manoeuvrability in all flight phases.
It's the T-38 Talon training version that was first developed to replace the ageing Lockheed T-33. The Talon was used by NASA as an assistance and training aircraft.
In July 1963, the first F-5A finally flies for the first time. Named "Freedom Fighter", the plane is primarily designed as a ground attack fighter. The US Military Assistance Program (MAP) will permit exportation of the F-5 to several countries like Iran, Turkey, Greece, Philippines and South Korea. A "Skoshi Tiger" ("Small Tiger") version will even be evaluated in Vietnam, but this project will not have any follow up, except for the nickname "Tiger" that will be adopted from this time.
In November 1970, Northrop wins the IIFA (Improved International Fighter Aircraft) contract for development of an air superiority fighter with the F-5E Tiger II. The new J85-GE-21 engine is after burner equipped and the Tiger II flies for the first time in March 1969. It will be operational from April 1973 and will be used by the NAS Miramar "Top Gun" school as aggressor aircraft, due to its many resemblances with the MiG-21.
Always willing to offer allied forces an inexpensive fighter well adapted to their needs, Northrop developed the F-5G, much less sophisticated, compared to fighters like the General Dynamics F-16. But when the Reagan administration decided on exportation of the F-16, chances of the F-5G were doomed on foreign markets. It was a true catastrophe for 2000 personnel that lost their jobs at Northrop factories. Renamed F-20 Tigershark, the first of three prototypes had flown for the first time on August 30, 1982. Unfortunately, two of those prototypes crashed in flight demonstrations. Able of flying at Mach 2, thanks to a very reliable single G-E F404 jet engine, the F-20 was equipped with sophisticated avionics, like a General Electric multi-mode radar and a Teledyne mission computer.
It's on the airframe of an F-5 (fuselage and nose wheel) that the Grumman X-29 inverted swept wing prototype was built.
Used by more than 50 air forces throughout the world, 2622 F-5 were built in different configurations:
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