Why Every Country Wanted this Fighter?
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- Опубликовано: 17 июн 2023
- Northrop Grumman's F-5 tactical fighter has become one of the most enduring military aircraft designs ever developed.
Going back to its first flight in the 1960s, the Freedom Fighter has been going strong for over 50 decades thanks to the company's initial objective of developing a cost-effective aircraft that was easy to operate and inexpensive to maintain.
The F-5 has also earned a reputation for being a highly maneuverable and reliable supersonic fighter capable of air-to-air and air-to-ground roles.
During the Vietnam War, a squadron of F-5s known as the Little Tigers proved their worth as a close air support platform that decimated the enemy whenever they were called to action. The combat test was so successful that the F-5 instantly gained significant international attention and sold to more than 20 countries.
In 1975, even the Soviet Union got a chance to test the F-5 against their Mig-21 with surprising results…
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I remember being about 12 and seeing the F-5 “MiG 28s” in Top Gun. I said to my dad, those are F-5 Tigers. He reminded me it was a movie and not a documentary.
Arguably the best looking jet fighter _trainer_ ever produced, and one of the most visually appealing aircraft.
Absolutely. If it LOOKS right, it IS right.
Now we use Night Hawks to train against.
Indeed and as I've said many times my 1st love to fly and it will be til I die
Its beyond a joy to both look at but even more so to strap in
Even more than thr 15 in some ways and that's very hard to do!
@@thewaywardwind548 I wouldn't say that in Thailand... For the better.
It’s a really nice looking plane.
We still use F5's in the Navy today. They comprise a few aggressor squadrons, including one USMC squadron, and the Air Force uses them in the same manner.
The F-5/T-38 was a beautiful, elegant aircraft. I'd say that 2,800 sold constitutes a successful design.
It never was the most obviously impressive aircraft but when you learn about it, it was actually amazing.
@@5000rgbit was a quiet brilliance
My favorite classic jet fighter. It looks so sleek and cool. When I think if a fighter jet, this comes to mind. I like that it's smaller like a sports car.
just like the 60ies Corvettes...
Totally agree👍
My dad was a USAF mechanic on these T-38/F 5's at Chandler Air Force base ( Phoenix, Ariz. ) back in 1968. I've always thought they were the epitome of the fighter jet look.
Thanks for this video. I live in Switzerland, one of the countries still operating the F-5, many of them shown in your video. At the moment, it's the aircraft operated by the national acrobatic team, the Patrouille suisse. Just last week, there was a much reported, worrisome incident in which two of the jets bumped into each other in midair, one of them losing its nosecone and the other its landing parachute. Incredibly, both planes managed to land safely. I guess that shows to which point these 50-year old aircraft are sturdy.
Send chocolate and cheese!
@@rogerpenske2411 Ok, will do!
Not just sturdy but deceptively easy to maintain and work on with performance so many foolishly underestimate
I still curse our idiot CDN gov for their wate of them and the pathetic destruction of ours instead of letting museums and former crew from having them.. fukin asshats!!!
I work for the USMC who's aquired so many of these Swiss F-5's, we've got them since '04, and going to be getting more. Yours have very low hours. We've added so MANY HOURS to them. Yes, the F-5 is a fantastic a/c. I've been working on them since '89
@@user-zh4cq4zy1n Wow... How interesting. Glad to hear those old birds are still appreciated and thriving somewhere. Thank you for sharing!
The F-5 was one of those fighters that actually looked like it belonged in the sky! A real beauty.
Yes it was self funded by the Northrop Co. I worked on that aircraft as as a Tool Engineer, as well as its hybrid F20 that was snubbed by the powers to be. I'll never forgot the day they cancelled the program. The day when an engineering product was run by engineers and not the Industrial Military Complex bean counters. Our president announcing the cancellation was almost intears. You would never find that kind of emotion TODAY. The world is very different TODAY. Stephen Skinner - an exNorcrafter
I remember as well though I didnt work there I had Hope's for it to be done and was one of a few killer options offered to us well before it even hit prototype stage but idiots in power turned it and the 18l down (along with more pricy 15s etc which if they had paid more attn were both far far more capable than the fa18s they went with but ultimately the 15s would have been less money for the capability as well in the end.. but that's asshole politics and other morons in charge yet again)
I was working on F5's at the air base in Cold Lake Alberta, when Northrup came up to pitch us the F-20. I worked on F5's for 11 years, and I sure wish I had a chance to get my hands on an F-20 :)
What was done to the F-20 was a crime no enemy agency could have hoped to accomplish. The Tigershark was better than the F-16 in virtually every respect. It was cheaper to buy and maintain. To me it is the greatest that never was. And we in the free world are the lesser for it.
The F5 earned a legendary status among Greek pilots especially for it's maneuverability.
My dad's best friend became a US Air Force officer during the Vietnam war, he was getting training on the F-5, he loved it; the craft had a remarkable ability to retain speed during maneuvers. Unfortunately, he got encephalitis (aka "sleeping sickness") from a mosquito, and after that, the AF wouldn't let him fly anymore. Honestly though, getting sick may have saved his life; you never know.
@@jayklink851my mom got bit too and had amnesia when she awoke.
@@jamesmedina2062 Yeah, encephalitis is a nasty bastard. Mike, my dad's friend, contracted the disease from a mosquito bite while on base in Alabama, or it may have been during his time in Texas, one of the two though. Kinda frightening that you can become so sill from a bug bite, which are hard to prevent.
It doesn’t look like baklava to me!
Ouzo powered
It is unfortunate that the F5's descendent, the F-20 Tigershark, never got beyond the prototype stage.
True, but the F-5 had some vindication as its spiritual successor, the YF-17 (a derivative of the F-5 design) went on to become the F-18.
Chuck Yeager really loved the F20.
I always thought the F-20 should have been developed further and exported, even if the US didn't utilise the plane.
NASA used f5s as chase planes for the shuttle and also a lot of the flying body experiments. I knew a pilot that flew f5s in nam, he said he loved the little plane. It was the f5 that i saw at an air show many many moons ago that made me want to be a fighter pilot. But that was not to be. Still love that plane myself, many models and diecast toys of it adorn my bookshelves.
@@AaronCMounts In role I would consider the Gripen to be the Tigershark's spiritual successor, being a low-cost lightweight fighter that is powered by a derivative of the same engine.
F-5 and F-104 are two main fighter jets of my homeland when I was young. ROCAF still keeps few operating F-5s, but will retire all of them latter this year. Thanks my old fellas. ❤
Northrop was always an outsider in the military-industrial complex. I had read that they self-funded the F-20. True or no? If true, I am not surprised that it did not succeed, despite its endorsement by Chuck Yeager.
I was fortunate to train in the T-38 in 1970. Hard to believe that this was over 50 years ago. Both the Talon and I are still going strong. It is still teaching and I am still learning.
After flying the Super Saber, Bronco, Dragonfly, Thunderchief and Phantom II for the USAF, 12 tours in harm's way in Vietnam, Kosovo and Iraq as both active duty and civilian contractor, and owning about 20 aircraft over the decades (including my own twin-engine jet fighter), only the Thud ranks above the T-38 on my list of favorite aircraft.
If I ever buy or get to fly someone else's F-5, it may displace the T-38 in the second place spot.
Theres an F5 for sale rignt now out in california, companies called Thornton Aviation.
Years ago in southern California, I helped some guys move a T-38 out to one of the dry lakebeds out by Fox Field for a commercial. It had no engines. But I was amazed at how small it was-
and the fact that the wing was attached to the fuselage via four large bolts!
Part of the reason the F-20 didn't succeed was because the USAF never bought any, even for aggressor use. Other countries wanted the F-16, because the USAF was operating it.
My dad was a jet engine mechanic on the T38's at Chandler AFB back in 1968. What a beautiful aircraft.
The F-20 was developed under a US government program, the program defined that companies had to self-fund the development of the fighter's prototypes until they were ready for pre-production testing, the DoD, the Dos and Pentagon top bras would choose the winner, and the US Department of State would help the winner of the competition sell the planes by pushing allies and potential allies into buying the fighters, either on stand alone deals or as part of broader military equipment suply and/or military aid deals, the problem was that no allies wanted them, because USAF didn't bought any, no one wanted to be the first customer and shoulder the elevated costs of a first batch of fighter that had no benefit of economies of scale, specially with the F-16's production just entering full swing and the planes starting to get really cheap. This conu drum dragged on until both the US Government and Northrop agreed to finish the program..
Proud to have worked at Northrop. Northrop's pioneering maintainability in the T38 and F5 made it and all subsequent Northrop products less expensive to maintain than comparable aircraft.
Loved both the F-5 and it's trainer version the T-38. As a crew chief, they were great to work on and I was fortunate to get to fly in them.
Myself as well, but we called ours the CF-116A and CF-116D Freedom Fighters.
There is something about the design of the F-5 that makes it very appealing. I like the look of the stubby wings with the wing tip missiles, and the long sleek fuselage.
In addition, the fact that a fighter designed and built that long ago is still in use today is amazing.
Looks like a petite blonde
Simplicity is superior.
Anw if you look from above, from the air intake to engine, it looks like a woman's firgures xD
in the late 80's, I was watching "Wings" while getting ready to go to work. They were showing the prototype F-5, when I got to work at the Museum of Flight in Seattle. I realized that the F-5 hanging from our ceiling was the Prototype F-5. It was a beautiful plane.
They use this as one of the adversary planes in the Navy’s fighter weapons school AKA Top Gun.
Goose and I had some tough but fun times going up against it.
I sure miss Goose and every time I hear “Great balls of Fire” I think about that guy!
Just remember, if you’re dogfighting the F5, just hit the brakes and it’ll fly right by!😂
The "hit the brakes" is now called the Cobra maneuver.
First performed by a SAAB J-35 Draken (before the F-5 was in service), even in a combat environment.
It wasn't until a 1989 air show, almost 30 years later, that a Su-27 could copy it.
And yes, I love all those SAAB fighter jets, in case you didn't notice it. 🤪
EDIT: By not until 1989, I don't count the SAAB J-37 Viggen, which of course also could do a Cobra maneuver. DUH
Shouldn't you be a Captain by now?
@@NegativeROG I don't understand the question. I was a sergeant in the army, but retired a long time ago.
@@bfelten1 Lt. Pete Mitchell is a Naval Aviator. And he's been a lieutenant for 3 decades, without promotion. I kinda wasn't talking to you.
"Ride into the Danger Zone"
This was an amazing design. When they took it to the F-20 it really showed it's potential. But it was never meant to be unfortunately. It looks so close to what us kids would draw as a fighter jet.
Took me years to realize the T-38 is just a 2 seat F-5
Literally just a two seat, and with no hard points (belly pod for cross countries is just a bolt on)
Not exactly. F-5Bs and Fs are combat capable two seat variants. T-38s are purpose built trainers with no guns and no leading edge wing root extensions - easiest way to distinguish them from actual F-5s.
@@keithhudspith5245 There are two-seater F-5s, the dead giveaway between it and a T-38 is that the latter lacks strakes at the front of the wing root.
I had to Google it too
@@someoldguyinhawaii4960 actually, the easiest way to distinguish the T-38 from the F-5 is the engine air inlets; on the T-38, they're circular, whereas on the F-5 they're only semi-circular and flat on the side facing the fuselage.
I flew in a A/T-38 in the 2007 Turkey Shoot competition at Randolph AFB. Of course the Navy guy is the BOTOT champion. We were 0/0, second place was 50 seconds off.
You mentioned the Russian F-5s, but didn't mention the aggressor squadron stationed at Nellis afb in Las Vegas. They were used to intercept Top Gun pilots in training exercises as well as participating in both Red Flag and Ginsmoke competitions. They are painted with Russian markings and parked at the southwest corner of the base, clearly visible from Nellis boulevard.
And F-5s played the part of the MiGs in the original "Top Gun" movie!
Funny thing is the F-5 shown on screen while he was talking about that was in fact one of the aggressor squadron's aircraft. Navy bird so I expect it calls NAS Fallon home.
@@thudthud5423 MiG-28s if I remember correctly.
@@STEVENXO i think so
@@thudthud5423 I’ll never forget when Cruise was trolling the “MiG-28”! I was a Northrop employee at that time. I spoke a bit too loudly in the theater, “That’s not a MiG, it’s a Northrop F5!” Never did anything like that again. Learned my lesson. The vast majority of viewers had no idea what it was; nor, did they care.
F5 is like a popular car. There are many third-party performance parts to choose from. Thailand upgraded 14 F5E/F from 3rd-generation to 4.5th-generation fighters called F5TH with various third-party performance parts. They can kill from beyond visual range like the 5th-generation fighters, and they are still the king of close combat as they were.
Next iteration was supposed to be F-20 Tigershark that had one engine and mass of improvements. It was also incredibly fast to take off. However, it lost to F-16, I think though in most categories they were comparable. Northrop wasn't happy with their premiere budget fighter being scrapped, so they tried finding new home for it. And they almost did it...
At the time, Yugoslavia was working on its own fighter design, but it was under development and wasn't to appear any time soon (it never did, as it turned out; the plane was a lot like Rafale, but single engine) so Yugoslavia needed a stop gap solution until new plane was ready to be mass produced and was also curious about the transfer of technology. There were some negotiations on buying license to produce the F-20 in Yugoslavia as well as to purchase some number of A-7 attack aircrafts. However, nothing came out of it since the US government wasn't willing to pass the technology to at the time kind of communist country. I say kind of since it wasn't in Soviet bloc, it received American aircrafts such as F-86 before and even had Coca-Cola factory on its territory...
In the end, Yugoslavia bought some MiG-29 as stop gap and did develop its own attack aircraft J-22 Orao (eagle).
F-20 was almost saved, but almost doesn't really count...
the f20 was a classic case of project creep. just because you can do it does not mean you should do it. the program was also expensive costing $1bn of northrops own money. a better "f20" would have been to update the existing engines & flight surfaces with built in paths for updates. smaller improvements but faster / cheaper to roll out.
The Swiss flow is strong in this one! Btw the Swiss airforce demo team allmost crashed 2 f-5 in a mid air collision this week!
I grew up close to Randolph AFB outside San Antonio, TX where the T-38, the trainer variant of the F-5, was used for flight training. I loved seeing the pairs of T-38s (and the trainer T-37s) flying all day as I was growing up.
I got to work on the t-38 model of this aircraft a few times when I was at my upon Levin bass and even got a ride in it got to fly it a bit. It flew pretty good when you got it up to speed. Great aircraft. Pretty small as well. The F20 would have been a great aircraft for foreign sales, but the guys making the F-16 decided to put a j79 engine in them and sell them for a hell of a lot more money. Many countries did need a particularly expensive aircraft. The F-16 with a j79 is a great aircraft, but the F20 would have been considerably cheaper. The problem the F20 had was it when you put a j79 in it, you can easily overfly it. It needed stronger structural supports, and that's where it was headed when the program was canceled.
As for the narrator here, maybe he ought to look up and see what the word decimate actually means and maybe you would quit using it if he means to say devastate he should say it. You don't know the definition of the word decimate please quit using it one of the most misused terms in military lingo I've ever heard. Which is strange because it is a uniquely military term from the Roman era. It means to reduce a military force by exactly 10%.
Back home in CA there is a private squadron that has 5 Skoshi Tigers that regularly use the local airport. 4/5 have the soviet red star and the desert camo. The last one is blue camo with a soviet red star. They also have an all black T-38 Talon trainer with a red soviet star.
This aircraft was the backbone of our aggressor squadron when I served at Nellis. Their AMU call sign was 'Mig'. Now, my aircraft is the backbone of the aggressor sqadron. Where our AMU was once 'Eagle' now they are 'Flanker'.
I was always fascinated by the fact that three guys could pick up and carry the engines on the F-5. That, and the hydraulics that pitched the nose up and down on the ground for takeoff.
I never tire of seeing these in flight; my late uncle designed the engines for them at GE.
Thank's for this doc, I am very happy with the images shown in the documentary, as a Swiss I am proud of our aviation cavern our air forces which were always very supported by the USA
Thanks* (plural, no apostrophe)
The USAF still operates a handfull of F5's. There is a T38 version that lands here at the Midland airport once a week or 2. There is a squadron still flying at NAS Key West. I saw them on vacation last summer.
It has been decades since I have heard the term Skoshi Tiger. We didn't fly them (Marines) but I always enjoyed seeing them. They were tiny compared to the F4 but they were beautiful to my eyes. If I were ever to have my own jet fighter, I think it would have to be the F5 because I might actually be able to afford the fuel for one and I think they are superb little birds.
The F-5, little beast on a budget. One can only imagine the F-20 would've been next level "WHAT THE"...
Thanks awesome video i really enjoyed this one and it blew my mind to hear it was designed so long ago.
I was a USAF crew chief on the F-5E and it's kid brother the T-38. Both were incredible jet's. The F-5 never got the usage it should have in the USAF.
Truth, the flying brick was the chosen bird by USAF, enough thrust you can get anything aloft
... its* kid brother (it's = it is)
The USAF FUCKED-UP by not using more F5s and really FUCKED-UP by not buying the F20 Tigershark, the super evolution of the F5.
so many swiss F5s in this Video
As a swiss person seeing them nearly every day makes them so iconic.
Thanks for this video
The Agressor Squadron based at RAF Alconbury was a mock Soviet Squadron, they were very tough to fly against, in the 1980's they used F5E's. They were very very good
Your presentations have improved a lot in the past 2 yrs. Far less little errors and a better talking pace. Well done, keep it up.
far fewer* errors
The f5 freedom fighter was also in the movie top gun with Tom cruise and is also on the ace combat franchise game
Notice the name Northrop Grumman Which made the f14 tomcat which makes Grumman more universal known for the navy
Shalom dove 🕊️ of peace ☮️
the famed Mig-28!
You might remember this aircraft from Top Gun. It was painted all black and served as the enemy migs the top gun guys fought against.
CF-5's were used as aggressor fighters in the RCAF
Think they called it the Mig 28.
@@jeffholloway7974 In the movie, yes.
In real life, 419 Squadron used CF-5A and B aircraft as "aggressors". The aircraft were painted in Warsaw Pact colour schemes and used known Soviet/WP tactics to train the other fighter squadrons.
The squadron ceased the role when the CF-5's were retired. I do hear the occasional rumor that the RCAF is considering bring that role back though.
AWESOME documentaries.
It's kinda hilarious how most of the footage is from the SAF
Several shots of the tiger shark.
It’s all from one Swiss army information video from back when I was in the Swiss army.
The Swiss had a bunch of F-5s...fast scramble time, small or improvised runways and a very high readiness rate
@@aaronsanborn4291 we're still using them pretty actively for air shows. Last week they nearly crashed one 😅
There is a great article on the Atlantic "The Airplane That Doesn’t Cost Enough" by Gregg Easterbrook which goes into detail on the F-5's true upgrade the F-20.
It was half the cost of the F-16 over the lifetime. Better thrust/weight, better missiles, and can takeoff/land from any dirt road. It was blocked by the DOD because Northrop developed it on their own without any help from them. Beaucracy and jelousy. It was so much better on all tests than the F-16 and F-15 which the DOD did develop, that the DOD wouldn't let USAF test it against them in simulated dogfights. The head of USAF got pissed off but the higher ups in the DOD killed it.
The F-5/T-38 was used by the Air Force Thunderbirds back in the 70's. I remember seeing them at an Air Show at Minot AFB ND in 76. And Minot had T-33's and T-38s as trainers at the time.
no pilot here... just an enthusiast [another beautiful Greek word...] the F-5 always was [and is] my favored airplane... with its slick design and capabilities... the Swiss Air Force is still using them, with their unique landscape [high mountains] the plane can fly around undetected by radars, giving it a ''stealth'' [nonstealth] capability, they're changing them now to F-35s, I loved that video... I learn that it ''fathered'' practically newer generations of airplanes all around the world! thnx!
Why use multiple fullstops when a single fullstop or comma would suffice (and look much better due to being correct)?
@@einundsiebenziger5488 .... no pilot here!... no uniform...
At some point, Fokker was building the NF-5.....
They still fly today, with the Turkish Airforce...
The best step would have been the F-20 Tigershark but by then the Viper came into view and History took another corner Combat Aviation Wise..
While the F-16 is good, it really is sad that the F-20 didn't get a proper chance. They don't even compete directly with each other and i think they could have made an excellent combination.
@@arisnotheles "Combination tends to be a nono for smaller air forces."
And how has that worked out? Far too often not well at all.
The problem is NOT having multiple aircraft, but how well suited they are to easy maintenance.
Look at modern aircraft, the SAAB-39 Gripen costs a TENTH per flighthour of the F-35.
Even better, it can be fully serviced by ONE SINGLE TECHNICIAN supported by 6 conscripts.
While the F-35 requires a whole gaggle of technicians and specialists.
However, the Gripen is pretty much the exception.
But it is the exception because it was DESIGNED that way. There's a huge amount of leeway in how the aircraft are designed.
.
Now, the big thing here is that overall, aircraft are more expensive to fly the heavier they are.
And to be able to be fully capable of many roles, aircrafts becomes bigger and heavier.
Also, larger aircraft are also generally less capable in regards to agility and dogfighting as well as that they are simply bigger targets.
So, while it is possible to make planes "multirole" through podded equipment, that is not an optimal solution most of the time.
Of course, you also don't want to go the opposite direction and end up with the MiG-29, which, while a very decent aircraft as such, had huge problems in regards to allowing future upgrades and accepting full multirole capabilities, it was simply too slimmed down in size.
Aaaanyways, very few airforces can get away with STRICTLY a single aircraft type, simply because there still needs to multiple levels of trainers.
And advanced trainers also often double as light strike aircrafts and sometimes as 2nd line fighters.
So, you're not getting that single aircraft model complete airforce regardless.
But, you're paying a crapload of additional cost to have full multirole capability for it.
Let's say that instead of a single aircraft type, you use F-5s as your fighter and Textron Scorpion as your standard ground attack.
Or if you want more modern, replace the F-5s with slightly cutdown Gripen, because it doesn't need to be "always multirole".
Those Scorpion, they're nothing amazing, but they're utterly dirtcheap, high subsonic speed, ok warload, cheap to fly, easy to maintain.
Now, at the cost of, lets go wild and say 50 F-35, you can have 50 Gripen-C/D AND 50+ Scorpion and still have much lower operating costs and manpower requirements, as well as have plenty of cash leftover from the purchases alone. Not to mention having more operational aircrafts means it's much easier to maintain higher quality pilots.
Which is better? Don't forget here, that the F-35s have >4 times greater groundtime required per flighthour.
Or that the Gripen C/D is perfectly capable of intercepting F-35s.
So, one side is going to have 8 times more flighthours flown, at minimum, than the other, at a lower cost.
If you want, you can outright DOUBLE the number of Gripen and Scorpion, and still probably come out cheaper than the F-35s, both in purchase AND cost over time.
At this point, one side has 4 times the aircraft clocking 16 times as many flighthours.
Sure, you can switch to single model and go with only the complete realworld, fully multirole Gripen C/D, but then the pricetag on it jumps up enough that while you can still get at least 100 planes, now the margin is much smaller.
Yes, all these aircraft can conduct all missions, but the limitations are also much more notable.
@@arisnotheles The question is, whether that is based on well informed and considered logic PROVEN BY REALITY or not.
The other question is whether it's an airforce or showoff.
Denmark's future 21 F-35s isn't going to be able to project much presence anywhere.
And Netherlands 44 F-35s, well...
Compare that to my own country...
Denmark has 6 million population, NL has 17 million. Sweden has 10 million.
And yet, my country has 70 Gripen C and 24 Gripen D trainers, with a future setup of 60+ Gripen E/F...
AND 46 SAAB-105 trainers that can double as light attack/basic multirole.
So, my country has 96 "good aircraft" and another 46 "cheap but still fully multirole trainers" as backup.
While Denmark and NL can't even afford to have their own advanced trainers, but instead have to send pilots to USA to play with shared trainers there.
And yet, the Swedish airforce still isn't very expensive compared to the Danish or Dutch.
Despite their massive comparative lack of aircraft numbers.
Now i see why the F-5C Skoshi Tiger is pretty used in War Thunder
Awesome videos !!! Keep up the great work!!!
It posted 2 minutes ago, you haven't even watched it yet.
I LOVE this little bird. I heard there's at least one privately owned one in the USA. What a joy it must be for the owner.
According to the FAA, there are 18 privately-owned F-5 in the US, including Canadair CF-5D
@@wolfecanada6726 thanks for the info!! More joy to the more owners! Simple little bird. Reliable and easy to fix and maintain. Low cost for a lot of reward and that's why this bird is still so successful to this very day.
The Patrouille Suisse just suffered from a crash of two of their F-5 (no fatalities though).
MiG-28 is the Top Gun (movie) designation. USN also used them for their aggressor squadrons as MiG-21 analogs. The Freedom Fighter was the first jet model I built as a kid.
Love all the footage of the swiss air force.
The country I live in, the Netherlands, bought more than a hundred F-5s fighter/bombers (NF-5A) and trainers (NF-5B). The first aircraft started to equip several squadrons of the KLu (Koninklijke Luchtmacht) in 1969. The last ones were delivered in 1972. They were well liked and were well maintained. There were almost no accidents. The F-16 started to replace the F-5 in 1988 and it was all over by 1991. Many of them were sold to other countries. A couple are left in museums, or are used in technical schools.
As nearly a 20 year pilot, the F5 and T38 are dream planes to fly.
My first “crush” on a plane was the F-5. Great lines!
Made a model of the Tiger. Made a lot aircraft when I was a kid. Wished I had them now. Good show 👍😊
Timeless and classic design, beautiful plane
I held off from picking up on the F/A-18 doing the roll at the start but when the F-20 Tiger Shark is featured while referring to the F-5E I have to draw the line…accuracy gentlemen.
The US Navy has a two seat "hybrid" F-5 dubbed the FrankenTiger.
Did you spot the T-38? It's in at least two shots in the video.
*0:16* "thanks to the company's initial objective of developing a cost-effective aircraft that was easy to operate and inexpensive to maintain"
It sounds like they didn't even understand the point of the military-industrial-complex
Nice tribute and documentary to a versatile and capable tactical multirole fighter that was useful for the U.S. and its allies. Thank You.
This, and the Dassault Mirage F-1, are my favourite jet fighters. Compact, tough, reliable and agile.
The F-5 was famous for carrying enough gas to take off, bomb the end of one's own runway, declare bingo, and stay in the pattern for landing.
That said, the T-38 was an absolute joy to fly. Strange that there always seemed to be supersonic ducks in the training areas when we were there. Or so we told the sq. lead when we were called in.
Golden comment , somewhat unfair!
@@eflanagan1921 I hyperbolize. But its range was a definite issue when they were marketing it. Its fully loaded combat radius was somewhere around 200 miles.
@@eflanagan1921 Absolutely, but loaded up fully and without droptanks, its action radius pretty much disappeared. There's been literally hundreds, possibly even thousands of F-5 landings with dangerously little fuel left.
It wasn't bad as much as it was something that one simply had to be careful with, but it made it very easy to come up with memes about it.
Greatly exaggerated, yet still kinda true-ish.
It's still a great plane. But the small size, while a great boon for dogfighting, is a serious negative when it comes to trying to combine warload with action radius.
@@DIREWOLFx75 Is it true that on the F-5 fuel gauges, the "E" means Enough?
@@thewaywardwind548 "Is it true that on the F-5 fuel gauges, the "E" means Enough?"
*lol!!!*
Probably!
I love that little plane I always thought of it as a mosquito and how devastating it was yet it was pretty small for a fighter jet and highly maneuverable just think of it was your own little personal get around jet without all the weapons balance it out with more fuel and I think it had a pretty short takeoff and Landing requirements especially if it wasn't loaded down with bombs you could fly it in and out of Municipal airports of course you couldn't take it up to Mach 1 but maybe a hair's breadth below
The Plane served in the Philippine air force 'til it was retired in 2005 due to lack of spare parts. Personally seen one up close during my cousin's school trip to Clark; alongside the little bird chopper with Christmas lights & the legendary crusader. The little jet in the air force even participated in an operation that led to one spot in the island of jolo being THE MOST BOMBED OUT PLACE IN THE PHILIPPINES IN HISTORY.
Sad and disappointed that we Filipinos never got our hands on its supposed Successor, the tigershark. Missed opportunity there
The little hinged fairings that open up when you select the guns are the coolest thing about the F-5.
"Nimble, Sleek, And Almost Useless In A Real Fight; the story of the Canadair CF-5 Freedom Fighter"
Did you all forget this???
Love this plane but not one of your better videos. Extensive use of F-20 footage (aka F-5G) but no mention of it's development or disappointing fate.
The F-5 is a beautifully designed light fighter.
I'm glad it's still in use! Seems as though it's a great multipurpose fighter jet
No, just no, every country wanted the F-16, the F-5 was very poor in combat with a very limited weapons capability, just a couple of AIM-9's and cannons.
Considering the F5 was available many years before the F-16, not a fair comparison. Perhaps after 1980.
@@JSFGuy It's not like they'd not know it was being made, fighter jets don't generally just pop out of no where.
The lightweight fighter program started in 1965, and you can bet every allied nation was watching it.
@@LeoH3L1 That's not true as far as eligibility, it was proposed in the late '60s, there has to be a concept demonstrator so as to gain the interest and sales of other customers and that didn't happen until 75.
Prior to the F-16's introduction, the F-5 was the fighter of choice in the export market. Plus they could carry more than just AIM-9s. They were capable of using the AIM-7 and AIM-120( later versions like The F-5E) Plus they were often used in ground attack roles using bombs and rockets in Vietnam. (There is a scene in Apocalypse Now where a five ship group conducts a napalm drop near the LZ)) Plus the later models could used air to ground missiles like the Maverick.
The Defense Intelligence Agency's own testing revealed that it had better close in fighting characteristics against captured fighters if its time like the MiG-17 and MiG-21, than any other US fighter at the time. That led to the creation of the Fighter Weapons School which used F-5s as aggressor aircraft - MiG simulators.
Had the USAF used these against North Vietnamese MiGs more often, they would have achieved better results than the F-4s, provided that the pilots were trained in close in fighting.
@@dmac7128 It only ever carried AIM-7's in testing, no front line version ever flew with them, and the AIM-120 capable version is a very modern heavily modified version, operated by Brazil, and that was certainly not available back when this video is on about.
I have always been a huge fan of Northrop mostly because of this plane , but i have always thought them to be ahead of the others in so many ways
Love your production style, remind me of being a kid watching the cheesy military channel documentaries in the 2000s. great presentation voice.
It got its upgrade and redesign about the time the newest small fighter, the F 16, was rolling down the ramp... seems that was the writing on the wall for the awesome little F-5. Still a sexy machine!
Love the videos dude.. also it always sounds like you’ve just enjoyed some chocolate before recording 😂 keep pumping facts 🙌
Thanks Dark Skies. 🇺🇸
Paper Skies made a video on this which was more in depth featuring actual interviews with the very pilot that flew the MIG-21 that fought vs the F5 in the Soviet's test.
luv ur chanel 👍👍
Light, fast inexpensive and you could hang a bunch of stuff on it. Plus it makes an excellent advanced jet trainer.
The F5 is undoubtedly the sleekest airframe. It looks like a flying dart. The f-104, MiG 21, Typhoon, and F-16 all have that real sleek look to them.
back in the day: Northrop: "LOW COST!"
B-2 and YF-23 Now: Northrop: "COSTOVERUNS!!!!!"
Fast, Lite, maneuverable, relative low cost. Yes I flew in the T 38, also performed areo repair on them. Good jet.
F5 did really good performance in war between Iran and Iraq and still rolling in Iranian airforce. Thanks for making this video
Man what a gorgeous aircraft
My father-in-law flew the F-5 under SVN airforce colors.
He is very proud of his service, and he LOVES that plane.
They are a great looking bird - I can see the heritage of the F-5 in the F-18 Hornet.
How many F-5's were refitted with glass cockpits like the ones shown in this video or were those of the F-20 Tigershark prototype. Always sorry that never got a chance to go into production to extend the beautiful lines of this aircraft .
Nice video.
Everytime I see these in vids, pics etc I have found memories of my time strapped into the still my 1st love to fly and I would hands down still take it over many others to fly.. it's just a joy and feels so natural its beyond sweet despite its given limitations
(solved mostly with the F20 and the unproduced f18l)
Da wurden einige der F5E der Schweiz gezeigt. Wir hatten damals mal rund 110 Stück als Raumschutz-Jäger angeschafft. Zusammen mit 60 Mirage IIIS und IIIRS sowie rund 100 Hunter wurde in den 70-er-Jahren bis hinein in die 80-er Jahren die Schweiz verteidigt. In den 90-er Jahren sind dann die F/A18 dazu gekommen. - Heute sind noch ungefähr 40-50 F5E-Maschinen im Einsatz.
VTOL VR recently added this for multiplayer, training new players. Just got done flying it so this is such great timing!!
I worked on the F4E but always loved the F5.
Brasil still has those active. I live near a base so I see them roaring their engines sometimes. We're slowly replacing them with the Gripen but sometimes I just wonder how much our airforce modernized those.
Always thought it was a sharp looking fighter. Nice lines
Nice !!
Chile still operates the tiger III version. There’s about 15 of them in active service along with the 46 f16’s in the air force
A very clean looking design
Love this fighter, wish the Tigershark actually got produced.
Was fortunate to work for Northrop until 1996 when the cold war ended. I got to sit in the cockpit of the very last F-5 to come off the assembly line in El Segundo Ca. QC 1029 I worked in tooling inspection and worked on a specific team that put togather a parts catalogue for countries still using the F-5 . Remember watching them move down the production line. Also remember the F-20 program that never was a real disappointment.I remember hearing stories about the F-5 final assembly being done at plant 1 in Hawathorne and the jets being towed down crenshaw blvd late at night to Hawthorne airport where they made there maiden flight. Later finally assembly was moved to Edwards air force base because the city of Hawathorne was not comfortable with live ejection seats in th city limits & late night jet noise.
Damn the timing on this one 💯
right?😂