15 Facts About Northrop F-5

Northrop F-5 is a family of supersonic light fighter aircraft initially designed as a privately funded project in the late 1950s by Northrop Corporation.

Northrop F-5 was developed into a dedicated reconnaissance aircraft, the RNorthrop F-5 Tigereye.

The Northrop F-20 Tigershark was an advanced variant to succeed the F-5E which was ultimately canceled when export customers did not emerge.

In late 1954, a Northrop F-5 team toured Europe and Asia to examine both the NBMR-1 and the needs of SEATO members.

Northrop F-5 responded with a radical redesign, PD-2706, which placed the engines against the fuselage in short ducts exiting in front of the tail area, like the F-4, and moved the elevator up to form a T-tail.

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Northrop F-5 continued development of the N-156, both as a two-seat advanced trainer, designated as N-156T, and a single-seat fighter, designated as N-156F.

Northrop F-5 earned a reputation for a jet that was hard to discern in the air and when one finally saw it, it was often after a missile or guns kill [by Northrop F-5] had already been called.

In 1970, Northrop won the International Fighter Aircraft competition to replace the F-5A, with better air-to-air performance against aircraft like the Soviet MiG-21.

USAF doctrine with regard to the Northrop F-5 changed following operational testing and limited deployment in 1965.

Northrop F-5 was adopted as an opposing forces "aggressor" for dissimilar training role because of its small size and performance similarities to the Soviet MiG-21.

Currently, the only U S Navy and U S Marine Corps units flying the F-5 are VFC-13 at NAS Fallon, Nevada, VFC-111 at NAS Key West, Florida, and VMFT-401 at MCAS Yuma, Arizona.

Ethiopian Northrop F-5 fighters saw combat action against Somali forces during the Ogaden War .

The Northrop F-5 gave Mexico its first supersonic warplane, and it saw the formation of Air Squadron 401.

KNorthrop F-5 variants were built by Korean Air under license between 1982 and 1986.

Northrop F-5 became the first military plane in Venezuela capable of flying at supersonic speeds.