F5 / T38

[LotusOmega375D]

I was watching Apocalypse Now the other night with that wonderful scene of the four F5s napalming the tree line. Having tracked plenty of USAF T38 Talons training in the USA recently on ADS-B, the type has now been around for over 50 years. That’s quite an achievement, when you consider what other USAF fast jet types have been and gone during that time. Makes our BAE Hawk seem like a spring chicken.

[eccles]

I've always thought they were a very underrated aircraft, you rarely see them mentioned in documentaries etc.

[DavieBNL]

USAF reckon that by the time it goes out of service the B-52 will have been operational for 100 years

[808 Estate]

Although not an aeroplane, the .50 Browning machine gun has been in service for 87 years. There isnt much chance of it going EOL anytime soon either.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M2_Browning

[williamp]

Wing tip missiles. The coolest thing. Ever.

And, to my eyes a lovely looking aircraft. Would be in my fantasy hanger.

[RichGault]

Great aircraft,always liked them. The F20 Tigershark would have been interesting.
Am i correct in saying that the some or a large part of its fuselage design and LERX lent itself the the F17? which then became the F18?

[aeropilot]

LotusOmega375D said:

I was watching Apocalypse Now the other night with that wonderful scene of the four F5s napalming the tree line. Having tracked plenty of USAF T38 Talons training in the USA recently on ADS-B, the type has now been around for over 50 years. That’s quite an achievement, when you consider what other USAF fast jet types have been and gone during that time. Makes our BAE Hawk seem like a spring chicken.

Single seat F-5 still used in the fighter/bomber role by the Swiss AF, including 6 of them in special paint scheme flown by the Patrouille Suisse display team.

[LotusOmega375D]

The F5s I personally had a soft spot for were the wild Warsaw Pact liveried Aggressor Squadron ones based at Alconbury. They used to keep the resident F4s honest.

[aeropilot]

LotusOmega375D said:

The F5s I personally had a soft spot for were the wild Warsaw Pact liveried Aggressor Squadron ones based at Alconbury. They used to keep the resident F4s honest.

Those were the days.

[dr_gn]

The Iranians have a few - they recently modified them to have twin fins for no apparent reason other than they might look a bit more modern to people who can’t see very well.

[Eric Mc]

The first Airfix kit I ever built was their model of the F-5A in Iranian colours.



I have one of these in my unbuilt kit stash but am waiting for someone to produce some 1/72 NASA decals -

[swampy442]

dr_gn said:

The Iranians have a few - they recently modified them to have twin fins for no apparent reason other than they might look a bit more modern to people who can’t see very well.

I had to Google that, seemed quite incredible.Turns out they have been reverse engineering them to 'create' a locally built aircraft!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HESA_Saeqeh

[dr_gn]

swampy442 said:

dr_gn said:

The Iranians have a few - they recently modified them to have twin fins for no apparent reason other than they might look a bit more modern to people who can’t see very well.

I had to Google that, seemed quite incredible.Turns out they have been reverse engineering them to 'create' a locally built aircraft!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HESA_Saeqeh

I think it's more likely they're modified American aircraft rather than reverse-engineered new builds.

[Eric Mc]

I visited Randolph Air Force Base in Texas back in 1981 and was able to get up close to a number of USAF T-38s

[Mave]

Nice photo. You can see what a small aircraft it is, much smaller than the even the F18, let alone the F18E!

[LukeBrown66]

Many moons ago I had a tour of Alconbury organised by the ATC I was in (for a very short time sadly).

We were shown around the RF4C, (amazing considering its job) and got right on the apron sat in an F5E in Aggressor colours,w as amazing.

I think it is a beautiful plane, superbly manoeuvrable, and only let down by a lack of power.

the F20 could have taken it to another level, and was just as pretty, but I gather a few crashed and it was sort of surpassed and overlooked by the 16/18 aswell.

You see T38s a lot still at Star Wars canyon and there is some great youtube footage of the Swiss in gun runs in the mountains

[Eric Mc]

Mave said:

Nice photo. You can see what a small aircraft it is, much smaller than the even the F18, let alone the F18E!

In concept, it was more like the Gnat than a Lightning. The idea was to build as cheap a supersonic fighter as possible - especially one that would be affordable by US Cold War Allies (which is why it was called the Freedom Fighter). The USAF wasn't interested in the idea as they thought (correctly) that even though it was a supersonic aircraft, being small it didn't have a great range nor did it have very sophisticated (for the time) onboard weapons systems. However, they were interested in a twin seat trainer derivative, which became the T-38 and they ordered lots of them.

In the 1970s, they did buy an upgraded single seat version (the F-5E Tiger) which was used, as mentioned above, by the USAF and US Navy Aggressor Squadrons.

Lots of F-5As and F-5Bs (the two seater version of the F-5A) were sold to US allies.

[BrettMRC]

swampy442 said:

I had to Google that, seemed quite incredible.Turns out they have been reverse engineering them to 'create' a locally built aircraft!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HESA_Saeqeh

Speed: 1056mph
Range: 1864miles

[Mave]

BrettMRC said:

Speed: 1056mph
Range: 1864miles

Doubt that's at the same time. Looks like it's got a big drop tank!

[Tango13]

dr_gn said:

swampy442 said:

dr_gn said:

The Iranians have a few - they recently modified them to have twin fins for no apparent reason other than they might look a bit more modern to people who can’t see very well.

I had to Google that, seemed quite incredible.Turns out they have been reverse engineering them to 'create' a locally built aircraft!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HESA_Saeqeh

I think it's more likely they're modified American aircraft rather than reverse-engineered new builds.

That's not a modified F-5, this is a modified F-5...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumman_X-29