Northrop F-5A Freedom Fighter (Fighter)
It’s been a dilemma since the dawn of aerial combat — tiny, nimble and simple, or fast, brawny and expensive? In the 1950s, the U.S. Air Force, focused on stopping Soviet bombers, was building squadrons of massive, complicated interceptors. Northrop engineers had a better idea.How do you make a fighter as small and basic as possible and still fly at supersonic speeds? The answer was a pair of lightweight engines originally designed for missiles. General Electric’s J85 engines weighed less than 500 pounds, yet produced up to 5,000 pounds of thrust.The small size of the engines led to a design that was agile, fast and simple. But the Air Force didn’t want a new fighter; it needed a supersonic trainer. The resulting T-38 Talon is still the Air Force’s primary trainer.
Northrop F-5A Freedom Fighter (Fighter)
It’s been a dilemma since the dawn of aerial combat — tiny, nimble and simple, or fast, brawny and expensive? In the 1950s, the U.S. Air Force, focused on stopping Soviet bombers, was building squadrons of massive, complicated interceptors. Northrop engineers had a better idea.How do you make a fighter as small and basic as possible and still fly at supersonic speeds? The answer was a pair of lightweight engines originally designed for missiles. General Electric’s J85 engines weighed less than 500 pounds, yet produced up to 5,000 pounds of thrust.The small size of the engines led to a design that was agile, fast and simple. But the Air Force didn’t want a new fighter; it needed a supersonic trainer. The resulting T-38 Talon is still the Air Force’s primary trainer.