Old Viper Tester Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 F-20 Tigershark #1, USAF serial number 82-0062, civil registration N4416T. At Edwards AFB for testing done by Northrop Test Operations division. September 1982, with flight test nose boom. They don't show up well, but there are pitch and yaw vanes mounted on the forward tip of the left wing missile rail. The measurements from these vanes were being calibrated against the measurements from the nose boom so they could replace the nose boom with a production radome and still collect sensitive yaw and pitch data during stability and control testing. The two rough fairings near the top and middle of the vertical tail are strain gauges and the associated wiring covered with "speed putty" - not usually painted over so neatly, if painted at all. October 1982, Edwards AFB Open House. Flight test nose boom removed in favor of the "shark nose" radome. January 1983 Enlargement of the above image July 1983, back in the "Coca Cola" scheme with her Paris Salon registration number 339. The mid-tail strain gauges have been removed. September 1983. USAF serial number replaced with the civil registration. Orange indicates flight test unique equipment or modifications. October 1983, on Edwards Runway 22. May 1984, in the middle of the "test fleet" Original canopy configuration For comparison, the production canopy configuration on ship on #2, N3986B. 82-0062 was lost in a fatal G-induced Loss of Consciousness (G-LOC) crash during a demonstration tour in South Korea, 10 October 1984. Thanks for looking, Sven 17 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 Brilliant, thanks for those, one of the prime "should of been" aircraft ever I reckon. Not hard to imagine these in various air forces schemes. Steve. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 Very nice pictures as usual, thanks again for sharing ! Glad to see pictures of the whole F-20 fleet, more so as IIRC 2 out of 3 were later lost. Those were the years when I started getting interested in aviation and I remember well the buzz created by this aircraft. Today I am much more skeptical about the F-20 and I can see the reasons why the program failed, but still this was a very good looking aircraft ! I noticed there's a T-38 with an unusual scheme in the background of some of the pictures, was she a Northrop owned aircraft in their colours ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Viper Tester Posted June 12, 2019 Author Share Posted June 12, 2019 (edited) 5 hours ago, Giorgio N said: I noticed there's a T-38 with an unusual scheme in the background of some of the pictures, was she a Northrop owned aircraft in their colours ? It was actually a Northrop owned F-5F, N3139Y. It was primarily used for safety and photo chase of the F-20, but was also used for RF-5E test missions. Edited June 12, 2019 by Old Viper Tester 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hairystick Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 A superb record of the testing phase Sven! A lot of unseen images and I bet a few publishers would love to have seen these for their books. The F-20 would have been a great asset for a few Air Forces around the world, especially going against the trend of "large, 2-seat" systems that were all in-vogue at that time. Thanks for posting these! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 5 hours ago, Old Viper Tester said: It was actually a Northrop owned F-5F, N3139Y. It was primarily used for safety and photo chase of the F-20, but was also used for RF-5E test missions. Beautiful ! With the Italeri kit back in the shops it's an interesting subject for a model. Thanks for posting the picture ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingerbob Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 Wonderful! Much as I like the F-20, do you have more shots of the F-5F? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AV O Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 (edited) Thank you very much for these photos. As an echo to your pictures, here is a nice replica : http://master194.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=106174&start=150 Edited June 15, 2019 by AV O 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Dot Posted June 18, 2019 Share Posted June 18, 2019 all the photos are excellent Sven. I can't believe it was in the early 80's. how time flies Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-32 Posted July 1, 2019 Share Posted July 1, 2019 Love these shots Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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