Airshow video: F-5N - Tiger II - Aggressors ----- VFC-111 Sun Downers

[RJH57]

pure aviation porn
F-5N - Tiger II - Aggressors ----- VFC-111 Sun Downers (Airshow)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlyscOZuz7U

[pipz]

Cool plane.

[Gman]

Very cool plane - the F5 is much beloved here in Canada, it was retired a while ago, but for a long time it was our secondary fighter during the F104 years as well as for much of the early years of the CF18 - it was used as both an operational fighter as well as a lead in trainer for both the 104 and 18.  Canadiar built them and the Netherlands and Greece used a similar variant as the CF-5.

I saw this vid on one of the defense daily sites yesterday too, fantastic video.  The F5N - it and the F20 are my favorite jets.  The F20 was the "true" fighter mafia plane IMO, imagine what that airframe with one of todays motors (it had a great engine and thrust/weight ratio even in the 80s) could do in terms of building energy.  Mace2004 posted some stuff here over the years about the Navy aggressors and the F5N and some details about it.  I'll have to search and find that, it was a great thread.  I wonder when the VF111 Sundowners Tomcat squadron transitioned to an aggressor squad?

DCS F5 module happens to be going into beta in the next month as well, a "study sim" module, should be a lot of fun.

Anyone else ever read Barrett Tillman's book "Warriors"?  It's based around the F20 and a war in the mid east featuring squadrons of that plane, it's 25 years old now IIRC, but still has a lot of info about the F20.

[GScholz]

In many ways the SAAB Gripen is a Swedish take on the F-20.

[Gman]

I was just thinking that too, how the Gripen is in many ways a modern F20 - light, small, capable, single engine, extremely fast sortie generation rate and turnaround time.  There is a huge push up here in Canada from many groups to buy the Gripen instead of the F35 buy which was cancelled, Gripen for Canada is a good website about a Canadian version of the Gripen.  I hope it happens too, as regardless of how the F35 turns out, it's impossible to un-ring that bell here now, after all the ballyhoo over the canceling of the F35 buy, it'll have to be another fighter for political reasons most likely now.  Gripen is the best option, although single engine up here isn't a real popular option with some due to the sparseness of the territory in terms of lack of runways around.

[GScholz]

I don't know... Canada is a big place and the Gripen was designed for shorter range quick sorties defending a small European country. Range issues were the reason we dropped it and Norway is not Canada (though we have a lot of ocean to cover).

[Gman]

It's actually got better range than what we're using now, legacy Hornets, when you compare the two with typical drop tank loadouts, the Gripen has an advantage in range, and the newest Gripen E will have an even greater range, which is what we would buy most likely if a Gripen purchase happens.  I do agree though there are far better options out there in terms of range/interceptor like the F15S/SE/Etc variants and such.  In terms of overall cost/capability ratio though, the Gripen is pretty good.

The OP airshow video has a couple US Navy aggressor dogfights spliced in, you can see a few times where Hornets are in the gunsights, and one with a warbling Aim9 seeker locking up a Hornet in the hud video.  Such a great video and performance, I've never seen one of the aggressor squads performing at an airshow, especially with a 4 ship up like that.  At 3:30 in the video, the split S at low altitude - fantastic, one of the better shots I've seen in recent fighter gopro vids.

[Sundowner]

Nice! 

Regards,
Sun

[RJH57]

  I wonder when the VF111 Sundowners Tomcat squadron transitioned to an aggressor squad?

here you go:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VF-111

can you imagine being a naval aviator assigned to an aggressor squadron stationed in party town KEY WEST Fla, flying & dogfighting in the sky all day, I don't even want to think about what goes on down there in the evenings (especially during Fantasy Fest  ). "Oh, the horror, the horror...." 


VF-111 personnel:

[RJH57]

the Gripen is in many ways a modern F20 - light, small, capable, single engine, extremely fast sortie generation rate and turnaround time.  There is a huge push up here in Canada from many groups to buy the Gripen instead of the F35 buy which was cancelled

a ride in the Gripen 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr8oRBhEAjQ

[GScholz]

We've been very happy with the F-16 up here in the arctic, and the only reason we're buying F-35s to replace them is that we don't have many hours left on the airframes. I imagine flying over the northern reaches of Canada must look very similar this time of year.

[jollyFE]

I worked the F-5E in the USAF from 85 until the USAF got rid of them in 89.  Such an easy plane to work, loved the TDY's. 


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[GScholz]

Norway was the first country outside the U.S. to buy the F-5, in 1964. We bought more than a hundred of them, and the last F-5 squadron was finally retired in 2000, but the RNoAF flew them for air shows well into the new millennia. Back in the '60s and '70s 717 Squadron would regularly win the NATO photo recce competitions in their RF-5As. When you asked these guys for a photo you didn't get an aerial view, you got a close up. Crazy stuff.

[Ramesis]

Looks like the USAF's T-38... is it a derivative?
VFC?
Ramsis/Osiris

[Gman]

The T38 is more or less in the same family as the F5, both having their roots in the N-156, the F5 series being the fighter version of that initial type.  - in the USA they were both built in the same plant with the same company IIRC,   The major difference between the T38A and early F5A/etc being the wings. 

GScholz, Canadian and Norwegian terrain is pretty similar.  Both nations military have to operate in very similar and changing conditions.  In fact during the Cold War in the 80s, much of the Canadian contingent flagged to reinforce NATO in Europe was to be sent to Norway, and the major part of forces not already in Germany in terms of the Canadian Air Force was slotted to fight on the Northern Flank with Norway if it came to war.  Canada trained very often with Norwegian forces, and I'm sure the similarity in terrain played a part in how well both forces integrated in the exercises held there.  The Soviets through a major fit in the 80s once during a major EX in Norway, launching protests with the Canadian and Norwegian government under some pretext - always found that funny, with the HUGE advantage in numbers the Soviets had, how they could flip out over a single brigade and a wing of fighters deploying for training in Norway.