The Greatest Aircraft Ever Made | Northrop F-5E Tiger II

the Northrop f5e tiger 2 a low-cost supersonic light fighter that began its life in the late 1950s it was a quick Nimble and had one thing in mind air superiority hi there my name is icarol and today I will be telling you all why I think the f5e tiger 2 may just be the greatest aircraft ever made before I start though I'd like to welcome you all to the video and I hope that I can make it entertaining enough for you all if you're eating dinner while watching this drop a comment down below and tell me what you're eating alright let's do this back in the height of the Cold War the North Atlantic Treaty Organization issued NATO basic military requirement one or nbmr1 I'll be referring to it as this in the future what nbmr1 sought was a lightweight tactical fighter that could carry both nuclear and Conventional Weapons and can operate from rough and rugged terrain so basically NATO wanted a premier jet that could cover all their bases in case conflicts Rose and the Cold War went hot it should be said that in the late 1950s the atmosphere of the world military stage began to shift long past were the days of P-51 Mustangs being replaced with a newer Superior version once or twice a year Jets were expensive a gentleman by the name of Edgar Schmid acted as vice president and aircraft designer for Northrop at the time of nbmr1 Edgar could also be traced back to his other efforts a little number known as the P-51 Mustang as well as the f-86 saber with a resume like this it's clear that Mr schmood was always on the bleeding edge of aircraft design and what he had in store for Northrop wasn't going to be any different NATO wanted an Eric frame that could keep with the times something which didn't have the same archaic life cycles as piston aircraft in the Second World War agreed with this and demanded that his project had engineered growth potential which is a fancy mechanic talk for something that can last more than a decade without becoming a floating Target in 1955 a wonderful invention came in the form of the general electric j85 engine apparently it was made for the adm20 quail a Decoy for the B-52 bomber real quick did any of you guys know this thing existed I didn't know until I started researching this video anyway when posed against the engines that the legendary McDonald Douglas F4 Phantom had the j79 the new j85s produced a whopping 7.5 thrust to weight ratio compared to the j79's measly 4.7 so that's a lot you know pound for pound that is a lot of extra thrust and while yes I am cherry picking the highest numbers for both engines and actual statistics varied by the version themselves I'm saving both myself and you guys that time after all who really has the patience for long-form videos anyway with these engines as the heart of the project the engineering team at Northrop got to work an official project name of n156 TX arrived in March of 1955. initially they wanted the engines to light underneath the wings almost like the Gloucester meteor or the Messerschmitt 262 or even a yak-25 though by the end of the 1950s those approaches were already seen as far too archaic and a new approach was taken soon thereafter see while Mr Schmid was a designing genius two brains were always better than one another bespoke actor in this story is one Welco geish I'm sorry if I'm mispronouncing that German's not really my forte anyway gesh acted as shmoot's Chief QA tester and insisted that the engines within the n156 need to be placed within the fuselage to have maximum performance it wouldn't even be difficult to point out the validity in his statement and he didn't even have to go very far he could just point out schmood's previous works with the saber to emphasize his point now and while I respect Mr Schmid for his avant-garde approach to aircraft design now just isn't the time especially with the market as hot as it was in the 50s because of Gage the n56 wasn't thrown in the garbage entirely after a brief stint and trying to get a carrier escort Fighter for the U.S Navy a new design arose by December of the next year 1956 pd2879d came forward and I can't find any real images of pd2879d but its design had apparently been near identical to the first prototype of the f5a so what you see in front of you is a picture of the yf5a and all this lacking compared to pd2879 is the lack of tail hook for an arrestor cable at the same time as project pd2879 at the time of the n165 project the United States Air Force was still using a very old and very reputable aircraft known as the t-33 also known as the shooting star while the shooting star was an incredible platform for training Pilots its age was beginning to show there was a new generation of aircraft Dawning and the t-33 wasn't bound to be suitable for much longer enter the t-38 while it performed its first official test in June of 1959 which is a whopping four years after n156tx's project began it absolutely blew everyone away because of this the production of the n156 was placed on the back burner and the trainer which had become known as the Talon began production now let's rewind a little bit you guys remember nbmr1 right I was just talking about it I would hope you remember npmr1 had already saw its lead candidate in the form of the Fiat g91 and not everyone was able to afford such a pretty piece of Italian steel because of this the United States sought to produce a low-cost Fighter for export supplying their allies under the military assistance program since America was looking for an export which can make them look good a series of potential platforms came from the Woodworks within 156 showing its face once again on its first flight in June 30th 1959 this little hot rod managed to break the speed of sound talk about a loud impressions what was more the platform shows incredible maneuverability excellent reliability and excelled in the ground attack role doing even better than the Air Force's current Fleet of f-100s it seemed like the stage was set for it to dominate and it was but for some reason America didn't bite at least not right away additional tests came along in 1961 where United States Army had to come out along with the Douglas A4 Skyhawk and the aforementioned g91 putting out a little competition between the three to see who could perform better at reconnaissance as well as close air support well I guess something got ignored on the way up the food chain because the Air Force which is the ones responsible for fixed-wing aircraft deployment in the Army pulled the plug on this and just like that it seemed like the M1 d56 was already with two strikes on its name but our story doesn't it there in 1962 Under the Kennedy administration America was still looking for a lightweight fighter to fill their ranks and Export to their allies with it being over two decades since America first entered World War II a new competition was on the rise in April of the next year the FX competition entered the public eye and it was a pretty open and shut competition for the n156 which had just earned its proper title as f5a so what is the f5a simple it's a twin engine multi-role fighter that had a wide assortment of weapons it could use to bring ballistic freedom to NATO's enemies this only got better in 1972 when the FIB tiger 2 variant was made you see it was called the tiger 2 because Grumman who is another incredibly notable aircraft manufacturer named their f11f the tiger back in 1954 but I have a feeling that everyone in the naming board realized it was just too damn cool to pass up this thing received nothing but positive feedback from mechanics Pilots buyers and sellers it could loiter for quite some time thanks to its ability to take external tanks of fuel it could lay the beat down on a tank with a Paveway and in later variants really really Reach Out And Touch someone with the addition of the aim 120 amram missile in fact in its lifespan and service from 1975 to 1990 it was so well loved and well-rounded it acted as a host for numerous testing platforms the first of these will cover it also happens to be my personal favorite the F20 tiger shark it's such a menacing name right I remember playing through Ace Combat 5 as a little boy at my dad's house and unlocking the tiger shark about halfway through the game it really served me well when I had to shoot down a ton of fighters in this one mission that had a bunch of jamming aircraft in it it's good times [Music] well outside of the virtual world the F20 also was posed to become the greatest Hallmark of American export Fighters and I do not say this lightly Brigadier General Charles L wood Yeager yeah that Chuck Yeager even went on record saying that it was a magnificent machine now excuse me but when you have a Legend like Chuck Yeager saying your machine is magnificent it'd only take the devil's own hand to keep it from reaching such a high platform however that seems to be what it had during the testing of the tiger shark in South Korea a test pilot known as Daryl Cornell died of g-lock or G-Force induced loss of consciousness then again in the next year it happened again a second test pilot had lost their life tragically in a test accident from the aircraft and I don't say this to besmirch the name of those Brave pilots who lost their lives but the plane was essentially too good at its job to speak plainly it could handle g-forces faster and better than its pilots and a shark that bites its Handler isn't one that America wanted swimming in its own skies because of the negative backlash F20 was canned in favor of the F-16 Fighting Falcon I could do a whole other video on the tiger shark because in my opinion it's one of the most unique cases of aircraft variations in modern history who knows maybe someday I will getting a bit back on subject before it left service the FIB made quite a roll for itself acting as an excellent export fighter and also performed amazingly as an aggressor for those of you who don't know what an aggressor is they're basically aircraft piloted by individuals who mimic the flight patterns and follow doctrines of foreign countries one of America's most common actors would be Russian adversaries if any of you watched the original Top Gun the migs that they used in that fight yet those were actually fives funnily enough though the tiger loved playing as the bad guy formally the F5 would be adopted as the op4 aggressor or opposing forces aggressor because of its similar Dimensions to a Workhorse Soviet jet the mig-21 fish bed in 1977 at Nellis Air Force Base the Tigers squared off against America's two biggest names in the aviation World they had 14 Tomcat and F-15 Eagle official reports have been cited saying quote for the first three weeks of the test the f-14s and f-15s were hopelessly outclassed and demoralized now think about that for a minute America's most advanced air superiority Fighters were demoralized by the Tiger in a fight in the same report it says that the Tomcats also managed a two to one kill ratio against the far older F5 though this was after adjustments to The Rules of Engagement were made skewing the favor of the aircraft which could use longer range missiles because of these immediate changes the Tomcats did Reign Victorious because their use of the proprietary aim54 Phoenix missile actions of this sort weren't few or far between and until the day of their retirement the f5e received great amounts of love and support as well as a few upgrades before beginning to get brought off the runways of American air bases in 1990s now I know what you're thinking Iko why is this not still being used Well turns out it is [Applause] [Applause] [Music] just because the USA doesn't use the FIB doesn't mean it's not being used worldwide pilots in Brazil Greece Iran Mexico the Netherlands Norway Taiwan Venezuela the list goes on all still use and covet their tigers with many of them adding indigenous upgrades to keep them relevant in our modern day and age perhaps most importantly the t-38 Talon the trainer I mentioned before it's still in service Young new aviators from around the world find themselves in the seat of a Talon first more times than not I have the pleasure of living right next to Beale Air Force Base and I can see pilots flying around our area all the time hearing their engines Go full burn as they rock it through the skies is always so fascinating to watch and to hear I can only imagine what it must feel like to be in it I often wonder if those Pilots are experiencing for the first time themselves or if they're seasoned veterans who just like hot riding through the skies it's true that the Boeing Saab t7 Redhawk will likely be making its debut soon all planes will meet their final flight one day or another however this cat lived a lifespan longer than all of its feline cousins and will likely stay in use for the imminent future there's always a demand for a small Nimble aircraft that can get in the air faster than it could be refueled and that's why I think the f5e tiger 2 may just be the greatest aircraft ever made thank you all for watching if you liked it I'd appreciate if you all showed it by clicking that like button if you hated it go ahead and push the dislike button it won't be anything personal I appreciate you all for listening to me go on about a plane for so long after all this is my first attempt at ever doing something like this and if you all like the music that was in this video I'll have a list of all the tracks I use in the description in chronological order and that's all for me guys I hope you all have a nice day see you around [Music]

Channel: Ikorol

Views: 11,656

Keywords: t-38 talon, F-5E, F-5E Tiger II, Northrop, Trainer, Ace Combat, Ace Combat 5, Video Essay, Opinion

Id: 15AtIDOhF9Q

Length: 16min 37sec (997 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 17 2023