Air Power Series>1:72 die-cast display model>F-5>HA3336
Northrop F-5E 74-1535, 527th Aggressor Sqn., Alconbury AB, England 1976-1988 "Grape"
General Background
The Northrop F-5 tactical fighter was designed as an extremely maneuverable, supersonic fighter with a high rate of reliability at a low operating cost. The F-5 first flew on July 30, 1959 with the first customer delivery in 1964. The last of more than 2,600 F-5’s was produced in 1989 and about two-thirds of these are still in service with 26 countries more than 4 decades later. The F-5 was manufactured by Northrop Grumman and under license in Canada, Taiwan, South Korea, Spain and Switzerland.
The Aircraft
Northrop F-5E 74-1535 c/n R1193 was assigned to the 527th Tactical Fighter Training and
Aggressor Squadron (USAFE) at Alconbury AB, England and wore the “Grape” camo
scheme. The 527th TFTAS was responsible for training pilots new flying skills or refreshing
them by using the F-5E as the aggressor. The 527th TFTAS operated at Alconbury from
May 1976 when the first aggressor sortie took place until 1988. In 1989 F5-E 74-1535 was
one of four F5-Es delivered to the Tunisian Air Force and was designated as Y.92519/IN.
Specifications :
| Crew: | 1 |
| Dimensions | |
| Length: | 47 ft 4.75 in (14.45 m) |
| Wingspan: | 26 ft 8 in (8.13 m) |
| Height: | 13 ft 4.5 in (4.08 m) |
| Powerplant: | 2 X General Electric J85-GE-21B turbojet |
| Dry thrust: | 3,500 lbf (15.5 kN) per engine |
| Thrust with afterburner: | 5,000 lbf (22.2 kN) per engine |
| Internal fuel : | 677 US gal (2,563 L) |
| External fuel: | 275 US gal (1,040 L) per tank in up to 3 tanks |
| Weight | |
| Empty weight: | 9,558 lb (4,349 kg) |
| Loaded weight: | 15,745 lb (7,157 kg) |
| Max takeoff weight: | 20,486 lb (9,312 kg) |
| Performance | |
| Maximum speed: | 917 kn (1,060 mph, 1,700 km/h, Mach 1.6) |
| Range: | 760 nmi (870 mi, 1,405 km) |
| Ferry range: | 2,010 nmi (2,310 mi, 3,700 km) |
| Service ceiling: | 51,800 ft (15,800 m) |
| Rate of climb: | 34,400 ft/min (175 m/s) |
| Armament | |
| Guns: | 2 X 20 mm (0.787 in) Pontiac M39A2 Revolver cannons in the nose, 280 rounds/gun |
| Hardpoints: | 7 total (3 X wet): 2 X wing-tip AAM launch rails, 4 X under-wing and 1 X under-fuselage pylon stations holding up to 7,000 pounds (3,200 kg) of payload. |
| Rockets: | 2 X LAU-61/LAU-68 rocket pods (each with 19 X / 7 X Hydra 70 mm rockets, respectively) or |
| 2 X LAU-5003 rocket pods (each with 19 X CRV7 70 mm rockets) or | |
| 2 X LAU-10 rocket pods (each with 4 X Zuni 127 mm rockets) or | |
| 2 X Matra rocket pods (each with 18 X SNEB 68 mm rockets) | |
| Missiles | |
| Air-to-air missile: | 4 X AIM-9 Sidewinders or 4 X AIM-120 AMRAAMs |
| Air-to-surface missile: | 2 X AGM-65 Mavericks |
| Bombs: | A variety of air-to-ground ordnance such as the Mark 80 series of unguided iron bombs (including 3 kg and 14 kg practice bombs), CBU-24/49/52/58 cluster bomb munitions, napalm bomb canisters and M129 Leaflet bomb and laser guided bombs of Paveway family. |
| Others: | up to 3 X 150/275 US gallon Sargent Fletcher drop tanks for ferry flight or extended range/loitering time. |
| Avionics: | Emerson Electric AN/APQ-153 radar on early batch of F-5E |
| Emerson Electric AN/APQ-159 radar on later production F-5E |