Hobby Master 1/72 Air Power Series
HA3365Northrop Grumman F-5N Tiger II 761554, VFC-111 Sundowners, US Navy, 2021
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
F-5 761554 MSN L. 1028 was formerly owned by the Swiss Air Force as J-3029 and acquired by the USN when the Swiss were retiring these planes. The aircraft underwent upgrades to an “N” variant and became active with VFC-111 “Sun Downers” in 2008. VFC-111 is an Aggressor Squadron with the mission to train USN and USMC pilots in the art of aerial combat. Many VFC-111 F-5s are painted in a two-tone blue scheme to visually mimic Russian latest aircraft. Several of these paint schemes differ from the others by using the two blues in various patterns.
