did the military guys ever make and F-17?
Technically, it was the YF-17. In 1974 Northrop developed this aircraft to compete in the USAF’s “lightweight Fighter Competition”. The competitior was a feisty little aircraft from General Dynamics called the YF-16. The YF-16 won the competion (and the rest is histroy for the F-16!). The YF-17 went back to the drawing board, Because of cost concerns for the Navy’s F-14, The Navy was also looking for a cheaper. light weight aircraft (also to eventually replace the aging A-7A/Es and earlier F-4s). Congress directed the Navy select “minimum modification” air force design. McDonnell Douglas was looking to get in on a collabrative effort, and stuudied General Dynamics “Navalized” F-16 and a modified Northrop YF-17. McDD decided that Northrop’s design had better potential and partnered with Northrop. Under the terms of the agreement, McDD would be the prime contractor for the airframe pitched to the navy, while Northrop would be the contractor for airframes pitched to the USAF. This failed miserably for Northrop, since
the USAF stayed with the F-16. This left Northrop out in the cold. Meanwhile, McDonnell Douglas “tweeked” the YF-17 design, and used their vast naval aircraft experience to create a beefed up airframe. This “modified” YF-17 was redesignated the F/A-18, and the rest is history…
I believe the Naval Air Museum in Pensacola has a YF-17 on display and its a good 1/3 smaller than the F/A-18. At least they had it a few years ago.
My picture of the day for March 7th shows one of the two YF-17 demonstrators…
Wolf’s Picture of the Day - 7 March 2005
If anyone is interested I’ll post more shots of the Cobra in that thread…
Fade to Black…