Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
tonipm99

A few questions about the F-5s

Recommended Posts

Well, the N-156 family of aircraft make up the entirety of my top 5 favourite aircraft list. And I have a few questions about them, and although I could probably just spend some 15 minutes and google them I'd like to have the answers directly from you who most likely have worked with these sexy jets.

So, going through images of the Swiss Air Force F-5E/Fs, I noticed that the centerline pylon is always present. It's as if it was fixed, like the wingtip pylons. The same goes for USN aggressor F-5Ns and actually every single image I can remember of pretty much every variant except the T-38, F-20 and X-29. In fact, I've only seen one image of Freedom Fighters/Tiger IIs where there was no centerline pylon present, it was a civilian F-5A.

Is it actually fixed or semi-fixed, thus making it a waste of time to remove it, or is it something else...? I personally really dislike empty underside pylons, so it's disappointing to see that there's no image available of a truly clean F-5E.

Also, does anyone know how is it that the Swiss Air Force F-5s have the F-20 LERX, and the nosecone of one of the F-20 prototypes (the one with the completely glass canopy)? I haven't been able to get information about this and I'm really curious.

And the final one, how come only these two modifications from the F-20, the LERX and the nosecone made it to other F-5s? The modified canopy comes to mind as something useful (in Ace Combat 5/Zero, where you can "check six" from the cockpit, the F-20 has better rear visibility than the F-5E, so I assume the same would apply IRL), and also the avionics and glass cockpit, they should be compatible with at least F-5Es, right? Was it because they came too late? Or too early?

Thanks for your time!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

CL pylon is removable. USN/USMC Aggressors usually didnt use them.

The flat shark nose and extended LERX are late-production F-5E features, I used to have details/dates on that when I researched F-5's some years ago.

Nice website where you can look around for the modifications...

http://www.the-northrop-f-5-enthusiast-page.info/index.html

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, tonipm99 said:

And the final one, how come only these two modifications from the F-20, the LERX and the nosecone made it to other F-5s? The modified canopy comes to mind as something useful (in Ace Combat 5/Zero, where you can "check six" from the cockpit, the F-20 has better rear visibility than the F-5E, so I assume the same would apply IRL), and also the avionics and glass cockpit, they should be compatible with at least F-5Es, right? Was it because they came too late? Or too early?

Usually down to money and customer need / requirements...for example an F-15C with Thrust vectoring PW-232s could have been but in reality there was no unlimited budget for such things. 

So the F-20 cockpit was 44% larger...could a retrofit have been done cheaply?........the fact nobody did it is more likely down to nobody needing it or was willing to pay for those changes..they may have had to pay for flight testing etc.

 You can put some nice avionics in an F-5E...........look at Chiles upgraded F-5E Tiger III. The avionics in the F-20 were cutting edge for their time (Mid 1980s)....but the fact that it didn't become a standard was probably again down to lack of requirement from customers or e.g. those that had the money procured more advanced fighters instead.

 

 

F-5EM-Pit.thumb.jpg.f52a72aab4f096fcaf1763ede7d535c2.jpg

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
15 hours ago, MigBuster said:

Usually down to money and customer need / requirements...for example an F-15C with Thrust vectoring PW-232s could have been but in reality there was no unlimited budget for such things. 

So the F-20 cockpit was 44% larger...could a retrofit have been done cheaply?........the fact nobody did it is more likely down to nobody needing it or was willing to pay for those changes..they may have had to pay for flight testing etc.

 You can put some nice avionics in an F-5E...........look at Chiles upgraded F-5E Tiger III. The avionics in the F-20 were cutting edge for their time (Mid 1980s)....but the fact that it didn't become a standard was probably again down to lack of requirement from customers or e.g. those that had the money procured more advanced fighters instead.

44% larger? I thought the front fuselage wasn't that modified.

And, yeah, I do know about the upgraded F-5s. Just seemed suprising that there weren't any factory upgrades, but, yeah, if some of these countries had the money at the time they'd have gone for F-16s or F-18s instead.

Thanks!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
21 hours ago, Crusader said:

CL pylon is removable. USN/USMC Aggressors usually didnt use them.

The flat shark nose and extended LERX are late-production F-5E features, I used to have details/dates on that when I researched F-5's some years ago.

Nice website where you can look around for the modifications...

http://www.the-northrop-f-5-enthusiast-page.info/index.html

I missed your post somehow... Thank you for the page!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
7 hours ago, tonipm99 said:

44% larger? I thought the front fuselage wasn't that modified.

 

Sorry I meant 44% larger cockpit canopy.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 18/02/2018 at 6:40 PM, MigBuster said:

Usually down to money and customer need / requirements...for example an F-15C with Thrust vectoring PW-232s could have been but in reality there was no unlimited budget for such things. 

So the F-20 cockpit was 44% larger...could a retrofit have been done cheaply?........the fact nobody did it is more likely down to nobody needing it or was willing to pay for those changes..they may have had to pay for flight testing etc.

 You can put some nice avionics in an F-5E...........look at Chiles upgraded F-5E Tiger III. The avionics in the F-20 were cutting edge for their time (Mid 1980s)....but the fact that it didn't become a standard was probably again down to lack of requirement from customers or e.g. those that had the money procured more advanced fighters instead.

 

 

F-5EM-Pit.thumb.jpg.f52a72aab4f096fcaf1763ede7d535c2.jpg

Brazilian F-5M

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
2 hours ago, denissoliveira said:

Brazilian F-5M

Thanks I guess the FAB-4852 is a give away...unfortunately I have it in the wrong folder.

 

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 19/2/2018 at 10:25 PM, MigBuster said:

Sorry I meant 44% larger cockpit canopy.

Oh. I was very surprised there! But then a retrofit would be easy, right? Kind of like swapping the nosecone, the mounting points should remain the same. Visually, at least, the rear part of the canopy does seem fairly similar if not the same. But then again as you said it probably wasn't needed enough (if there was even an improvement with it) to actually replace them.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I would be more concerned about the metal plate behind the pilots seat...what do you have to do to get that out............you literally need a Northrop F-20 structural engineer to confirm any of this I think.

 

Surprised more has not already been released by Northrop by now.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

  • Similar Content

    • By LaoHu
      I downloaded this mod for the F-5 and all of the skins for the aircraft are black, which means the textures aren't loading but I can't find out why it isn't loading. There is no exact installation instructions other than extract it into the mod folder which I did and there doesn't look like there are any issues with the file placement compared to the other aircraft files. Can anyone help me out?

      P.S. the drop tanks have the textures working and the cockpit, loading screen, menu, etc all work. Everything but the skin. 

       
    • By MigBuster

      Northrop fighter programs and luck are not things you will often hear in the same sentence. Here we look at the short lived Tigershark and some of its contenders for the lucrative 1980s export market.
       
       
      In the 1960s and through the 1970s Northrop produced and sold the superb F-5AB Freedom Fighter and F-5EF Tiger II to the export Foreign Military Sales (FMS) market. In fact over 30 countries had procured 2600 F-5s in 28 different configurations by the mid-1980s.
      In the late 1970s Taiwan had a requirement for a fighter that could fire BVR missiles like the AIM-7 – unfortunately the US government had to appease mainland China so the F-4/F-16/F-18 were out……… and so the US Department of Defense (DOD) asked Northrop to adapt the F-5E.
       

      F-5E Aggressor (Airliners.net)
       
      Sadly, with AIM-7s and a bigger radar, performance of the new F-5E was lackluster and Taiwan was not interested. So, the DoD asked Northrop to look into a more suitable configuration, which ended up with a new F404 engine and the designation of F-5G.
      The Carter administration at the time decided to put a cap on exports to certain developing countries and stipulated the US would only export fighters that were modifications of existing aircraft and thus "inferior" to US front line fighters. Also, any company submitting proposals had to fund it themselves! The ruling favoured the less advanced F-5G and not the F-16A, so with Northrop already having the F-5 market to themselves it sounded like a risk worth taking.
       
       
      The FX proposal (F-5G Vs the F-16-79)
      The requirement for the FX was for a fighter with performance somewhere between the F-5E and the F-16A, and so Northrop and General Dynamics submitted their proposals.
       
      Northrop F-5G
      The proposed F-5G turned out to be far superior to the F-5E, the choice of GE 404 turbofan engine in 1978 gave the F-5 around 60% more thrust (16,000 lbs max) and really was the jewel in the crown here.  This engine was also being used for the FA-18 and despite not being mature it had potential to be simpler, lighter, more reliable with less IR signature than the old turbojets (like the J79) with far less fuel consumption. With Digital Engine Controls the pilot didn’t have to worry about compressor stalling the thing. This certainly looked to have superior performance to the F-16-79 on paper.
      Northrop would have to develop avionics inferior to those in the F-16A for export purposes and looked at bids from Westinghouse, Emerson, Hughes, Norden and General Electric (GE) however none were chosen before the F-5G configuration had to be upgraded.
       
      General Dynamics F-16-79
      RAND called the F-16-79 half hearted, however General Dynamics had to find ways to cripple the F-16 in certain areas and one way to do this was to use the J79-GE-17X engine. The idea was that there were a lot of used J79s available in the world………so in theory this would be cheaper and easier to maintain and upgrade for these export customers.
      ·         The J79 engine was a slightly enhanced version of that in the F-104 & F-4 (was originally for the F-4). It had around 18,000 lbs max thrust and a bit more with a feature called “Combat Edge” that could be used for very short periods. ·         The F-16-79 had over 2000 lbs extra weight due to the heat shielding for the J79 and different Air intake and changes to the rear of the fuselage. ·         Range was significantly reduced. ·         Despite inferior performance to the F100 in the F-16A, the F-16-79 was actually faster top end due to the J79 and the different air intake. It is the only F-16 to fly over M2.1 in level flight as known.  
      Plenty flew the converted F-16B Block 0 (75-0752) and no one was impressed. It lacked performance where it mattered and more importantly the USAF were not flying it. For some reason Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers decided to get delusions of grandeur at that period in time and expected to fly what the top air forces flew.
       

      F-16-79: note the very different engine! (Lockheed Martin)
       
      Disaster strikes
      As is life with any risks a government can come in change things for everybody (not just large corporations). In 1981 Jimmy Carter was out and Ronald Reagan (The actor!*) was in the White House and things quickly went south. Carters export policy was backed at first but it would seem export customers were not happy unless they were flying the same toys as the USAF. Export restrictions were lifted in 1983 and the F-5G was now competing against the real F-16A. (bollox)
      Let’s look at what Northrop was now faced with:
      ·         The F-16 was an established Air Force program with a Multi Staged Improvement Program and established logistics chain. ·         The USAF flew the F-16……………. again FMS customers were now picky and wanted to fly a jet the USAF flew and supported. ·         The F-16A was superior in turn performance, range, payload, comparable in climb and had better growth potential. ·         Buying more F-16s would favour the US by keeping the cost of them lower and the cost was now getting lower due to more buys from the Reagan Administration.    

      Ronald Reagan in Spitting Image form (ITV)
       
      Changing a Tigers stripes
      Not giving up Northrop decided to roll up their sleeves and get busy……or throw lots of money at the problem. All they had to do was make the F-5G beyond exceptional and also somehow pander to the US Government and the USAF to get them to buy it…. simple.
      Northrop now had to market the F-5G as a 4th Generation jet somehow, so the F-5G first became the Tigershark, which later became the F-20A Tigershark.
      Northrop had decided to concentrate all their funds on the one area they could compete………. that being avionics.
       
      The F-20A takes off
      The First Pre-Production Tigershark (82-0062 / GG1001) first flew in April of 1982 with a 16,000 lb thrust YF404 engine and revised rear fuselage with larger tail. It also had an hydromechanical flight control system with a computer-controlled Augmentation system (CAS)

       F-20 #1 (Northrop Grumman)
       
      Avionics extraordinaire
      In June 1981 Northrop had taken the step of telling General Electric (GE) to build a radar above and beyond the export spec and ideally superior in every way to the AN/APG-66 in the F-16A except range………. this was given the designation AN/APG-67.
      Ex USAF fighter pilot Pat “Gums” McAdoo was hired by Northrop as a consultant and used / saw some of the avionic developments, and confirmed they were far better than what was in the F-16A and in some ways better than what was being done for the F-16C Block 25 at the time.
      ·         Pilot interface was very easy to use for non-geeks and had been developed partly by an ex F-100 pilot. Some of these concepts were similar to the FA-18 and some found their way into later versions of the F-16C ·         The APG-67 radar was way Beyond the basic APG-66 radar and had more modes such as Track While Scan, Velocity search and a great Ground Map ·         Ring-laser Inertial Navigation System (INS) made start up very quick. ·         Had visual and radar bomb modes (CCIP / CCRP). ·         Flight control system in development was similar to the FA-18 a Fly By Wire augmentation system with hydromechanical backup.  
      The F-20 was the ideal foreign military sales jet. 
      It had short legs, but very quick response times from a cold start. The RLG inertial was awesome. The radar was way beyond what the Viper had at the time - track-while-scan, velocity search, really nice ground map, etc. The data entry design was awesome. Using the entry panel below the HUD was really easy,
      The most surprising thing was the MacIntosh-style stuff on the MFD's. I had not even seen a MAC when I showed up. But one great example was the radar display on one of the MFD'S. If you moved the cursor over to a radar mode or a range indication, then you got a pop-up menu and could cursor to desired mode and hit the "designate" button. 
       
      Pats involvement also gives us some insight into what the USAF considered important in a combat jet at that time. The avionics were vastly improved thanks to digital computers but they were still just a step up from the 3rd Gen paradigm with many flaws.
      The F-20 was a very capable interceptor with a great radar and great performance. RLG inertial that took less than a minute to align, TWS radar, extremely easy to use all the avionics. In short, I liked it. But I liked the Viper more, despite its crappy hands-on controls compared to the F-20. It had better turn performance and much better legs and could carry more pig iron.

      AN/APG-67 in TWS mode (Northrop Grumman)
       

      Head Up Display (HUD) in CCIP mode (Northrop Grumman)
       
      Let’s sell this thing anyway
      Another consultant and ex USAF legend working with Pat at Northrop was Charles “Chuck” Yeager who also flew the pre-production birds.
      Chuck was used on the promotional videos and you can hear the sales pitch here:
       
       
       How to rub salt into wounds  
      In 1982 (Just as the F-20 marketing began to get into swing) under pressure from China, Reagan had vetoed the export of the F-5G and F-16 to Taiwan and thus the launch customer and the whole reason for the F-5G existing went down the pan.
      Luckily for Taiwan (and less luckily for Northrop) a program to develop another fighter was started in its place with rival General Dynamics (probably to the slight annoyance of Northrop). This fighter developed by AIDC and General Dynamics was to become the F-CK-1 Ching-Kuo and to rub in more salt they even incorporated the APG-67 radar developed for the F-20!

      AIDC F-CK-1 Ching-Kuo (Airliners.net)
       
       
       
      Let’s now take the urine
      In 1983 Reagan allowed funding for Israel to start development of their own fighter in this class that turned into the IAI Lavi. Clearly from Northrop’s point of view the logic that US tax payers should pay for the Lavi while Northrop funded the F-20 by itself seemed a tad off. Eventually this logic may have caught up with the US government when Israel cancelled the program in 1987 influenced by a clear change of attitude from the US.

      IAI Lavi   (Military-Today.com)
       
       
      In part 2 Northrop hire Pierre Sprey.....................
       
       
       
      * Yes that is a reference to Back to the Future........I thank you.
       
       
    • By Gepard


      View File F-5GN(Soviets)
      F-5GN(Soviets)  (What if)
      *****************************************************
      This mod is made for SF2.
      ----------------------------------------------------------
      I. History (fiction)
      In 1969 there were decisive elections in West Germany. In reality, the Social Democrats won.
      A new foreign policy followed and a period of reduction of tensions between East and West.
      WHAT IF, the other side had won?
      What if the conservatives had won and Franz Joseph Strauß (an old bavarian Commie eater) would have become Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany?
      And so it starts.
      In 1969 Strauß was elected as Chancellor. A period of rising tensions between East and West
       started. To protect the sea lanes between Europe and America the west german parliament Bundestag decided to build up a west german carrier force consiting of 3 carriers.
      The american gouvernment was pleased and offered to sell 3 carriers of the Essex class (subclass Ticonderoga).
      The first ship which was handed over was CV-34 Oriskany in 1969. Renamed in R-22 Theodor Heuss it was core of the first west german carrier group. 1973 CV-38 Shangri-La became R-23 Heinrich Lübke (later renamed in Walter Scheel) and two years later CV-45 Valley Forge became R-24 Gustav Heinemann.
      The americans offered A-4 Skyhawk and F-8 Crusader as planes for the carrier group. The Bundesmarine accepted the A-4, but rejected the Crusader, because the Bundesmarine wanted a more multi role capable plane, not only a pure fighter.
      At this moment Northrop entered the competition and offered a navalised version of the brand new F-5E Tiger. Under the designation F-5GN (German Navy) it should be produced in America and Germany. The west german government accepted the offer and the serial production of the F-5GN started. During flight tests on the way the US Marines decided, that it would be a good idea to replace their old F-8 Crusaders with F-5GN planes. So the F-5GN became a Marine plane.
      Later, when the Marines retired their attack carriers the surviving F-5GN were transfered to Top Gun school.
      1973 the government of South Vietnam demanded more F-5E Tigers to fight the communist forces. Because there was a shortage of F-5E the american leaders decided to send the first batch, which was intended for the Marines, to the Republic of Vietnam. So 40 F-5GN were handed over.
      On May 1st 1975 Saigon was taken by the communist forces. the war was over. 36 surviving F-5GN were captured by the north vietnamese. To pay war depts  Vietnam handed all 36 F-5GN and 12 F-5E to the soviets.
      In the USSR the planes were tested very hard. Finaly the decision was made to use the F-5GN in the Soviet Navy. The canceled carrier project Oriol was revitalized and in 1976 the first soviet carrier squadron was formed. The soviets modified only the RWR and the air to air missiles. Air to ground weapons were taken from captured stores in Vietnam.
      The US Navy realized very soon that the soviets had a new plane. Analysts believed, that the soviets copied the F-5GN and gave her the designation MiG-28.
      The F-5GN alias MiG-28 had only a short service time in the Soviet Navy.
      1982 the F-5GN was withdrawn from service. The reason was missing spare parts.
      Afterwards the planes were sold to Iran.
       
      -----------------------------------------------------------------------
      II.
      CREDITS:
      The F-5GN(Marines) based on Centurions 2014 released F-5E package.
      A lot of files i have taken from this package. Thanks for this files!
      The skin:
      ~~~~~~~~~~~

      The camo skins are mods of skins available in Centurions Package
      The blue skin is a modification of a grey skin available in Centurions package.
       

      The flight model :
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      The  FM i made by using parts of the stock F-16A FM made by TK.
       

      ----------------------------------------------------------
      III.
      INSTALLATION:
      -Unzip the folders into your SF2 mod folder

      ----------------------------------------------------------
      IV.
      For remarks, comments, bugs, etc please use the forum or send me a PM.
      -------------------------------------------------------------
      V.
      The F-5GN(Soviet) and all other files are FREEWARE. COMMERCIAL USE IS NOT ALLOWED!
      ------------------------------------------------------

      ------------------------------------------------------------

      Hope you enjoy it.

      Michael (Gepard)

      Made in Germany
      December 2020
       
      Submitter Gepard Submitted 12/26/2020 Category F-5  
    • By Gepard
      F-5GN(Soviets)  (What if)
      *****************************************************
      This mod is made for SF2.
      ----------------------------------------------------------
      I. History (fiction)
      In 1969 there were decisive elections in West Germany. In reality, the Social Democrats won.
      A new foreign policy followed and a period of reduction of tensions between East and West.
      WHAT IF, the other side had won?
      What if the conservatives had won and Franz Joseph Strauß (an old bavarian Commie eater) would have become Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany?
      And so it starts.
      In 1969 Strauß was elected as Chancellor. A period of rising tensions between East and West
       started. To protect the sea lanes between Europe and America the west german parliament Bundestag decided to build up a west german carrier force consiting of 3 carriers.
      The american gouvernment was pleased and offered to sell 3 carriers of the Essex class (subclass Ticonderoga).
      The first ship which was handed over was CV-34 Oriskany in 1969. Renamed in R-22 Theodor Heuss it was core of the first west german carrier group. 1973 CV-38 Shangri-La became R-23 Heinrich Lübke (later renamed in Walter Scheel) and two years later CV-45 Valley Forge became R-24 Gustav Heinemann.
      The americans offered A-4 Skyhawk and F-8 Crusader as planes for the carrier group. The Bundesmarine accepted the A-4, but rejected the Crusader, because the Bundesmarine wanted a more multi role capable plane, not only a pure fighter.
      At this moment Northrop entered the competition and offered a navalised version of the brand new F-5E Tiger. Under the designation F-5GN (German Navy) it should be produced in America and Germany. The west german government accepted the offer and the serial production of the F-5GN started. During flight tests on the way the US Marines decided, that it would be a good idea to replace their old F-8 Crusaders with F-5GN planes. So the F-5GN became a Marine plane.
      Later, when the Marines retired their attack carriers the surviving F-5GN were transfered to Top Gun school.
      1973 the government of South Vietnam demanded more F-5E Tigers to fight the communist forces. Because there was a shortage of F-5E the american leaders decided to send the first batch, which was intended for the Marines, to the Republic of Vietnam. So 40 F-5GN were handed over.
      On May 1st 1975 Saigon was taken by the communist forces. the war was over. 36 surviving F-5GN were captured by the north vietnamese. To pay war depts  Vietnam handed all 36 F-5GN and 12 F-5E to the soviets.
      In the USSR the planes were tested very hard. Finaly the decision was made to use the F-5GN in the Soviet Navy. The canceled carrier project Oriol was revitalized and in 1976 the first soviet carrier squadron was formed. The soviets modified only the RWR and the air to air missiles. Air to ground weapons were taken from captured stores in Vietnam.
      The US Navy realized very soon that the soviets had a new plane. Analysts believed, that the soviets copied the F-5GN and gave her the designation MiG-28.
      The F-5GN alias MiG-28 had only a short service time in the Soviet Navy.
      1982 the F-5GN was withdrawn from service. The reason was missing spare parts.
      Afterwards the planes were sold to Iran.
       
      -----------------------------------------------------------------------
      II.
      CREDITS:
      The F-5GN(Marines) based on Centurions 2014 released F-5E package.
      A lot of files i have taken from this package. Thanks for this files!
      The skin:
      ~~~~~~~~~~~

      The camo skins are mods of skins available in Centurions Package
      The blue skin is a modification of a grey skin available in Centurions package.
       

      The flight model :
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      The  FM i made by using parts of the stock F-16A FM made by TK.
       

      ----------------------------------------------------------
      III.
      INSTALLATION:
      -Unzip the folders into your SF2 mod folder

      ----------------------------------------------------------
      IV.
      For remarks, comments, bugs, etc please use the forum or send me a PM.
      -------------------------------------------------------------
      V.
      The F-5GN(Soviet) and all other files are FREEWARE. COMMERCIAL USE IS NOT ALLOWED!
      ------------------------------------------------------

      ------------------------------------------------------------

      Hope you enjoy it.

      Michael (Gepard)

      Made in Germany
      December 2020
       
    • By sophocles


      View File Hellenic Air Force F-5A Volume I
      July 2020
      ===============
      Hellenic Air Force F-5A Freedom Fighter Volume I VERSION 1.0
      ------------------------------------------------------------
      F-5A variants included in the Package:
      HAF F-5A standard version (1965 - 1974)
      HAF F-5A with Martin Baker IRQ-7a ejection seat  (1975 - 1999)
      HAF Rf-5A reconnaissance variant with 4 K-92a cameras
      We are proud to present the F-5A HAF Volume I, the first of many to come, focusing on one of the most enduring American military aircraft designs ever produced during the Cold War period. This first Volume depicts the following Hellenic Air Force variants; the HAF F-5A standard, the HAF F-5A with the Martin Baker IRQ-7a ejection seat, and the HAF RF-5A reconnaissance variant. It has been our goal to provide to the simmer a highly detailed model and texture base which preserve the beautiful lines of this aircraft; and to engineer flight files and a cockpit/gauge file-set that are authentic and add to the immersion of the flying experience within the Strike Fighters 2 series.

       
      INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS:
      --------------------------
      1. Copy the contents of the "To Mods Folder(S)" to your SF2 Mod directory.
      Allow directory merging and overwrites, provided the overwrites pertain to "fake pilot" entries, as well as weapons made by ravenclaw_007, which are included in this and many other releases.
      2. Add the entries of "ADD_TO_SOUNDLIST.txt" to your SOUNDLIST.INI (located in the "user\Saved Games\ThirdWire\StrikeFighters2\Flight" folder).If one does not exist, then you will need to extract it using the 3rdWire CAT extract utility.  You are simply required to substitute the "XXX"s  with the next sequential number in the sound file section of the file.
       
        NOTE    1:
      ------------
      Both Regular and Higher resolution cockpit textures are included in their own distinct folders in the package.
      The user may alternate between the two by "commenting out"
      the relevant line in the F-5A_STANDARD_COCKPIT.ini

      [CockpitData]
      //Directory=cockpit      
      Directory=cockpit_Lo-Fi    <---This is the default

      In order to "activate" the higher resolution textures
      you would decomment the previous line and comment out
      the next line, thus:

      [CockpitData]
      Directory=cockpit          <---This is now Hi-Res
      //Directory=cockpit_Lo-Fi    

        NOTE    2:
      ------------
      Another frame-rate friendly option for those with older hardware is to use the Next level of Detail Model as the primary external model. This simply involves changing the first line in the F-5A_HAF.ini  from this..
      [LOD001]
      Filename=F-5A_STANDARD.LOD
      to this..
      [LOD001]
      Filename=F-5A_STANDARD_002.LOD
      Much effort was made to provide those with lower end systems an alternative lower poly-model to be able to enjoy the F-5a,  so please take advantage of this _002.LOD model should you experience frame-rate issues.  While not as "rounded" as the Higher poly version, it is nonetheless just as detailed and extensive.
       NOTE    3:
      ------------
      For those who may find loading times excessive, the .jpg files in the texture folders can be reduced to 50% of their size without sacrificing too much surface detail.
       Keys:
      -------
      SHIFT+0 -> canopy open
       
      CREDITS:
      sophocles          - 3D Model, Cockpit, textures
      ravenclaw_007  - 3D Modeling, Animations, Weapons,textures
      baffmeister        - Flight model, testing
      crusader             - Avionics and data tweaks, Beta testing
      Guuruu                - Sounds and Afterburner effects, Beta testing
      Guest contributors:
      Alfa2                  - Loadouts and a wealth of info on the HAF variants.
      gkabs                 - pilot figure

      Special Thanks to the staff and members of Combatace.com whose passion and efforts have enabled this game to endure, and to provide so much fun and excitement!
      Additionally, many thanks to the following Combat-Ace Modders, who either actively contributed to the project over the years, or who invested their time either providing much needed hints and help, or researching various aspects of the model.
      Brain-32             - Modeling advice, initial cockpit.cfg + more
      NeverEnough    - Initial work on the Flight model
      Russouk2004    - Always answering questions when I needed help..Cheers!!
      Dag                      - RoNAF textures and research (to be included in a dedicated  future RoNAF F-5a module)
      Derk                     - Many, many references!!!
      Blade                   - Excellent mini-tutorial on damage textures
      Finally, thanks to TK and Thirdwire for creating such a fantastic game.
       
      ****************************************************************
      FEATURES:
      * Three model set including the HAF F-5A standard version (1965 - 1974), the  HAF F-5A with Martin Baker IRQ-7a ejection seat  (1975 - 1999), and the  HAF RF-5A reconnaissance variant with 4 K-92a cameras; each with their own custom loadouts.
      * Three, highly detailed external 3d models, including the RF-5A, whose nose was graciously modeled by ravenclaw_007.
      * Specular color and Normal (bump) maps on all models
      * Seven Level of Detail models (LODs) for each model, providing an almost seamless transition from distance to distance; and perhaps more importantly, ensuring that the frame-rate "impact" of the aircraft is as low as possible.
      * Two sets of highly detailed external Fuel Tanks by ravenclaw_007; both the Factory variety and the Sargent Fletcher variants.
      * Fine-tuned flight parameters in three distinct aircraft data configuration files  for all 3-D models, emphasizing the F-5A's agile and highly maneuverable characteristics - courtesy of  Baffmeister.
      * 8 high resolution texture sets; thoroughly researched historic depictions of the Aircraft fielded by many HAF Wings and Squadrons.
      * Quality sound-set included. Base sounds, by Guuruu, were sourced from existing recordings of various aircraft at air-shows and were modified  to match the prominent characteristics of the F-5A General Electric turbojets, the "buzz" of the M39 Pontiac 20mm machinegun, and the flap/Air-brake, undercarriage deployment and retraction sequences of the Freedom Fighter.
      * Super detailed  'Virtual Cockpit'  with animated throttle control, rudder pedals, control stick,  landing gear lever, canopy, canopy lever, drag-chute lever, weapons selectors and weapon station arming flick switches.
      *Accurate and functional representation of the Norair F-5A gun sight, with animated Mils selector and accompanying animated combining glass. (Mechanics by Crusader)
      * A full complement of highly (or should I say "insanely" detailed  HAF weapons carried by the HAF F-5A, all by ravenclaw_007.
      * Complex animation of canopy opening mechanism, and animated Turbine blades; both thanks to ravenclaw_007
      * GKAB's superb highly detailed crew figure with authentically modeled oxygen mask and flight helmet.
      * All new afterburner, emitter, and engine smoke effects by Guuruu.

      ******************************************************
      PILOT NOTES
      -----------

      F-5A Limit and Reference Speeds. [Indicated Airspeeds]
      FLAPS: 300kts for both leading and trailing edge.
             NOTE: The F-5A uses full flaps for take off but due to a game bug you must manually select full flaps for take off when player flown. The        AI will use full flaps although you can hear the flap sound cycling between flap 1 and flap 2.
      LANDING GEAR: 240kts
      DRAG CHUTE: 165kts
      CANOPY: 50kts
      NOSE WHEEL STEERING: 65kts
      MAXIMUM INDICATED AIRSPEED: 710kts [redline]
      MAXIMUM MACH: 1.72 Mach design limit but thrust/drag limited to about mach 1.50 in a 60deg dive from 50,000ft.
      --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      TAKE OFF ROTATION SPEEDS
          13500lbs: 155kts [full internal fuel and two sidewinders]
          20500lbs: 195kts [about the maximum weight possible with included stores]
          NOTE: Use full flaps for take off! Adding 6kts for every 1000lbs above 13500lbs should give good aft stick/rotation speeds.
      --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      CLIMB SPEEDS
      Military Power
          13500lbs: 375kts with a transition to mach 0.89
          20500lbs: 310kts with a transition to mach 0.74
      Maximum Power
          13500lbs: 595kts with a transition to mach 0.93
          20500lbs: 480kts with a transition to mach 0.85
      -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      FINAL APPROACH SPEEDS
          With 500lbs fuel remaining and some empty racks use 160kts. Add 5kts for every additional 500lbs of fuel.
          NOTE: Target touch down speed is 20kts less than final approach speed.
      -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
       
      *************************************************************
      THIS AIRCRAFT MOD OR ANY PART OF IT ARE TO BE EXCLUSIVELY HOSTED BY COMBATACE.COM AND MUST NOT BE HOSTED OR POSTED FOR DOWNLOAD ON ANY OTHER WEB SITE. THIS PACKAGE AND ANY PARTS HEREIN MAY NOT BE UPLOADED AS PART OF ANOTHER MOD NOR MUST THEY BE SOLD OR OFFERED FOR SALE EITHER IN PART OR AS A WHOLE WITHOUT MY EXPRESS PERMISSION.
      *************************************************************
      Sophocles
      July 2020
       
      Submitter sophocles Submitted 07/16/2020 Category F-5  
×

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue..