The Best Fighter Jet Never Built 

Having worked as an engineer on the F-5G/F-20, let me add a little to your information. First the F-20 was not designed to compete with the F-16. That's what the F-17 (later F/A-18) was meant for. The F-20 was meant to replace an assortment of aircraft flown by our Allies. Aircraft such as Early F-5's, Hawker Hunters, MiG-19 & 21's, Dassault Mystere's, F-100's, F-104's (horribly misused for ground attack), F-84's, etc. The F-20 was a huge step forward over those aircraft. The U.S. Administration asked aircraft companies to spend their own money to develop a suitable aircraft and promised to purchase an initial quantity for our own use (as aggressor aircraft, etc.) and promote their sale to our Allies. Northrop was the only company foolish enough to honor the governments request (and ended up spending over a Billion 1980's dollars). It was important that the U.S. purchase the aircraft so that spare parts were available in the American system. This was know to be a critical factor to our allies. In a typical back-stabbing move, General Dynamics offered the F-16N (N for Navy) to the Government for the Aggressor role. They offered the aircraft at about 1/3 the usual price because the F-20's price was so much lower than the F-16's. GD feared if Northrop got a contract then many of allies would have bought the Tigershark, costing GD some export sales. The F-20 was a far more sensible choice for many Allies, being a big improvement over their existing aircraft (having outstanding avionics), costing about 1/2 the price of an F-16 and having much lower operating costs than the Fighting Falcon. The Navy only got a few years use out of their F-16N's and then had to scrap all of them. In the end, the government refused to let Northrop make any sales because the aircraft was "too advanced and would upset the balance of power." Then the same government permitted General Dynamics to the sell the F-16 to anybody who wanted it. There were many dark mutterings in the Engineering Department about that GD General Dynamics (the first GD did NOT stand for the company name). It was widely understood that GD's Congressmen out-numbered our Congressmen. The Texas contingent then being very powerful in various committees of Congress.

My dad was an engineer at Northrop working on this program. I remember a “family day” out at the Palmdale testing facility when I was in high school in the 80s. The F-20 took off right in front of us, I remember seeing the ailerons tilt up, then the aircraft just went vertical. Like a rocket. Cool. Edit: I believe those were the “tail elevators” as “ailerons” are on the trailing edge of the wing and are used for turning.

I was working at Edwards AFB when they were flying it there. There were 2 big issues with the F-20. One was the small nose which caused the radar antenna to be quite small, and limited the size of the radar. This resulted in much poorer detection range compared with the F-16. The bigger issue was the wing. Extraordinary high performance when it was clean. But when weapons were hung on it, the turn rate decreased dramatically. It could hold far far less than an F-16 and was a pig with anything on the wing.

As a note, the end cost for the f16 was just $1.5m more expensive than the f20. In the end it made more sense to build a ton of f16, then export old models when they were available

0:12 And if the F-20 had been shot down and fell into the wrong hands, the Soviets STILL would’ve tried to reverse engineer it and would make their own copy design: the MiG-28

F-20 was impressive but as far as the best fighter never built I'm going with the YF-23.

IMO it being allowed to pull Gs that would allow two experienced pilots to blackout was an issue with the flight control computer, iirc fighters with fly by wire and computers limit the Gs allowable both to the pilot and airframe. One of the main reasons it’s theorized that soon fighters will be unmanned so the planes can perform to their full potential without worrying about the meatbag inside.

Back when I was in aviation classes at the former CMSU, the news of the Tigershark's development was quite the exciting topic.

I discovered this channel 3 days ago. Binged half of it and was like "too bad there's no F-20 Video". Guess who was just pleasently surprised.

Wow, that F-20 turned into an X-15 during that crash footage. That is some spectacular technology.

Many friends from my YF-22A days were from the F-20 Tigershark and the A-12 Avenger II programs. They were all excellent engineers that worked hard on a failed program for no fault of their own. Fortunately they found the YF-22A and enjoyed the success that working on that program brought.

When I was a very small child, my first awareness of fighter jets came from a SNES game called "UN Squadron." The Tiger Shark was one of the first fighters you could buy to improve on your starting F-8 Crusader, and I fell in love with the way it looked. I was later disappointed to hear it wasn't made in any real numbers and never adopted by any military.

I always loved this plane. Sleek, clean lines, and a great performer.

This is the one non production plane I'd love to see simulated in DCS World flight simulator. It would be a fantastic monument to all the work Northrop employees put into developing this aircraft. It's old enough to be completely unclassified as well. I would really love to learn more about this aircraft from the (simulated) inside.

This aircraft was the fighter the main character uses in "Area 88" an old Japanese manga and OVA. The mechanical designers seemed to love this fighter too.

Years ago when I heard about the tigershark, I was instantly excited then immediately disappointed... This brings it all back.

Government: “Hey, you spend your money to develop a plane and we’ll sell it” What possibly could go wrong?…

Love this video, such an awesome jet! Keep them coming fella's. Requesting a video on the A-10, I think everyone would love to see Dark's take on this legendary air frame.

In Jaws: Hooper: "That's not a great white. That's a tiger shark." One of the guys who captured the tiger shark: "A whaaat?"

This one hurts the most, because of all the missed opportunities, this was the biggest one. That was a fantastic plane, and it's a shame it never got to see production.

I'm curious, did the private sector ever fall for this kind of thing again? The whole, you develop it and we'll market it for you but you're not allowed to sell it directly schtick? DoD basically killed Northrop with this bull.

I love the look of the Tigershark, I even bought and built a model of it. It was one of the best looking models I've built, it had a very detailed cockpit and pilot figure as well..

I remember seeing the F-20 at the Farnborough Airshow in the '80s and being super impressed by it.

Good story, I remember the development of this plane. I was shocked when the Air Force chose the F-16 over F-20. Now, the F-16 has proven its worth, but it showed to me that no matter what the US asked for, it will ALWAYS go with the more expensive plane.

I love the heck out of the F-20 and I dearly wish that some country would have taken a shine to it, even if only to see airshow footage or in a museum. Thanks for the documentary.

I remember having models this as a kid and loved it. Too bad it was never built.

love your channel. as a guy that grew up buried in Janes fighting ships and the like. This channel is awesome.

I always liked the F5/F20 from an aesthetically pleasing jet. I did have one interaction with an F20. In 1984 while serving in Korea as a CH-47 Pilot, I was tasked to fly up to Suwon and pick up and carry what was left of the F20 externally as a sling load back to Osan Airbase. When I arrived at Suwon, the jet had crashed inverted on Suwon Airbase. The preliminary word was that it stalled during inverted flight. The nose was broken off just in front of the cockpit. The tail was severed just aft of the wing. Otherwise it was mostly intact. It didn’t ride well as a sling load as I was only able to get about 35 to 40 knots of airspeed with it. Fortunately, it was a relatively short flight back to Osan. It was such a disappointment to see that program cancelled but I’ll always remember my interaction with the F-20 Tigershark.

"best x that never was" seems to be a running theme in the US military industrial complex

Bad politics kills another good aircraft. This has become a meme.

I know it was a different time and different mission but I have to say one of the greatest military planes never built is the Avro Arrow. There is no doubt the F-20 and previously mentioned YF-23 were amazing planes as well. Great video.

Hi, I worked at Teledyne/Ryan Aircraft in the early 80's on many aircraft mock-ups / tooling reference models. One was the F-5G, later the F20 Tiger Shark and worked on the master model setting templates, later fairing tooling plaster in-between templates making the aft fuselage for the F-20/F-5G. The work was very precise..

The little old F-5 with modern electronics can still out fly most modern fighters, it is a beast in a dogfight. Tragedy the F-20 never went into production.

Shin Kazama's personal favorite.

In the 1980's, put a plane in a TV commercial with Gen. Chuck Yeager and that plane was going to become a grassroots rock star. We had heroes back then.

The sales ad for the F-20 is phenomenal!

Idk why but ive always loved these and the f5e. they look incredible easily my favorite jet behind the f22.

6:11........man, after looking at the F-20 for a few minutes, once you see the F-16 pop up, it becomes very obvious how revolutionary it was. Whereas the F-20 was merely evolutionary, looking more like a modernized F-104 and barely any different than the F-5.

great video, keep up the good work.

Thank you for the video report .

It was devastating to watch the F-20 crash in Goose Bay, Labrador. The whole town and base would practically stop to watch the unbelievable performance of this aircraft.

I’ve always wondered about that aircraft! I’ve been a wing nut since I was a kid! Ty

Great video as always.

Your videos are always excellent and informative.

Never seen a second generation MiG-28 this close before

The “teen” series of fighters, starting with the F-14…up to and including the F-20, are the best set of fighters ever produced, in succession.

I remember seeing a Tigershark at the Farnborough air show in the 80s. It was awesome.

Excellent stuff bro

I had just started at Northop in oct of 86, it was a dark day at Northrop for sure. They gave us a shot at the ATF, we built the YF-23 & got jipped out of that contest having a faster, stealthier, and just better looking plane. Rumor at Edwards was GD wouldn't allow F-16's to fly when the F-20 was up for fear a mock dogfight would show the F-20 to be better. IDK that was the rumor.

I always liked the F5 and F20. They were sleek and simply beautiful. They had great performance for a low cost fighter.

Now I'm inspired to build the F-20 model sitting unassembled on a shelf.

Northrop drew inspiration and even some participation from members of John Boyd's "light weight fighter mafia" who were disappointed in the weight growth, bulk, costs, etc, of the F-16s entering production.

My father worked on the F-20 project. He went on to the B2 Stealth program after. He spent a lot of years out at Edward's

Definitely love this plane in Ace Combat Zero, I still remember the Belkan Aces using F-20

I always wanted to know about this plane, thanks for a wonderful, historical production.

Love your videos.

Excellent take on the T-38/F-5/F20 airframe! I would like to see your take on the evolution of the Minuteman ICBM but that's probably a Dark Space thing, what ya think?

Sweden's Grippen seems to have continued the learning from this program.In fact I can't help but think that the Swedes approach to software design as well as 'cost effective AND attack effective' plane design is an effective model that deserves to be better appreciated in today's 'more complex' fighter design efforts from other military blocs.

One of the most beautiful planes ever thought up. God it's gorgeous.

I had an airfix model of this plane as a kid, I still think it's one of the best looking jets ever.

I was at an air show a year after the F20 program was cancelled and talked to a Northrop F20 test pilot. He said that the F20 outperformed the F16 in most categories. Then he told me one of the main reason the F20 was not selected that while the F20 was better there was not a high enough difference between them to justify shutting down an existing production line and tool up a new one for the F20.

Northrop is so underrated it's not even funny at this point.

Great video.

Que bonito, cuanta Nostalgia. Pensar que gracias a personas como ustedes que le dedican tanto amor aun siguen volando. Saludos cordiales.

The Swedish JAS39 has a lineage to this one, it was a contender for the replacement of the SAAB 35 and was very well studied, the result was the SAAB 39 GRIPEN.

Time to play some oldschool UN Squadron...

One of the most aesthetically pleasing airframes ever.

Had an opportunity to preflight Gen Yeager F4 phantom in May 1987 Had a pic of the F20 which he signed for me. He spoke highly of the plane. Still have the picture!

Would've been interesting to follow the development path of this. Would we have a quasi-4.5-gen plane today in something similar to an F-16 Block 70/72 Viper variant?

I got to see one of these fly at the El Toro air show! It was amazing! I’d never seen a plane “slide” like that. It was supposed to be the export fighter. Everyone wanted the F-16? Ok.

I flew the F-16N…big kudos to Duke Cunningham when he was CO of VF-126, he was instrumental in getting this for USN Adversary program…..The ‘N’ essentially a lower priced, export F-16 that was in no small part, helped to kill the F-20…a Early block airframe with later block engine(f110) and cockpit. Great aircraft and a dream to fly.

I STILL make one of the CRT displays for the F5! I love the F5, born the same year as myself!

The F20 and the Avro Arrow were two huge lost opportunities

This was a pretty cool and capable little jet, but it was far from the best fighter never built. That honor belongs to the F8U-3 Super Crusader. It was pitted against the F-4. In a fly-off, it did literally everything better than the Phantom...it flew faster, further, higher, turned better, at all altitudes. The Super Crusader was doomed by two conditions. First, the two-crew, two-engine plan of the Phantom provided what was believed to be an extra safety margin, especially over open water. Second, the Phantom could carry a larger A-G payload. Had there been sufficient funding for the Navy, I believe they would have taken both aircraft and kept the Phantom for mud moving missions primarily. The F8U-3 cost less and did far better in the air to air role.

That air frame was my favorite. So light and nimble. If I had millions it would be a jet I would want to have.

Beautiful 💎

My dad was working for Northrup in Hawthorne in the late 70's and often flying people on the side, usually to Catalina island and that this plane sat on the west end of the Hawthorne runway for years. My name is Bicycle Bob and I approved this message.

Nice looking jet. Innovative avionics. Impressive performance Severely range and maneuverability limited when carrying external ordinance. Even the NATO countries weren’t really interested in it as an F-16 didn’t cost all that much more and had better performance. Also more countries flew the F-16 so there was the interoperability consideration with other air forces.

One of the most beautiful aircraft ever created.

It seems the thing was perfect for fighting MiG- 19's and 21's and maybe even MiG-23's cheap being the best description

Luckily, the idea of a low-cost fighter that could be exported to allies eventually came to fruition with the F-16, an impressive machine in its own right.

Looks like an F5 with a 1 big engine

I remember a brief infomercial, circa mid-80s, starring the Tiger Shark and General Yeager. So cool!

The modern incarnation of this fighter can be clearly seen in the Saab JAS 39 Gripen

I remember reading Chuck Yeager’s autobiography. He said it was the best plane he ever flew.

Doing those years I worked at USAF Plant 42 Palmdale Ca. A few of us would gather to watch the F20 taxi from Site 3 (I think) to the main runway. They would perform a hell of a great practice air show mostly at low level. They would give you goose bumps. That was a totally awesome airplane. I heard at the time that the government wouldn’t sell them to other countries because they were too good. I think the last one of the F20s in Los Angeles, Ca somewhere. Sad it was a great airplane.

dark skyes I love your videos

Phil Air Force got the luck to try it out from the evaluation flights but... As the thing again, it never went into production and only a handful of lucky PHAF pilots tasted this beauty. Even got a cute PHAF insignia at the intakes, both sides.

yea it could be as a LCA if it bought back today, rivaling Korean F/A-50, Italian M-346FA, Pakistani JF-17, a smaller niche than F-16 which despite categorized as light fighter earlier for the Viper but as years past it leaned more to middle size by now since F-20 is here, hoping for IAI Lavi next, another jet that also axed by F-16 (even though Israeli Air Force already owned F-16 before it)

I remember reading an article in a military magazine in the 80's when Northrop was still trying to sell the F-20 Tigershark. It was a very convincing article on why it was better than the F-16, including the selling points you mentioned about being cheaper and easier to maintain. I remember reading about how the gun was better, i think it was able to fire more rounds per min if I remember correctly. Wish I saved that article, read it when I was a kid. I always loved the design of the F-5, looks cool and sleek imo, the F-20 being basically an OP version of it, and was hoping real hard that our govt would go ahead and purchase some, sadly as we all know that never came to fruition.

This was my favorite fighter when I was young. I never understood what happened. Then to find out the F-16 took it's spot was upsetting. I used to live in between Mackenshaw Air National guard base and Fort Jackson's bombing range. Back then the Swamp fox's had been gunsmoke champions for years. But they would practice dog fighting above us. Well untill a mid air collision I saw. And that was it for practicing above us.

Oh no it’s the MiG-28 from Top Gun! LOL!

I would swear that some of the footage was a hornet with 2 rear stabilizers.

My aviation mentor and friend is a retired USAF Colonel. He flew combat missions in the F4 in Vietnam, and eventually flew the SR-71. I asked him over lunch what the greatest fighter he ever flew was. I was shocked to hear his answer: hands down, the F-20. He was an evaluation pilot for the F-20 program. My grandfather was an engineer for Northrop, and I have several boxes of F-20 marketing material, including wood desktop models and various posters, pamphlets, etc.

Fascinating history on this F-5 to F-20 evolution.

The F-5 was the fighter I would have loved to fly. Yet, I was too late…

F20 it's just look amazing

@DarkSkies another fantastic video. Please can you do one on the flying porcupine, the Short Sunderland flying boat and in particular the Battle of the Bay in the Bay of Biscay on 2 June 1943, when eight Junkers Ju 88Cs attacked a single Sunderland Mk III of No. 461 Squadron RAAF, and managing to destroy 3 before nursing the aircraft over the 350-mile (560 km) journey back to Britain beaching the aircraft at Praa Sands, Cornwall. The 10 surviving crew members were able to wade ashore, while the Sunderland broke up in the surf.

I was at Northrop Hawthorn in 84, the project was essentially over when I got there. The F/A was being built by Northrop as a main sup-contractor (another Northrop design (YF-17))

When your own air force won't buy the F-20, how do you expect foreign countries to buy it? The old adage in selling is "You gotta eat your own dog food first!"