This Day in Aviation History
June 9th, 1974
First flight of the Northrop YF-17 Cobra.

The Northrop YF-17 (nicknamed “Cobra”) was a prototype lightweight fighter aircraft designed for the United States Air Force’s Lightweight Fighter (LWF) technology evaluation program. The LWF was initiated because many in the fighter community believed that aircraft like the F-15 Eagle were too large and expensive for many combat roles. The YF-17 was the culmination of a long line of Northrop designs, beginning with the N-102 Fang in 1956, continuing through the F-5 family.

Although it lost the LWF competition to the F-16 Fighting Falcon, the YF-17 was selected for the new Naval Fighter Attack Experimental (VFAX) program. In enlarged form, the F/A-18 Hornet was adopted by the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps to replace the A-7 Corsair II and F-4 Phantom II, complementing the more expensive F-14 Tomcat. This design, conceived as a small and lightweight fighter, was scaled up to the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, which is similar in size to the original F-15….

Source:
Wikipedia, Northrop YF-17: http://gstv.us/24B3vLM

YouTube, YF-17 prototype with Bob Sandusky: http://gstv.us/2rAdsOJ

YouTube, YF-17 Cobra Walk Around: http://gstv.us/24B3yas

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Photo from: http://gstv.us/24B4rQg

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