Best Plane never Made., page 1

Well, an an employee of the builder of the YF-23 (whcih lost, of course, to the Lockmart design), I have a warm spot in my heart for the 23, but the customer believed that, even with Lockmart's less-than stellar reputation as a major systems program manager, the F-22 Raptor was the better aircraft, and I'm not going to argue with them.

I think the best plane never built (or that never went into service) was the Northrop F-20 Tigershark. Here's what a report says:

"Northrop developed the F-20 Tigershark in response to a U.S. Government call for the private development of a tactical fighter specifically tailored to meet the security needs of allied and friendly nations.

The first flight of the Tigershark was made August 30, 1982. The Mach 2 class F-20 Tigershark's basic single-seat configuration was formally designated the F-20A. The F-20 combined propulsion, electronics and armament technologies with improvements in reliability to sustain high sortie rates in adverse weather.

The F-20 incorporated a combination of advanced technology features. The F-20 could carry more than 8,300 pounds of external armaments and fuel on five pylons. It could carry six Sidewinder missiles on air-to-air missions. For air-to-ground missions, more than 6,800 pounds of armament could be carried. Two internally mounted 20mm guns were standard equipment on the Tigershark.

The avionics system features a General Electric multimode radar, Honeywell laser inertial navigation system, General Electric head-up display, Bendix digital display and control set and Teledyne Systems mission computer.

The F-20 is powered by a General Electric F404 engine, with 17,000 pounds of thrust. The F404 is recognized as one of the world's most reliable advanced technology engines. It is also used to power the U.S. Navy/Marine Corps F/A-18A Hornet strike fighter.

Once airborne, the F-20 pilot utilized his multimode radar, which could detect and track targets at ranges of up to 48 nautical miles "look up" and 31 nautical miles "look down." The F-20 mission computer coordinated the aircraft's weapons systems. The head-up display placed critical weapons, target and flight data at the pilot's eye level. This allowed him to fight without having to look down. Northrop designed a new panoramic canopy for the F-20 that gave the pilot a 50 percent increase in rearward visibility over previous Northrop fighters. An improved seat and headrest design combined to substantially expand over-the-shoulder visibility, which is critical in air-to-air combat.

Aerodynamic features of the F-20 included an enlarged leading edge extension to the wing, which generated up to 30 percent of the lift maneuvers. The "shark-shaped" nose allowed the F-20 to maneuver at much higher angles of attack than current operational fighters. The F-20 airframe could withstand nine G's.

The F-20 was reliable and easy to maintain. Based on comparisons with the average of contemporary international fighters, the F-20 consumed 53 percent less fuel, required 52 percent less maintenance manpower, had 63 percent lower operating and maintenance costs and had four times the reliability."

But no one bought it, because the United States didn't have them, and international customers wanted to take advantage of the lower non-recurring costs of an airplane already in US service (which is why we try to sell so many AH-64Ds to international customers).

And it wasn't that the United States didn't like the plane; but they'd already invested a pot of money into the logistics tail and support infrastructure of that hideous General Dynamics "Lawn Dart", the F-16.

So the F-20 died the death and the closest you'll ever see to it is the T-38 trainer version, still one of the prettiest airplanes around.

Meanwhile the Lawn Dart, now owned by Lockmart, is sold everywhere and the non-recurring costs are so low you can practically get a couple of them with three boxes of Rice Crispies.

Q: How do you get an F-16 for $50,000?

A: Buy fifty acres of desert twenty miles from Luke Air Force Base -- and wait.