Northrop F-5E Tiger II, captured in Vietnam and tested in USSR

When Bien Hoa was overrun by Communist forces, several of the aircraft were captured and used operationally by the NVAF, in particular against Khmer Rouge. In view of the performance, agility and size of the F-5, it might have appeared to be a good match against the similar MiG-21 in air combat. Several of the F-5s left over from the Vietnam war were sent to Poland and Russia, for advanced study of US aviation technology, while others were decommissioned and put on display at museums in Vietnam.
One F-5 was extensively tested by top gun Soviet pilots from Chkalov's State Flight Tests Center (GLIC - Russian acronym). GLIC was established in the 1920s in the arid delta of the Volga River and its tributary Akhtuba and a local counterpart of US Edwards AFB AFFTC or Tonopah Test Range.
In air combats with MiG-21, F-5 did show extremly well, suprprisingly winning almost of all fights according to reports, that gave Soviet aircraft designers a push to develop a new types, like MiG-23.
Pilots who were flying F-5E, are Vladimir Kandaurov, Alexander Bezhevets and Nikolay Stogov.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• Northrop
• F-5
• F-5E
• Tiger
• II
• captured
• Vietnam
• USSR
• Soviet
• Union
• Chkalov's
• State
• Flight
• Tests
• Center

[svinche6]

@SilentEagles

What a Nonsense!

Soviet only Concluded that F-5 is Good only when rotate,and for Low Level/Speed Dogfight.

You said,F-5 can Out run or out Climb,Fast? Haha :P

F-5 has always been a Downgraded Export plane for allies.Becouse of that dervative of F-5,

F-20 ,is not meant to be bought by the USAF.

Comparison:Mig-21>Mig-25>Mig-2­9>F-5 .

Max Speed:(Mach 2.05)(Mach 3.2)(Mach 2.25)(Mach 1.6).

Rate of climb:(225m/s)(208 m/s)(330 m/s)(175 m/s).

Range:(1,210 km)(2,575 km)(2,575 km)(1405 km).

[svinche6]

@SilentEagles

Versions A/B don't have Radar,and are very Slow(barely supersonic)and can be armed only with 2x AIM-9 :) Haha

To conclude:F-5 is Slow barely supersonic Aircraft,with insufficient capacity for Payload,

Without enough space in the nose, to accommodate Useful Radar,Aircraft with small range

(unless carrying tanks, though no weapons then) :P

and in the fight,Pilot of mig,when Bored,should only to step on gas to escape!

Mig-25 i don't need to mention,even F-15 is unable to Catch him!

[brettt777]

@RacerXGTO Yeah, that makes alot more sense than the explanations above... I have always thought the MiG-29 looks suspiciously like an F-15 (just like the new PAK-50 looks suspiciously like a Raptor). I never understood why they didn't use the F-5 in more of an A2A role. No, it wasn't as fast as a MiG but certainly much more maneuverable. It didn't have a radar ast first but it had the same lousy missles everyone else was using.

[blazingfire4321]

a shorter sentence for the top 2 comments: THE F-5 WAS JUST A PROTOTYPE

[MrHelmyabdullah]

What a remarkable footage ! One that I've been waiting for so long . I always wonder what happened to all those US-supplied aircrafts to South Viet Nam that were abandoned after the fall of Saigon .

[SilentEagles]

The Mig-29 derived from the F-5. The Soviet did like US F-5 a lot. The F-5 was better than Mig-21, Mig-23, and Mig-25 because it out turn, out run, maneuverable, and out climb. I never understand why USAF never use the F-5 in air combat over Vietnam. The F-4 phantom was too fat. The Mig-21 have a poor rear sight and poor AAM the AA-2 Atoll.

[MikeofWyoming]

It's the Mig 28! ;D

[VG39]

@RacerXGTO You are confusing with the MiG-27 / MiG-23BN.

From the late 60's MiG-23 was a first line fighter (fast air/air missiles carrier), altough they had difficulties to develop it till the MiG-23MLD.

I've got the OKB MiG archives...

[RacerXGTO]

"MiG-28's No one's been this close before!"

I happened to see a MiG-28 an inverted 4G negative dive, I have a great Polaroid of the MiG-28, and he's right here, must have been at least one and half meters

[RacerXGTO]

@VG39 They screwed up. The MiG-23 was influenced by the F-111. In the beginning, the 23 was an attack aircraft up until the 80's was it modified to carry Air-to-Air missiles and Air-to-Air radar weapon systems. Read my comment above this one.