Northrop N-102 Fang

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N-102 Fang
Patent images of the N-102 design
Role Light fighter
National origin United States
Manufacturer Northrop Corporation
Status Project only
Developed into Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighter

The Northrop N-102 Fang was a fighter aircraft design created by Northrop Corporation and proposed to the United States Air Force in 1953. The Fang was explicitly designed as a ”light” or “lightweight fighter” in direct response to what Northrop saw as the ever-increasing weight, size, complexity, and cost of Western fighter designs. While the Fang was ultimately overlooked in-favor of the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, Northrop’s interest in the lightweight fighter concept would ultimately come to fruition with the F-5 Freedom Fighter, itself spawning a moderately successful fighter family.

Design and development[edit]

In the early 1950s, concerns grew in the United States about the growing weight, complexity and cost of modern fighter aircraft, and in late 1952, Northrop started a design study for a simple, lightweight, supersonic fighter aircraft, the N-102 Fang, with the design team headed by Welko E. Gasich, Northrop's Chief of Advanced Design.[1][2][3] On 12 December that year, the United States Air Force (USAF) issued a requirement for a lightweight air superiority aircraft to replace the F-100 supersonic fighter. The new aircraft was expected to enter service in 1957 and was required to have a speed of at least Mach 1.3 at 35,000 ft (11,000 m) and a combat radius of 400 mi (650 km). Northrop proposed the N-102 to meet the requirement, while other competitors were from Lockheed (the CL-246), North American Aviation (the NA-212) and Republic Aviation (the AP-55).[4]

The N-102 had a shoulder-mounted delta wing and a small all-moving tailplane mounted behind the wing. It would be powered by a single turbojet mounted in the lower aft fuselage which was supplied by air from a variable-geometry ventral air inlet. This promised smoother, more efficient airflow to the engine at the risk of being more vulnerable to ingestion of foreign objects and damage to the engine.[5][6] A number of different engines were proposed, including the Pratt & Whitney J57, the Wright J65 (a license-produced derivative of the British Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire), the Wright J67 (a license-built Bristol Olympus) or the General Electric J79, with all of the engines giving an estimated speed of at least Mach 2.[7]

In early 1953, the USAF selected Lockheed's CL-246, which became the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, but Northrop at first continued work on the N-102 with the hope of gaining export orders, building a mock-up of the aircraft in USAF colors.[8] However, the use of a single, large engine meant that the aircraft could not be as light or cheap as Northrop wanted, and Northrop stopped work on the N-102 during 1954.[5][2][9] Northrop continued work on lightweight fighters, basing its further studies on the use of two small General Electric J85 engines, which allowed a much lighter and cheaper aircraft,[5] with Northrop's design team believing that twin engines would increase the reliability and safety margin.[10] The J85-powered design studies eventually formed the basis of the F-5 fighter family.[11][12][13]

The design was the subject of a 1957 design patent.[14]

Specifications (J79 engine - performance estimated)[edit]

Data from Northrop N-102 "Fang"[7]

General characteristics

  • Crew: 1
  • Length: 42 ft 7 in (12.97 m)
  • Wingspan: 30 ft 8 in (9.34 m)
  • Wing area: 270.0 sq ft (25.08 m2)
  • Gross weight: 18,735 lb (8,498 kg)
  • Powerplant: 1 × General Electric J79-GE-1 , 9,300 lbf (41 kN) thrust dry, 14,400 lbf (64 kN) with afterburner

Performance

  • Maximum speed: Mach 2
  • Combat range: 390 mi (630 km, 340 nmi)
  • Ferry range: 2,029 mi (3,266 km, 1,763 nmi)
  • Service ceiling: 59,000 ft (18,000 m)
  • Rate of climb: 44,500 ft/min (226 m/s)

Armament

See also[edit]

Related development

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

References[edit]

Media related to N-102 Fang at Wikimedia Commons

  1. ^ Scutts 1986, pp. 6–7.
  2. ^ a b Lake & Hewson 1996, p. 48.
  3. ^ Pelletier 2012, pp. 71–72.
  4. ^ Pelletier 2012, p. 72.
  5. ^ a b c Scutts 1986, p. 7.
  6. ^ Pelletier 2012, pp. 72–73.
  7. ^ a b Pelletier 2012, p. 73.
  8. ^ Pelletier 2012, pp. 73–74.
  9. ^ Pelletier 2012, p. 74.
  10. ^ General Electric Company (1979). Seven decades of progress: a heritage of aircraft turbine technology. Fallbrook, CA: Aero Publishers. p. 108. ISBN 0-8168-8355-6.
  11. ^ Lake & Hewson 1996, pp. 48–49.
  12. ^ Scutts 1986, pp. 7–8.
  13. ^ Lorell, Mark A.; Levaux, Hugh P. (1998). The cutting edge: a half century of fighter aircraft R&D. RAND Corporation. p. 114. ISBN 0-8330-2595-3.
  14. ^ US design 180297, "Aircraft", published 1957-05-14, assigned to Northrop Aircraft Inc. 
  • Lake, Jon; Hewson, Richard (Summer 1996). "Northrop F-5". World Air Power Journal. Vol. 25. London: Aerospace Publishing. pp. 46–109. ISBN 1-874023-79-4. ISSN 0959-7050.
  • Pelletier, Alain (November 2012). "Northrop N-102 "Fang": Le chasseur petite échelle de Northrop". Le Fana de l'Aviation (in French). No. 516. pp. 70–75.
  • Scutts, Jerry (1986). Northrop F-5/F-20. London: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-1576-7.
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