Just Imagine if......

[phantomphan1974]

The 162nd TFG at TUS had F-20B Tigersharks...


Or the CANG had the F-20A


"What if" Aircraft Profiles

[Jay Beckman]

I always thought the F-20 was a great looking aircraft.

Saw one in person at Dayton, OH way back in 1985 when they were for sale.  Shame nobody bought.

[cpasley]

It was just like the 64 GTO concept ,take a lightweight body and shove the biggest ass engine you can into it ,recipe for greatness ,guess the '16' was just that more appealing and must not cost much more in the end.

[phantomphan1974]

Yeah, know what you mean.  We use to have one in LA at the Aerospace Museum in downtown.  I think its still there.  Its the Dark Grey one.

  My dad still has his first car, 67 GTO.  Sadly due to dementia he hasn't been able to drive and it's just sat in the garage on jacks for the past 5-6 years.  One day I would like to restore it.....Add it to my muscle car collection....

[Jay Beckman]

F-16 = Ford, Chrysler, GM
F-20 = Tucker

[cpasley]

Yeah really Jay ,once again the underdog and in both cases perhaps a better alternative was sqeezed out by the bigger corporations ,a shame cause even if the USAF didnt purchase ,which I doubt was the F-20's market I imagine could have been a consideration as an alternative for aircraft like AIDC Ching Kuo ,the Korean T-50 or as just replacements for F-5's ,who knows maybe the Grippen too 

[Jay Beckman]

As often happens though, if the US doesn't buy it first, foreign governments won't bite.   

[Joe Copalman]

I can't see the Swedes flying foreign-produced aircraft as their frontline fighters.  They've been staunchly nativist since the end of WWII with regard to their fighters. 

Jay is right that it's harder to gain export interest when the US isn't using something.  The exceptions to that would be the F-5 and to a lesser extent, the A-37.  I don't think it was bigger corporations (G-D in this case) that killed the F-20, it was a relaxing of restrictions on the sale of frontline US equipment that started under Nixon, halted under Carter (when - and why -  the F-20 was developed), and resumed under Reagan.  The Ching-Kuo is another example of this.  Once the US eased restrictions on selling F-16s to Taiwan, AIDC stopped cranking them out.  Certainly General Dynamics and LockMart played their parts in trying to lobby for foreign sales of F-16s to be allowed, but that's what any responsible company would do.  There are status and training benefits to using the same 'quipment as the Americans, and even if the F-20 proceeded into full production, I'm sure many of the targeted customers would have still chosen the F-16.

That said - I sure would have loved to shoot F-20s in AZANG colors! 

[Joe Copalman]

Also worth noting is that G-D lost some money they had invested in the F-16/79, which had a J79 engine and water-down avionics and was their answer to the challenge presented by the F-20. 

It looked goofy, but I've got to say I would have loved to have seen (and heard) a Viper with a J79.