Flyhistorisk Museum Sola · Military aircraft
Northrop F-5A Freedom Fighter
Northrop's F-5 grew out of the T-38 Talon trainer, which was meant to succeed the T-33 as the US Air Force's advanced trainer. The company saw that the T-38 also had potential as a fighter, and 2,500 T-38s and F-5s were built in all. Norway was one of the earliest NATO countries to decide to buy it. The type was tailored to Norwegian conditions, with an arrester hook and windscreen de-icing among other features. The F-5 was meant to replace the F-86F/K and later the RF-84F and T-33. The Royal Norwegian Air Force received 108 in total, 70 per cent of them financed by the US military aid programme. The F-5 was used primarily as a fighter-bomber. Later, 718 Squadron at Sola — a training unit that was also operational — was equipped with the type, which brought the unit a larger number of two-seat F-5Bs. 717 Squadron at Rygge received a special variant, the RF-5A, with cameras in the nose. When the F-16 arrived, the F-5 began to be phased out. The museum's F-5 was delivered in 1967 to 332 Squadron at Rygge and carried the code AH-M.
