The U.S. Air Force Competition That Gave Birth to the F-16 and F/A-18 Fighters
Dario Leone
Security,
History lessons.
The U.S. Air Force (USAF) Lightweight Fighter (LWF) program sought a small, lightweight, low cost, air superiority day fighter designed for high performance and ease of maintenance. The LWF was initiated because many in the fighter community believed that aircraft like the F-15 Eagle were too large and expensive for many combat roles.
Two aircraft competed one versus the other in the LFW program the General Dynamics YF-16 and the Northrop YF-17.
Two single-seat YF-16 prototypes were built for the LWF competition. The first YF-16 was rolled out at Fort Worth on Dec. 13, 1973 and accidentally accomplished its first flight on Jan. 24, 1974, followed by its scheduled “first flight” on Feb. 2, 1974. The second prototype first flew on Mar. 9, 1974. Both YF-16 prototypes participated in the flyoff against the Northrop YF-17 prototypes, with the F-16 winning the Air Combat Fighter (ACF) competition, as the LWF program had been renamed, on Jan. 13, 1975.
As explained by Lou Drendel in his book F-16 Fighting Falcon In Action, the YF-16 test program, like any program to prove a new aircraft, had it’s share of exciting moments. In two separate instances, test pilots were forced to make dead-stick landings when contaminants in the fuel control units caused the F-100 engine to go to idle thrust.
“One landing was made from 15,000 feet, on the USAF pilot’s first flight in an F-16, and the other from 1,500 feet, shortly after take-off,” says Drendel. “In neither case was the aircraft damaged. As the program progressed, it became increasingly evident that the YF-16 was going to rewrite the book on air combat maneuvering. It was possible to pull so many Gs, so fast, that the normal G-suit pressure regulator could not keep up, and a newer, faster acting regulator that could inflate the G suits at a rate that could keep up with the airplane’s capabilities had to be installed.”
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